Tony Comes to Town

Day 1: I leave straight from work to pick up Anthony and Molly from the Denver Airport about an hour and a half after they land. We drive to our hotel in downtown Denver. After checking in, we start walking down the 16th street mall. We eat at the Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant before walking to the bars in lower downtown, affectionately known as LoDo. It is there that we meet up with John Frias, a fellow CCHS alum who now lives in Denver. Things get a little crazy and Anthony spends part of the night on the hotel room floor.

Day 2: We all wake up on time and set out on the road to Canon City, which is where our white water rafting adventure begins. There we met up with Vanessa and Cari, two USOC interns. Once at the office, we get our gear (helmet, life jacket and paddle) and load into the school bus that will take us to the Arkansas River. We go through some level three rapids and a few level fours (out of five). The guide lets us "ride the bull," which means that one of us sits on the front of the raft and holds onto a rope between our legs as we go through some small rapids. I did not fall out during this or any other part of the trip, which was my main objective. We went through the Royal Gorge and under the Royal Gorge suspension bridge, which was very cool.

Night two was to be spent in downtown Colorado Springs. After checking into our downtown hotel, I decided we had to start off at The Finish Line, a dive bar near the Olympic Training Center (not downtown). It was karaoke night and the otherwise sleepy neighborhood bar was hopping. A few songs and pitchers of beer later and that was the only bar we would end up going to that night. Among the songs that were sung by us were George Strait's Amarillo By Morning, Billy Idol's Rebel Yell and Louie Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.

Day 3: Wake up and recap the night from our suite at the EconoLodge. Head over to the Olympic Training Center for a quick tour. Then drive up by Pike's Peak and through Manitou Springs, where we ate lunch. We drive back up to Denver where I drop off John at his place and then Anthony and Molly at the airport. It was a quick weekend but we crammed many activities and had a lot of fun. Thanks to Anthony and Molly for coming out to Colorado and to John for hanging out with us.

Click here for photos of the Denver nightlife, the Finish Line, and the Olympic Training Center.

Click here for the latest Olympic Sports Scene, brought to you by Nick and Vanessa.

Hours until I get to see my girlfriend Teresa, who is coming up to visit this weekend: 68