Category Archives: cities

When You Don’t Appreciate What You Have

It’s Memorial Day, and there is a lot on my mind. Part of me feels like I “should be” doing something way more substantial this weekend, as it is one of three big weekends that define summer here in the United States. I can’t stop thinking about all of the sales and shopping going on this weekend. And, then, of course, I end up thinking about the ACTUAL meaning of the holiday; remembering those who have died fighting for my country. Many people in the military, or closely associated with someone in the military, lament what this holiday has become, all about grilling in the park, going to stores, partying, etc.

I “stayed home” this weekend, which for my standards (as an antsy person) means I stayed within the Denver-Boulder-Castle Rock area. I needed to take it easy. My next two months are packed with activities. Also, most places I would go would have been particularly crowded this weekend.

Confluence Park is a mere three miles from my home, and right in the middle of Downtown Denver. In fact, when I worked in Lower Downtown (LoDo), I was able to walk here from my office on lunch hours. I ended up being here at a very unique time of year. The river that runs through the center of town, the South Platte, has its origins in the higher terrain of the Central Rocky Mountains. Above 10,000 feet, snow continues to fall, and temperatures remain chilly through much of Spring. By this time of year, that snow is melting rapidly, swelling rivers like this one with rapidly moving, cold water. It seems like the water levels reach their highest sometime around Memorial Day.

I sat in Confluence Park with my feet in the water for roughly half an hour. I moved around from time to time, from rock to rock, feeling the sensation of the rapid stream flow in varying patterns, with different bumps, and eddies at different spots along the river. I even stood on top of a mini-water fall for a bit.

I thought about all of the people, running around from store to store, looking for something new today. I even thought of myself, and how I am always looking for new places to travel, new experiences, etc.

I even thought of the other activities I took part in this weekend.

Saturday’s brewery tour by bicycle.

Sunday’s hike up Green Mountain, to a place where one can see multiple 14,000 foot peaks in one direction and Denver’s skyline in the other.

None of these activities required traveling a long distance, or buying any fancy equipment. A basic bike, a basic pair of sneakers will due.

Sometimes it seems like we spend way too much time looking for something new, and not enough time appreciating what we already have. After all, whether it be a place to view the skyline from above (something I did not have when I lived in Chicago), or a year old pair of shoes, everything we have was once new, was once exciting, and was once a thing we were happy to obtain. Are we still happy to have it? Are we still enjoying it?

Some of us have more than others. But, no matter how much or how little any one of us has, the one thing each and every one of us has is ourselves. We have our bodies, and what we are capable of doing. We have our minds, the things we think of, the way we reason, etc. And, we have our spirits, our attitudes, what makes us excited for life, what makes us empathize with one another, and what makes us stand up for what we believe in when necessary. This is definitely something we should all learn to appreciate. If we all spent more time appreciating ourselves, maybe we would have a more positive outlook, and a more positive impact on the world around us.

A Visit to Albuquerque

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People like to break things up into neat little groups. It is a technique people use in order to try to simplify a world that, in reality, is quite complicated. In the United States, we take our cities, and break them out into various groupings. We place cities in groups based on their region, their size, and sometimes even by culture. I am as guilty as anyone of doing this. But, every once in a while, we find ourselves in a place that reminds us that we need to respect two basic tenants of humanity, which apply both to the Cities we visit, as an entity, as well as to each and every one of us individually.

Each City, just like every one of us, has a distinct and unique individual identity. In this identity, we see reflections of factors such as its geographic location, its history, and some of its specific influences, such as specific personalities and prominent industries. We also see some specific quirks that cannot be easily explained just by looking at what we observe elsewhere. It is the same way with each and every one of us. When we are being true to ourselves, our behavior patterns manifest in a similar unique manner, a manner that can only be described as attributed to our unique person. I feel it every time any one of my friends responds to anything I do or say by simply saying “That’s so Steve”.

Also embedded in the character of any City I have ever visited are reflections of natural law, or the universal truths that bind us all together.

Albuquerque reminded me of both of these two basic facts. Albuquerque has a unique heritage. It has similar beginnings as Santa Fe, and even has an Old Town Square that reflects these beginnings.

However, much of the city was built in a much more sun-belt style car-centric manner. It is one of the most storied towns along historic U.S. route 66. Route 66 embodies multiple eras of U.S. history, including the mass migration to California during the Great Depression, and later the first decade after the second World War, when the American road trip first became accessible to a large swath of the American people; the middle class.

Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles from the late 1920s through the end of the 1970s. While the route covers a large distance, traversing many different parts of the country, it is the Southwest, New Mexico and Arizona, that is often most commonly pictured when people imagine that classic road trip on route 66. While the exact location of the route 66 town in Disney’s Cars is not disclosed, the imagery in the movie clearly points to a southwestern location.

Albuquerque celebrates its pivotal position along route 66 by both preserving some of the places that were legendary stops for travelers along this highway.

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As well as creating restorations that recreate the experience of being at a travel stop along the old highway, much the same way old west towns recreate the American West during the 1800s.

