Welcome to Boulder

I visited my friend Danielle in Boulder on Saturday. Boulder definitely has a reputation as the funkiest city in Colorado. Danielle told me how when she first moved there, when something weird would happen, people would just tell her, "Welcome to Boulder." I'd never been there before, but after one day, I love it.

Danielle took me downtown to the area where they have a farmer's market. It was over by the time we got there, but we walked by the creek and explored the public library, which is really awesome. It's built out of red rock and spans the creek. There's a waterfall inside, and the part that spans the creek is a coffee shop. Very cool. After checking out the library, we followed the path along the creek, which was not only very picturesque but very, um, Boulderesque. For starters, completely at random, we saw an old vacuum cleaner sitting by a light pole. In case anyone wanted to sweep the gravel off the path, apparently. With a very long extension cord. A little further down, we saw a guy rocking in a hammock hung in a tree by the creek. As we got a little closer, though, we realized that he wasn't alone, and he wasn't just "rocking." Welcome to Boulder.

After that, Danielle took me to her favorite coffee shop/book store. It was a really cute local place with exposed brick interior, huge windows, hanging plants, and a fun, laid-back atmosphere. Plus good coffee. I'm sold. We walked around the shops and streets and had some more "Welcome to Boulder" moments, including a veggie dog stand and a T-shirt with a picture of a tree stump tied up with yellow tape that said "Crime Scene - Do Not Cross."

Oh, and the biggest Boulder moment of all. We walked outside and heard a lot of yelling, hooting and hollering. We looked over to see what was going on, and found ourselves looking at the Boulder Naked Bike Ride. Actually, we were too far way to really see anything, but close enough to know that it was indeed a naked bike ride. Big fat welcome to Boulder.

I really loved it, though. It was a beautiful town, and much smaller than Denver, where I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of people. Closer to the mountains, too. If I stay in Colorado after seminary, I would think about living in Boulder. I need my family to move to Colorado, though.