1. Tattoos are mandatory in Denver. I swear, pretty much everyone was sporting at least one tattoo, and there were quite a few people with tats running up and down the full length of their arms. I’m not really into body “art,” but it seems to be the norm there, regardless of age.
2. Air conditioning is inherently evil. I’ve never seen a place with such an aversion to air conditioning. Granted, since I’ve mainly lived in Houston, New Jersey, and the DC area, I’ve known the need for A/C all my life. I don’t care what people say about “dry heat.” Hot is hot! Now, it was nice to be in 90 degree weather and not sweat like a whore in church, which is what I pretty much do in DC’s summers. But man, get the A/C on just a little bit!
3. People are much nicer. Most people in DC suck. There’s no way around it. You know it. I know it. From the boot-lickingest intern to the highest corridors of douchebaggery, people in DC are petty, passive-aggressive meanies. Denver was such a change. It wasn’t like a southern/Midwestern make chitchat to death nice (and I’m not opposed to that). More like people would smile when they talk to you and make eye contact with you when you passed them down the street. I distinctly remember meeting the glances of the first few people in Denver and thought it was weird. But then I remembered that this is normal behavior, and I’m the one who’s weird!
4. Denver’s more expensive than you might think. We got a whopping $48 per diem in Denver, which is standard Federal per diem. You lose 25% of that on your first and last days (I guess they assume no one spends a full day on travel days). You could kill the bulk of this on lunch. In fact, I spent (sit down, please) $30 on BREAKFAST one day. Yeah, breakfast. At the hotel. I mean, it was good and all (crab meat, cheese and leeks), but not $30 good! I know I lost at least $100 out of my own pocket on that trip. But I had a good time, so I’m not really upset. I remember filling out my travel report and my supervisor said “Hey, Jason. You can go ahead and claim full per diem on your site visit days. It’s okay.” But I did put down my full per diem, I told him. He couldn’t believe it.
5. Denver has a trolley system (sort of). There’s a section of town called the 16th Street Mall. It must span about 20 blocks, maybe more. It’s closed off to vehicle traffic, except for buses that do one huge loop from start to finish. It’s completely free, and is really neat. Unfortunately, the 16th Street Mall is essentially a stretched-out version of Clarendon. I mean, if taking the bus from Pottery Barn to Williams Sonoma is your cup of tea, go for it, but it felt very commercialized. But they had a lot of restaurants in the area, and it looked like a happening place.
6. Beer is way cheaper outside of DC. “Man, $3 for a pint of beer? How do these yokels make their money?” It was surreal to see booze actually affordable. Nothin’ like laying down a fiver for a Bud Light to really humble a man.
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