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Route 66 is even the subject of a major controversy in town. A proposed Bus Rapid Transit project, called Albuquerque Rapid Transit, would more or less follow the path of historic route 66 through town. Residents of a hip area of town adjacent to the University of New Mexico called Nob Hill appear united in opposition to the project. Some of the signs I saw opposing the Albuquerque Rapid Transit referenced protecting the heritage of route 66. However, I wonder if this opposition is motivated by route 66 preservation, or the desire to avoid any changes to the neighborhood.

Regardless of whether the people are motivated by the desire to preserve route 66 in its historic format, or preserve their neighborhood the way it currently is, on display here is one aspect of humanity that appears consistent across all cultures. When people are enjoying their current situation, they generally do not desire change, and, in many cases, will fiercely oppose it. This has been the case for me, personally, at various stages in my own life, and is also evident in a lot of the behaviors I observe in others when they react to changes in the workplace or their favorite social media outlet.

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It also appears to be basic human nature to seek out a broader view of the world from time to time. It is the reason people go to the top of the world’s tallest building, hike Mount Rainier, or sit and gaze down at Los Angeles from the Hollywood sign. Albuquerque’s answer to this is the Sandia Peak Tramway.

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This tramway takes passengers on a 15-minute ride from a base elevation of 6559 feet (already significantly higher than the center of town), to a peak of 10,378 feet. Here, visitors to the area can see unique rock formations.

Learn about the unique biomes that can be found in the mountainous terrain (Breckenridge has a similar exhibit, but uses an actual garden).

And, can get a view overlooking this city that actually covers a much broader area than just the Albuquerque city limits. In fact, Sandia Peak is so high that it is quite difficult to make out individual buildings or even neighborhoods in town!

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The culture is unique as well, seeming to combine so many aspects of the West and Southwest.

Along the Rio Grande River, which cuts through the center of town, a bike trail, as well as numerous parks provide the urban outdoor space that Westerners seem to value so much. Whereas, in many other cities I have visited and lived in, living in close proximity to a park is desirable, but kind of a bonus, it feels as if people here in the West view being near a park as a prerequisite, a necessity of life itself!

On this particular Sunday afternoon, a parade of classic cars rolled through Old Town Square, showing off their classic appeal, and the hard work each and every car owner put into maintaining their vehicle’s shine.

That evening, on the West side of downtown, another group of people are gathered, also showing off their vehicles, and, almost downright partying.

When I think of all the cars revving their engines up at night, all I can say is, “That’s so Albuquerque”. One could speculate what mix of cultural influences, old Spanish, sunbelt, Western, Hispanic, etc. lead to Albuquerque being the way it is today. But it is more than that. The same can be said about any other place one would visit. That is why we travel, not just when we need to go somewhere for business, or when we wish to visit people that live in another place, but also when we desire an experience we simply cannot have in our respective hometowns.

An Old World Town in a New World Region

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In the U.S.A., we are quite accustomed to the seeing certain kinds of towns in certain parts of the country. Since cities were built earlier on the East Coast, we expect to see towns laid out like Boston, Annapolis, or Charleston. These cities tend to be a bit more challenging to navigate, as is particularly the case with Boston.

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By contrast, in the Western part of the country, we expect to see towns built more around automobile (or the automobile’s predecessor in the late 19^th Century, the horse drawn carriage). Cities like Phoenix, designed with driving in mind, have mostly straight-line roads, with suburban areas having windy subdivisions.

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This is what we have come to expect from towns in this part of the country. So, when I first looked at Santa Fe’s road network, I was quite surprised to see a city full of windy roads that resembled something I would expect to see along the East Coast, or in Europe.

Oddly enough, New Mexico is one of the oldest regions in the U.S., at least when it comes to architecture. The historical lineage is just different. New Mexico is home to over a hundred Native American Pueblos that date back to long before anyone associated with the United States of America would arrive. Many of them are still inhabited, with some having been inhabited for over 1000 years! This is quite a long time for this part of the world.

Santa Fe, New Mexico’s capitol city was founded originally as a Spanish colony in 1610, ten years before the Mayflower would come ashore in Massachusetts, and still retains much of its original Spanish style. In some ways, driving into New Mexico feels like entering a whole different region, fairly instantaneously. I first noticed this storm chasing in college. It was my first time in New Mexico, or Arizona. I was previously unaware of the prevalence of adobe style buildings in these two states, and was somewhat surprised to see how abruptly the styles of the building around me changed once I crossed the border from Texas into New Mexico.

Santa Fe appears to have retained much of its cultural heritage. Aware that New Mexico has a substantial Spanish history, I decided that it might be a good idea to check out a Spanish restaurant downtown.

Taberna came highly recommended by the staff at the hotel, and certainly did not disappoint. The food was excellent, and, on this particular evening, a performer named Jesus Bas performed for the customers. I sincerely, if only for a moment while sipping a glass of wine, tasting enchiladas, and hearing Spanish music, felt like I was in Spain. Well, at the very least, it made me want to go to Spain.

