An Anxious Adventurer

It was 4 in the morning when I finally decided I might as well just get up and go. I hadn't slept much, due to anxious excitement (and the fact that an air mattress in your friend's living room just isn't the most luxurious).

So up I got and off I went to the airport. I was actually driving myself to the airport, which was a first. I am such a big girl. ;) Well it took a couple times around to find the parking lot that I wanted, and I did almost return my car to the rentals, but I managed to park the car, hop a shuttle, and reach the airport with plenty of time for my 6 am flight.

Despite the fact that I was in fact, right on time, my boarding pass placed me in the last boarding zone, and my very humble patient attitude placed me at the very end of that line. I was the last one on the plane. Except for the two women who came running in at the last minute. But for all dramatic purposes, I was the last one on the plane.

And my suitcase wouldn't fit.


Not that it was too big; the plane was too small. Literally all four of my flights had to ask people to check their carry-ons because there was not enough space. Are we building our planes too small, or is that just me? Maybe we've just got too much stuff...

Whatever the cause, my precious suitcase was stripped from me. The suitcase that held my phone charger. The phone charger I was planning to use during my layover in Charlotte. Without it, my precious phone was about to die.

How was I going to find my two old college pals in the large Denver airport if I could not use my phone??!?!?!?! Oh life!

And how exactly was the airport at Charlotte supposed to know that that suitcase which did not belong in the luggage port was meant to go on to Denver? I hadn't checked it in, you remember.

Tis the magic of airports (or perhaps just computers) that I will never understand, but of course they knew where my little suitcase needed to go.

And tis the magic of cell phones, or perhaps the goodness of God, that although my phone battery stayed on red the entire trip, it never died. I found my friends, got my suitcase, and moved on to stage two of our epic adventure.

Oh how my worrying is unnecessary.

Remember my trip to Disney World? Yeah, God's got us folks. Just relax and enjoy the adventure! :)

Because not only did he make sure I did not get lost, return my "rental" car, or end up all alone in the Denver airport, he also threw in a bonus. Allow me to explain.

My friend's brother works in a fancy hotel. The kind that doesn't serve us poor folks free breakfast. So she booked us a pretty nice room for a pretty average rate (little family discount there). But of course we still had to pay parking, and food, and all those other little amenities that rich (or richer than college grads) folks appreciate.

Well...maybe not all of them.

Because they were booked solid. Full to the max. No room at the inn.

Now, we were one of those booked rooms. It's not that we didn't have a room. It's just that they wanted to find someone willing to take a room without a bed. But let me tell you, it was a room with a view.

Denver at sunset.

Denver at sunrise.

Allow me to explain further. On the top floor of the hotel was a suite. Probably one that should be attached to some bedrooms, if you've got the money to book like the whole floor. Or at least a couple of rooms. But for us, it was just going to be the living room portion. There was a large couch, and they brought up some rollaway beds for us.

The clerk asked if we would mind moving to the suite. We really didn't care; what difference would a couch vs. a bed make to us? Sure, why not, we said.

Oh by the way, this means you get access to a mini fridge in your room, stocked with free drinks (not the alcoholic kind, mind you). Not too shabby.

Oh yeah, aaaand the private lounge that is just for residents of the top floor. The private lounge that is stocked with free drinks (still not the alcoholic kind, those ones aren't free), free breakfast, and snacks and food all day long. And the views pictured above. 

Well, yeah! Sure we want to move into that room! Why didn't you mention the free food sooner? 

Man God is good. I should go adventuring more often.

Aaaand 3 am the next day I was wide awake. I mean, it was technically 5 am my time. I did not sleep much on this trip. But how can one sleep when there is so much to explore?

What I really wanted to explore were the mountains. Who could go all the way to Colorado, and not see the mountains? I certainly was not about to let that happen.

But, there were two things that hindered that. I was not in Colorado to see the mountains, I was there for a friend's wedding. And I was not there alone. 

One very important lesson I am trying to learn in life, is how to live with other people. Meaning that plans don't always work out the way you want. They might get interrupted, they might get changed. And that's ok, because people are our family. Without people, who would have waited forty minutes with me for my first experience of the Cheesecake Factory? And it's not a bad idea to have someone help you with that "slice," as they call it, of cheesecake.

I was overwhelmed by my options of cheesecake!

Saturday was spent at my friend's Bachelorette party, drinking tea full of sugar cubes at an adorable tea room (where we also got to dress up in hats and jewelry!), but not in the mountains. And while I loved every minute of that, I was growing anxious again. I wanted to see the mountains! I did not want to fly across two time zones to see nothing but a blur on the horizon, a hint of majesty that remain unmoved by my selfish longings.

To add to my unnecessary anxiety, one of my friends had booked a very cheap flight back. Usually, I would also have looked for the cheapest flight, except I realized one thing. These flights were cheap because they were at very inconvenient hours of the day. Particularly at midnight. The night of the wedding. Well, the morning after, technically, but it certainly would board the night of the wedding.

And seeing how you need to be at that airport 2 hours early, that turns into 10 pm. And seeing how we were an hour and a half away, that turns into 8:30 pm. And seeing how the wedding started at 6, well, that didn't leave us much time for cake.

I've got to admit, I was slightly peeved. I certainly did not want to leave Colorado without seeing the mountains up close, but I also did not want to leave after only two hours at the wedding. I didn't sleep much that night, filled with my anxious thoughts, and my body's idea that 3 am was the right time to wake up.

But God.

Yeah, I could have saved you all a lot of time by just writing "But God" and posting the pictures. But thank you for reading. There are some more pictures to come. :)

But God said, "Relax sweetie. You don't have to be anxious. You don't have to be upset. Everything will work out."

To make this short and sweet for you, and to get to the rest of the photos, we found a very affordable shuttle service that picked up our friend right from the wedding venue, right on time. And we got to stay. After exploring the mountains earlier that day (despite forecasts that it might rain. Who believes those anyway?), and getting all sweaty.

So for the next adventure, which might as well be today, I won't be distracted by worry. I'll just be there to enjoy it, and God's beauty.

He he he. It looks like Gru (from Despicable Me).