DNC - The Weekend in Denver

The blog traveled around to a few scattered places since last post, took a few days off for canoe trips, river weekends and biking. That information will be updated as time permits. Finally the DNC is here in Denver and so am I (at least for part of the week).

Getting in on the action on Friday night, arriving home from Charlotte, NC business trip, I saw this celebrity (in red) and her entourage at airport and offered them directions. Later this celebrity was seen being interviewed by Extra! outside Mezcal restaurant on East Colfax in Denver http://www.mezcal-restaurant.com/where Sunday evening the celebrities gathered for some local flavor. Who is she Carey???

On Saturday, on my return from Fort Collins to mountain bike, I went to my local downtown REI store, where I noted various out of town shoppers. I figured this was my last trip near downtown Denver in a car for a couple weeks. I was talking to my friend Paul who works at REI. He indicated every FBI staff in the West and every bomb squad tech had been hanging out looking for something to do. I did see several of them in the bike section, and advised two of them where to ride on a nice hill climb on Sunday morning. REI is a pretty nice area, at the confluence of two rivers/creeks in Denver, and the junction of many bike paths with a clear view of the Pepsi Center and downtown Denver.

On Sunday late morning, I rode my bike downtown, along the Cherry Creek Bike Path to check out the scene, knowing a Rockies Baseball game was in town that afternoon, along with various protesters, most notably the "Recreate-68" group (they are getting alot of press and rather boring to date)http://recreate68.com/?p=94. I notice they are having some music in Civic Center Park tonight, so maybe another bike ride downtown to see what I can see...

My best celebrity sighting was Tom Brokaw, fresh from Beijing, walking down the 16th Street Mall. No one noticed him as the crowds were watching the bus loads of the FBI, Denver Police and Bomb Squads offload a bus with all their gear! He just walked through, ignoring the buses and I wondered why he wasn't interesting, then I realized who he was! Very nice catch!!!


Sunday evening, I volunteered as an "On Call" volunteer, showing up for my shift and free TShirt, from 5pm to 10pm at the Tabor Center (attached to The Westin downtown where Obama is confirmed to be staying. My job and crew were to finish stuffing "goody bags" and transport them to the press boxes at the Pepsi Center. I did get a glimpse inside the Pepsi Center, but wasn't allowed past the elevator due to security. No cameras or cell phones either :)

I also found out that Oprah Winfrey will be staying about 1 mile from me in an empty house right off Washington Park. My confirmed source is a barista at Starbucks who is doing part of the catering. You better believe I'm going to be biking around the park every free moment I have this week :)


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