I decided to somewhat follow in the footsteps of one of the people who inspired me to start writing about my travels, Anthony Bourdaine. For those not familiar, he is a chef who eventually became the host of a series of food related travel shows. I watched a lot of his previous Travel Channel show No Reservations, where he did not just simply describe the food he was eating, he would also reflect upon the experience, what certain places made him feel like, and what historical context they can be placed in and such. His current show, which is actually a bit less food focused and more focused on the travel is called Parts Unknown. So, I was actually quite excited to see a souvenir shop actually called Parts Unknown. Additionally, the shop is located only a few doors down from one of the places Anthony Bourdaine visited on the Season 2 episode where he travels around New Mexico; the Five and Dime, a shop where he gets a Frito Chili Pie, a commonly served dish in New Mexico.

I did not end up getting the Frito Chili Pie, as there were a limited number of meals I could have here in Santa Fe. I mostly just looked around at the souvenirs available in this shop, which featured Santa Fe’s connection to one of my favorite aspects of American History, route 66 (although the route bypassed Santa Fe starting in 1937).

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I ended up going to a place called Horesman’s Haven, a small restaurant on the edge of Santa Fe famous for authentic New Mexican style food where Anthony Bourdaine was caught off guard by the level of spice in their green chili.

My chili was not quite as spicy, but still packed quite a punch. I am glad it did! Many people try to avoid spicy food while on vacation, to avoid experiencing an upset stomach while far from home. In this case, the level of spice was an important part of the experience. Life is meant to be experienced. Some people spend their entire lives trying to avoid bad outcomes. In my view this is a sure fire way to miss out on countless rewarding experiences. Bad outcomes are going to happen. We just need to manage them in our own way. Missing out on a whole bunch of experiences, and I am talking about things much more significant than one high quality meal, bears a much greater cost than the occasional unfavorable outcome.

I am guessing this is the attitude taken by the unexpectedly high number of people who make a living as an artist in this town. In the downtown part of Santa Fe, it seemed like half of all buildings house art galleries. Santa Fe is known for art galleries, but there seemed to be way more than is necessary to support a town of roughly 70,000 people, even if all of those people are wealthy and have dozens and dozens of pieces of artwork hanging from all of their walls.

Like New Mexico as a whole, Santa Fe appears to have an interesting set of values that does not fit neatly into one of the categories we have become familiar with. It is western, but also European. It is cowboy, but also quite diverse.

It is a state capital, but has a state capital building that looks nothing like any of the other ones I have seen across the country.

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It is the kind of place that erects historical markers dedicated to fiscal responsibility, an important, even if not flashy, achievement, and one that reflects the western values of personal responsibility.

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It is also a place that erects building dedicated to the memory horrible death marches in Europe.

It is both “old world”, and “new world”. It does what we all need to do, both in our own cities, and more importantly, individually. It combines old ideas with new ideas in a way that uniquely represents its individual identity.

Life in a Northern Town

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It’s 8 AM on a Thursday morning in Reykjavik, Iceland’s Capitol and largest City. The sun has yet to come up, as this far north (64 degrees latitude) days are still quite short in the middle part of February. A quiet dawn persists over the town for nearly two hours, from 8 to about 10. A couple of local teenagers are hanging outside the grocery store. A group of tourists can be seen hanging outside one of the few restaurants that are open. Otherwise, the streets are quite empty, and the shops are mostly closed.

It’s odd because, in many most major cities, 8:00 is the peak of what is often referred to as “rush hour”. It is a time of people hurrying to and from train stations, and crowding highways trying to get to work. Even in the more touristy sections of cities, which this most certainly is, a lot of motion can still be found at this hour. At places like Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, and New York’s Time Square, which are utterly packed with tourists nearly every day, there are still plenty of people to be found at 8:00 on a weekday morning, mostly people headed into work. Here, that culture just does not seem to exist. Are all the office jobs elsewhere? Do people have office jobs? Do they work different hours? Or is the economy so heavy on tourism and fishing that there is just no point in being awake at an hour when all the tourists are likely still asleep and the sun is not out?

By noon, things start to pick up. On some days, the sun comes out and hits the harbor. At this latitude, when it hits the harbor, it hits it in a way that seems to highlight every single feature, from the boats in the harbor to the snowy mountains on the other side. From the perspective of someone that has always lived in the mid-latitudes, is feels neither like mid-day nor twilight. It is a different feeling altogether, and those who take a pause from their tourist itinerary and truly soak up the moment are reminded as to why it is worthwhile to visit different places in the first place; to see something, experience something, do something that cannot be done at home.

The day progresses. Tourists fill streets whose names are too intimidating to even try to pronounce, make their way into the bars, the restaurants, and the dozens of souvenir stores that feature a gigantic stuffed puffin in the window.

The weather inevitably changes- but, well it doesn’t.

There is this saying, “if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it will change.” Anyone that travels on a regular basis to places outside the tropics has most likely heard the phrase too many times to count. It is used here. At souvenir shops, mugs and shirts about Iceland sport the phrase. And, it is true to some extent. At any moment, it can turn from sunny to cloudy, or suddenly get windy. But, the temperature does not vary too much. On a four day trip to Iceland, the temperature, including daytime and nighttime, seemed to only vary between a few degrees below freezing and a few degrees above freezing.

