Colorado Springs June 2023

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Hello sausage lovers,

Last year my dear friend Chris invited me to attend his wedding in Colorado Springs, CO.  I have known Chris for over 20 years, and hadn't seen him since 2019 when he moved to Colorado.  

Since I was at a point in my life when I had both the means and desire to start traveling again, I decided that we would attend.

Chris, Emika, and very old friends

I booked a stay at the hotel block they had reserved and purchased plane tickets.  I also rented a car because we would be landing in Denver, and it is about an hour and a half drive from there to Colorado Springs.  

I figured it would be scenic, and it truly was; passing Castle Rock and Monument.  The mountain views were beautiful, even if we faced rain the whole 3 days we were there.

Hotel view of Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs is very pretty, and I can see why so many Christians flock there.  The first day there was going to be a happy hour meet-and-great; which was held at a billiards/restaurant.  It was a pleasure to see Chris, meet Emika, and catch up with old friends.  It was fun seeing some new ink on 2 of my old friends Nick and Alex, great to meet Nick's girlfriend, as well as Chris's brother Nick's wife.

Arya, Alex, Nick, Mikael

I wanted to get a feel for the meats and sausages available in the grocery stores in Colorado, so I took a detour to a variant of Kroger/Ralphs in Colorado called King Soopers.  It was pretty much the same fare we have in SoCal, if not a little better quality.  

I did get a lot of strange looks from other patrons, and figured the Colorado Springs bumpkins were not accustomed to seeing a man with long blonde hair dressed in all black walking amongst them.  I later found out that Colorado Springs is pretty Christian and I probably gave off an offending vibe.

The wedding took place the next day, and the ceremony was the only time the entire trip when the rain stopped and the sky cleared.  It was very surreal, as if the heavens were gracing the marriage between these two best friends who went to PT school together, lived on opposite ends of the US, reunited in Colorado, and fell in love.

It was also very strange to hear all of the stories about Chris being the most effortlessly studious academic who graduated in the top of his class.  I never had any classes with Chris growing up, and all the times we were hanging out during high school and college were spent partying. It was nice to hear from so many people how responsible and smart my dear friend was.

After the wedding the young attendants joined the main group at their Airbnb, which was a good time spent partying, petting dogs, and sharing in various conversations and toasts.  We left early since I drove my rental car there and needed to make sure I could find parking downtown.


We left on Sunday morning, after meeting the newlyweds at their home in the suburbs.  Their home has 3 windows which face the tallest peak in the area, and has many rooms and a backyard.  It was a very nice way to conclude the trip, and we got to meet their sweet, well-trained dog Kona as well.

We drove back to Denver to catch our flight back to California.  Mgła for some reason had been stuck in my head the entire trip and the drive was just long enough to listen to both "With Hearts Towards None" and "Exercises in Futility".  It was raining pretty heavily the whole drive and it was a neat atmosphere.

All in all, it was great to visit old friends and get out of California for a change.  It also rekindled my desire to travel more, and partly inspired my following trip to Germany and Sweden later that year.

-Korv Mikael

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