Regardless of these changes, winter in Iceland is consistently cold and damp. For this reason, one of the most popular items made in all of Iceland are wool sweaters. While any visitor to Reykjavik can find these sweaters for sale all over town, the best deals on them are found at the Kolaportid Flea Market. Even at the Flea Market, though, they can be quite expensive, the equivalent of roughly $100. Money talks, and it is easy to figure out what a certain culture values by seeing what they are willing to spend money on. Coloradans are willing to spend thousands of dollars annually on ski equipment. Icelanders are willing to spend money on a warm wool sweater.

Reykjavik’s population is only just over 200,000 people. In fact, the population of all of Iceland is 330,000- significantly less than every borough of New York City, even Staten Island. Yet, it is a place that knows how to party! The nightlife is surprisingly good- probably better than many towns 2-3 times its size!

Making up for the lack of action at 9 in the morning, festivals, shows, and clubs give locals and tourists alike plenty to do in the nighttime hours. Iceland has been promoting tourism quite hard since the economic collapse of 2008, which hit Iceland particularly hard. Iceland Air has been particularly active in promoting tourism, by adding direct flights to more places in both Europe and North America, possibly with the goal of becoming a preferred airport for making connections while traveling between Europe and North America.

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Looking at this map, it is hard not to imagine an executive with Iceland Air looking at at map, possibly even Risk the board game, and thinking of this grand plan to become a connecting point between the continents.

Well, it’s working. Recently, more people talk about Reykjavik being their favorite place to make flight connections, and more and more people seem to have visited Iceland. At this point, in Reykjavik, it is probably impossible for locals and tourists not to interact with one another in some way, especially at clubs and shows.

After hours of partying, all of a sudden it is 4 AM. Many clubs still have lines to get in!

At 5 AM, on the streets, music can still be heard coming from multiple directions. In fact, by this hour, it almost becomes easier to find a place to eat than it was at 9 AM on Thursday morning.

Sometime in the next few hours, the blurry memory of a fun filled night fades into the next morning, likely to be delayed through at least part of that lengthy twilight period. In my particular case, it faded into the realization that it is now noon, and Millions of New Yorkers (where the local time is 7 A.M.), despite the time difference, have woken up before me on the other side of the Atlantic!

I only spent four days in Iceland. I do not know the full extent of life in this nearly arctic city of Reykjavik. I only know what I experience in this short period of time, where I did the best I could to experience the local culture. Regardless, it does appear quite different from any place I have ever been.

NYC- Sort of Home

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Few places have as high of a profile as New York City. Few places inspire as much thought and discussion, and, in North America, there are few places that are portrayed as frequently in popular culture. New York is one of those places that everybody has a reaction to. Some are in awe of it, see it as some kind of magical place where excitement looms around every corner and dreams come true every day. Some see it as intimidating. Others resent the influence it has on our culture.

At 8.5 Million, New York is by far the largest City in the United States of America. This is less than 3 percent of the National Population, but it’s influence expands far beyond its borders. Every day, millions of Americans living nowhere near New York read two major New York publications, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Across the country people look to New York for the latest in business, music, fashion trends, musicals, and more. And, one would be hard pressed to find anyone in North America that does not recognize Time Square at first glance.

Countless shows and movies are set in New York. At Washington Square Park, it is easy to imagine running into Billy on The Street, the cast of Impractical Jokers, or one of the many other shows that often uses this park as a backdrop for crazy antics.

At Rockefeller Plaza, I imagine being in the cast of 30 Rock, or one of the shows that is actually filmed here.

Yet, what I actually encounter here at Rockefeller Plaza is people in suits waiting in line for a salad, and tourists paying far too much money to skate on an ice rink that is far smaller than one would expect.

Day to day life here appears to be some kind of a tradeoff. There are tons of fun places to go, and things to do! I was only in New York for several days, and this was two weeks ago (I am behind on blogs- life gets in the way sometimes), but I am still thinking of all of the great food I had while here.

It must be amazing to have access to the best of pretty much everything the world has to offer right outside your door.

What intimidates me most about the idea of living in New York City (I say idea because I have no specific plans to move) is the work culture. While the experience one has in any job is more related to the particular industry and particular organization in which they chose to work, geographic location does seem to play a part, and, from what I hear, employers in New York expect a lot from their employees. I actually imagine working at a major corporation in New York City as all of the things I hate about the standard working environment; strict hierarchy, lack of caring, people stepping all over each other, feeling disconnected and like just a cog in a machine, dialed up to 11.

Yet, as I walked around New York City, I realized the first thing I would miss is the friendliness. I do not live in the Midwest or the South, the parts of the country known as being the friendliest of all. But, in Colorado, I feel as if I can smile at strangers, and even strike up conversations with random people as I walk around my neighborhood, go to the store, or go about my life in any other normal way. Here, not so much.

What would the average American feel if they were to move to New York City? What would I feel? Would I fall in love with the cultural institutions, concerts, shows, restaurants, and bars open until 6? Or would I see a City full of people who appear to have had the life sucked out of them by their professions, hurrying from meeting to meeting, yet accomplishing nothing.

New York, despite being like no other palce on this continent, is a city of contrasts. Here, in this City, at any given time, there are people having their lives made, and people having their lives ruined! The City is congested. Yet, one can get around the city quite quickly via subway.

It makes every other system of public transit I have ever ridden (with the possible exception of Washington D.C.) seem slow and frustrating.

I walk down 14th Street. The sidewalks are just as crowded as I remember them. People are as eager to shove those who dare to walk slowly out of the way. It is the fast paced, driven New York of every stereotype.

For blocks, the only vegetation one can see is roped off to avoid overuse and destruction. Yet, a few blocks away, one can find a quiet street, and almost find tranquility.

In summary, in New York I feel both at home and in a foreign country at the same time. With how similar it is to the rest of the county in some respects, and how different it is in other respects, I imagine many Americans would feel the same way. I guess that is why some people would love to call this place home, while others would be frightened by the very idea of it.

Where New England Begins

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Everyone has this idea in their head of the ideal place to live. For some, it is right in the middle of something; the middle of the big city where everything is happening, the middle of the woods, or somewhere else one can truly immerse themselves in the kinds of activities they enjoy most. For others, it is places like this, places that are kind of on the edge of two worlds, that combine easy access to several types of amenities.

Greenwich, Connecticut is literally the first town across the border from New York State. Since the people of New York, and the people of New England have a mutual preference to not include New York in the region known as “New England”, this is the exact place where one enters New England.

But, how much does one really feel like they are in New England when here? The town is clearly a suburb of New York City. There is no unincorporated area that separates Greenwich from the adjacent suburbs that are part of New York State. With an express train, one can be at Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan in around 40 minutes.

The town does have a New England-like charm. One needs only travel, by foot, several minutes away from Greenwich Ave. (the town’s main street), and the train station, before they enter an area of windy roads, dense trees and quaint houses one often associates with New England.

It has a charming downtown, as well as a “Commons” outside their City Hall, which is something I have come to associate with New England, as I had not seen areas like this referred to as a “Commons” in other regions of the country.

Perhaps one of Greenwich’s greatest attributes is the beach in an area referred to as “Old Greenwich”.

One of the largest beaches in the area, and one of the few that permits dogs, it attracts a significant number of people, even on a dreary day in January.

Once again, here at the waterfront, one can see where this town sits geographically. Even on a cloudy day, at the end of the Peninsula that extends southward into the Long Island Sound, one can see both the rocky shores that pop up the along the shores of New England, extending all the way from here to Maine, but can also see the skyline of New York City.

Around town, I got that same hybrid-like vibe. The pace of life is definitely different from New York City. In New York City, people appear to have some kind of sense of urgency in everything they do. I tell people who have never lived in New York to imagine the second or third most stressful day of their past year and assume that every person around them is having that kind of day. In the short amount of time I spent in Greenwich, I did not sense nearly that level of urgency in the people around me.

Greenwich’s New York-like and New England-like characteristics are overshadowed by one characteristic that seems to define everything here; wealth!

Dealerships selling expensive cars, even Bentleys, line U.S. highway 1 coming into town. The beachfronts are lined with large, multi-million dollar homes, and downtown is lined with shops selling expensive designer brands.

Gucci, Louie, Michael Kors… I do not even know the name of all of them. Frankly, I do not even care. I can never picture, even if one day I become this wealthy, choosing to spend my money that way. The only reason I know the names I do know is that they pop up in popular song lyrics, particularly rap music. While sometimes I can get extremely annoyed by designer brands, particularly if I am EVER pressured into making a purchase, I cannot help but have some kind of odd admiration for the people that managed to market them, and, convince people to spend the amount of money they do on such products.

The people who create and market designer products have a keen understanding of human psychology (albeit, they could have used it for a better purpose). Anytime anyone spends money (and sometimes time) on something, they want to know what they are getting. It is the same dynamic that takes place when we ask our friend regarding their experience with a specific doctor, or a real estate agent. We do not know what we are getting. Through brands, we create trust. “I know Subarus won’t break down on me”. Or, “I trust the Cohen brothers to make a good film.” So, we buy the product. Those that created these designer brands managed to create a reputation so powerful that millions of people worldwide purchase this product when they could easily purchase something similar for a fraction of the price!

The two main things that stop people from living in that “ideal place” in their heads are job availability and money (which are closely related). The fact that people with this amount of additional money chose to live here speaks volumes to Greenwich’s appeal as a place that combines the best of both worlds. People who live here seem to have the best of both worlds; easy access to New York City, the city with more amenities than any other in the country, and fairly easy access to outdoor activities. Friends that moved here from Manhattan tell me that the move has reduced the travel time to nearly all outdoor activities (hiking, skiing, the beach) by 30-60 minutes. While it’s easy to come here and be envious of the fortunes here, it is also quite easy to see, even from someone who might have a different “ideal place” in mind, why people chose to live here.

Going Back to My Roots

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“If you know your history, then you’ll know where you’re coming from”, Bob Marley explains in his classic hit song Buffalo Soldier. It’s hard to really know how many places the functional equivalent of this phrase has been uttered throughout the history of mankind.

What does it mean to “know your history”, or “know where you’ve been”? Is it sufficient to know your personal story? Or, do you need to know the story of your parents, and your family’s ancestors? How deeply must we understand the cause and effect relationships of events in the past? After all, history, whether we are talking about it in an academic sense or in a personal narrative is about more than just facts. When asked, nearly all people can recite the rudimentary factual aspects of their lives. Where they were born, what schools they attended, when they moved, married, changed jobs, etc. I always wonder, though, whether they understand their life’s events more deeply, how certain things impact one another, what emotions were involved, and what events were significant. In other words, do they understand the “story” of their lives?

This holiday season, and by holiday season I am referring to Christmas and New Years, was kind of a trip back through my own history, or at least the places where said history took place. First, Christmas was spent in the suburbs of Chicago, with my immediate family. I spent a little bit of time in the City of Chicago, with friends, which is where I spent the four years before moving to Denver. But, I largely spent that time in Buffalo Grove, a sort of typical suburb 35 miles northwest of downtown, and the place where I spent my Junior High and High School years.

It’s been said, particularly of Millennials, that young adults go home for the holidays and revert into their teenager mode, subconsciously, because they have returned to the setting of their teenage years. For me, it is a little bit more complicated. Some things are the same, but some things are different. Some things get a little bit more different every year. There is the obvious course of change any particular location undergoes over time; that restaurant that closed, with a new one opening in its place, the road that was reconstructed and widened on the other side of town, and the new neighbors. But there’s also a strange change in how we respond to things, sometimes things that are exactly the same as they were in previous years.

Over the course of our lives, we periodically re-examine things (I do this more than most). Maybe it’s a different experience, or being exposed to a different point of view on something, or some major event. Each year we come back with a slightly different perspective, and, that experience, which was the same exact one we had last year, the year before, and back when we were 14, is viewed differently in our own minds. When it comes specifically to what my family does, both during the holidays, as well as in life in general, there are mixed emotions. There are some things my family does that I did not really appreciate with I was younger, but have found a new appreciation for. There are other things now seem strange to me. I am guessing many people who have moved a significant distance away from “home” have a similar experience at the holidays.

The Chicago area is not my full history. The first 11.5 years of my life, I lived in New York, outside of New York City on Long Island. I didn’t specifically travel to New York on New Years Eve as part of some plan to revisit my past.

But, the two practically back-to-back trips did line up in a manner where I could not help but think along these lines. New Years is already a time when people reflect on their lives. Having just spent time in the place where I spent my recent past, and now being in a place where parts of my early childhood unfolded, I could not help but think it is time for me to re-connect with who I am.

The move from New York to Chicago, my college and graduate school experience, jobs and more recent move to Colorado are the rudimentary facts of my life. My “history”, is the memories, the periodic experiences, the kind of person I was and the kind of people I was around. It is something that is remembered, hopefully accurately, and something that can be reconnected with, but only partially. The New York of 2016 is not the New York of the 1990s. Neighborhoods have made transitions, different kinds of people have both left and moved in, and some of the things one will experience here are significantly different.

However, some of the things are the same. And, while I was not reliving a childhood event, coming back to the places where our formative years unfolded can help us reconnect with our roots. Through this experience, I feel like I am being called to return to my roots, the person I am, naturally, rather than the person we are all pressured to become as we adults in today’s world. It’s like 2016 begun with what the year’s theme needs to be. Outside of whatever negative feedback we have received, the adjustments we have made to be accepted, and who we were told to be, there is a person inside of all of us, the person we naturally are. In this midst of everything I do in my adult life, this is a person I need to not lose sight of. It is a person many of us need to reconnect with. It is my sincere hope that in 2016, we all reconnect with our roots both individually and collectively.

Festival Season

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Several years back, I spent a considerable amount of time fascinated with the question; What makes someone an “interesting person”? I guess it was just the time we were living in (around 2010- but it’s still true now). People had become exponentially more distracted by social media over the past half a decade. Every job posting had 200 applications. To get by in the world suddenly seemed to require the ability to get people’s attention. It suddenly did not feel like enough to just simply be competent and friendly. The most precious resource had suddenly become attention, and the amount of time one had to make an impression on people was ever shrinking.

So I took stock of the people in my life, the people I saw, the people I knew, and even people I had just heard about. I knew that there were some people I found interesting for some reason. I really tried to determine why that was. What was it about some people that made their names come up in conversation more frequently? I went through this quandary in my head about the delicate balance between being “too normal” and not having anything distinct about yourself and being “too weird” and not being able to relate to people.

In true extrovert fashion, I did not really figure out what it was about until I started asking other people about it. I asked my friends what people they found interesting and why. And, I realized what is true for me, as well as everybody else on this planet. Some people find me interesting, and some people don’t, the same way I find some people interesting and others not. I even realized that there are people in my life that I had not necessarily found interesting, but could see how they could be interesting to other, different kinds of people. I actually thought about those people that write those celebrity fashion blogs and report live from award shows. I seriously still can’t think of anything I care less about than who wins the Oscars. But, some people love it, and a lot of people love those blogs.

Nobody bores every single person they meet. Also, nobody captivates everyone they meet. But, some people do manage to find a way to relate to a larger proportion of the population than others. We all know that one person that is always talking about the same things, and doing the same things. And, when we get together with them we know it is going to be the same old same old.

Maybe all they do is work…

Or maybe they’ve got some cause they just won’t ever shut up about….

Or, they just really only have one interest. When that happens, well, you can only relate to people who happen to share that interest. When one cultivates a variety of interests, they are able to relate to a greater subset of the population. Not only are more people going to find them interesting, but they are going to find a way to show genuine interest in the lives of more people.

So, while I love to travel, I realize that it is not for everybody. The average American works 47 hours a week. And the average commute is approaching half an hour each way. Many spend much more than that standard five hours a week in their cars as it is. So, I completely understand why, for many people, the idea of hoping in a car Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, spending several hours in it, and doing the same on Sunday, just simply does not sound appealing. I will always find the allure of new places, different experiences, and different cultures worth the effort, but many want to find activities closer to home.

This does not mean they are not interesting people, and this does not mean that I cannot find them interesting. Last weekend, right here in Denver, I was able to attend three festivals; all within 4 miles of home.

At the Denver Brew Festival, with over 50 different participating breweries, and unlimited drinks for $35, one is pretty much guaranteed to be trying beer they have yet to try before.

At the Underground Music Showcase, countless people get exposed to bands, and even musical stylings that they have never been exposed to before.

And, it is hard to top a free concert downtown with Aloe Blacc and Capital Cities!

But one does not need to even go to crazy festivals to be interesting and open to new experiences. At the end of the weekend, I came to the realization that everything I had done this weekend, everything that seemed new and exciting, is something that I can really do whenever I want. And, I live in a medium-sized city, not New York.

If I want to try a new kind of beer, I can go to a microbrewery I have not been to. I think there is a new one opening up every weekend somewhere in Metro Denver.

Most cities have some sort of a local music scene, with local bands playing at a bar for a $5 or $10 cover. In fact, I have had some amazing nights out going to some of these shows!

And, nothing is stopping us from changing the radio station, finding a new channel on Pandora, or asking those around us to expose us to new music that is already out there.

Every day is the opportunity to experience something new. Taking advantage of more of these opportunities is no guarantee that the next time you meet an attractive stranger, a fun potential friend with an active social circle, or that person with the job opportunity of a lifetime, that that particular person will find you interesting. But, it does make the odds much more favorable.

Lone Star Capital

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It is with some amount of hesitation that I visited Austin, Texas. Compared to other cities in the same region, of similar size, and with similar recent economic fortune, it gets talked about a lot in certain circles. I am quite cautious about simply parroting what is said and done by others. I am not a complete hipster. I do take part in some things that are very popular. But, I just want to make sure that whatever I choose to do, particularly with my own time, I do for my own reasons. It is for that reason I never read the Harry Potter books, or watched certain mega-popular television shows.

Additionally, I know a lot of people who care way more deeply about certain hot-button social issues than I do. So, when I hear people talk about Austin instead of San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas, cities in Texas that are also rapidly growing, I can’t help but feel a bit skeptical. I want to visit a place because it is interesting, not because it has people with certain viewpoints on things that others think is important.

What I saw in Austin, Texas, though was that the place is interesting on its own merits. As soon as I landed at the airport, I saw sculptures of guitars displaying Austin’s pivotal live music scene.

The river that runs through the center of town, oddly enough also called the Colorado River (I am accustomed to thinking of the Colorado river as running from Rocky Mountain National Park, through the Grand Canyon and down to Mexico), is a center for all kinds of interesting outdoor activity. Numerous kayaks, stand up paddleboards, and these water bicycle things that I haven’t before seen, could be found on the river at any time of day I rolled past it. Additionally, it is on the Congress Ave. Bridge over this river that one of the largest bat colonies live. Every evening, sometime around dusk, the colony of bats swarms outside for some reason. People line up on this bridge before sundown to watch every day!

The nightlife there is also quite amazing. There are several areas of town that have bars, restaurants, and plenty of youthful, vibrant activity. It felt like everywhere I went, even at times like 10 in the morning, I would hear some kind of live music coming from some direction.

There is certainly no shortage of things to do for fun people. My evening in Austin ended at one of the best dancing bars I have ever been to, a place called Barbarella, which was recommended to me by a co-worker. It is the kind of bar I wish I had in my hometown, a place where a lot of people are dancing, but without the high prices and pretention of some of the clubs one will find in major cities. This bar had a large dance floor, which was periodically infused with fog from a fog machine, some interesting lighting, and affordable drinks. And, on the night that I was there, they were playing nothing but 80s music. It was the kind of crowd where a lot of people were just letting loose and seeing where the night takes them. With the number of college students and recent grads in the area, I could not help but fixate on the high likelihood that at least one person there on the dance floor was “hooking up” with someone to the exact same (80s) song that their own parents first “hooked up” to without even knowing it!

All over town were reminders of youth, and all things youthful. Of course, there is the campus. Last weekend, while I was there, a new student visit weekend was taking place. So, the streets were filled with people, young and energetic, excited about the new chapter of their lives they were preparing to start. Remembering it, there is nothing like this first time you go out on your own, something every 17 or 18 year old wearing those maroon t-shirts were preparing for in less than two months. I could feel the excitement as people explored, formed new bonds, took pictures displaying the Longhorn signal, and just looked forward to what is to come.

Also, while at one of the live music clubs, I accidentally (as in I did not plan this) wandered into a room where one of the scenes in the movie Boyhood had taken place. The movie, released last year, follows the life of a boy growing up from age 6 to age 18, when he goes off to college. I particularly related to the main character in this movie, as he grew up and developed his own set of thoughts and values. In one scene he goes on a rant about how people use facebook that seriously could have matched word for word something I had said a few years earlier! All this served as a reminder of how magical that part of life really is. The hope, the promise, and the excitement of making yourself into what you are to become is one that really cannot be matched.

Oddly enough, in Austin, I may have found a place that shares my values, including the very values that made me hesitant to visit the place in the first place. This poster particularly resonated with me. I just wish I could have gotten a better picture of it. It’s hard to get a picture of a lit up sign like this in Texas, in the sun, in the middle of the day.

The phrase “Stop Being Livestock” is definitely a play on the University’s team name; The Longhorns. But it definitely also depicted how I, and many of us, feel sometimes in the working world. I mean, every large organization has a department called “Human Resources”. Just thinking about that phrase gives me goose bumps sometimes. That person, sitting in the cubical farm, is a “resource”. Maximizing that resources’ output sounds a lot like fattening up a cow, or getting as many eggs from a chicken as possible.

Around town I heard plenty of intellectual discussions like this one. Some locals described Austin as having an uber-sized commitment to individuality. It appeared as if this commitment was genuine, based on everything I had seen around town.

From the intellectual nature of discussions, to the outdoor activities people engage in, as well as all of the bike lanes I saw all over town, it felt like a place that shared my values. I would definitely be more likely to find people that understand me here than in many other places. It is just ironic that these were the values that made me more hesitant to come to Austin in the first place.

The New Place in Town

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When we think of “travel”, we usually think of the process of someone physically transporting themselves to another location, and, through that travel, experiencing something different from what they typically experience in their home towns. And, it is that experience that I typically write about on this blog. But, travel is actually a two way street. Sometimes, the experiences of another place comes to us in our hometowns. If it weren’t for this second form of travel, us Americans would not know about many cultural institutions near and dear to us, like burritos, yoga, sushi, or reggae music.

With the level of mobility in and out of, as well as within the United States of America, our culture ends up being in a constant state of flux. Case in point, I remember when I was 12 years old going out for Thai food for this first time in my life, and thinking it was strange and exotic. Nowadays, one can find Thai restaurants everywhere. It’s become just as standard as pizza, another result of experiences of other lands coming to us, in our diet.

I must admit that last year, I had no idea what Detroit Style Pizza was. In fact, I had no idea that Detroit even had a style of pizza. To be fair though, having grown up partially in New York and partially in Chicago, two large cities known for their pizza, it had never really occurred to me that any place other than those two had a style of pizza. By the time I had reached college, I had pretty much, in my head, categorized all pizza into three different categories; New York style thin crust pizza, Chicago’s deep dish pizza, and everything else, with Papa Johns typically taking the title for the least offensive member of this category (in my head).

But, since then, I had learned that Saint Louis, Colorado, and New Haven, Connecticut, all also have their own style of pizza. So, when my friend told me about his upcoming business venture, opening up a restaurant serving Detroit style pizza, the concept did not sound completely foreign to me. And, it helped that he did a really good job of describing it to me. Through some research on my own, I later learned that Detroit style pizza has been around since the 1940s. Yet, Denver, like everywhere else, appears to have suddenly become aware of this pizza style within the last couple of years.

Blue Pan Pizza opened 10 days ago in the West Highland neighborhood of Denver, one of Denver’s trendier neighborhoods. It is a growing neighborhood in a growing city, with a lot going on. It also appears to be a popular place for young families. Both at Blue Pan, and at other nearby bars, I noticed a lot of babies and small children in the area. So, I guess it is a good thing that the pizza turned out to be good, thus giving me no reason to swear in front of the children in the restaurant.

As a general rule, I try the best I can to go “all in” when trying something new, and get the authentic experience. So, while Blue Pan also offers standard Italian, and thin crust pizzas, I ordered the authentic Detroit style, as recommended by my friend, and restaurant co-owner Giles Flanagin. One of the pizza styles is actually called “the 313” which appeals to my love of area codes (I celebrate “Area Code Day” every year). The other pizza I ordered was called the “Brooklyn Bridge”.

I ended up really enjoying the pizza, as did the rest of my party. Two other places in Denver offer Detroit style pizza. I have yet to try the other two, so I have no means of direct comparison. However, Giles had mentioned to me the importance they place on the quality of their ingredients, which I believe is why I ended up enjoying the pizza.

More than having a good meal, and being exposed to a completely new kind of food, I found myself just genuinely feeling happy that evening. I was happy for my friend. I was happy for my city. I was happy for the neighborhood. Ultimately, I was happy to have seen someone take an idea, something that starts out as just a bunch of words and images inside their head, and turn it into a reality. It was right there in front of me, and completely real and completely successful. Wow!

And, amazingly, although I desire more than anything in the world to be able to create an enterprise of my own, I did not even feel any envy. Everyone is better off, and one person successfully executing an idea does not preclude another from doing so with a different idea. In fact, seeing that it can be done should provide hope to all Americans who one day hope to have an impact on the world beyond just doing work and keeping a job.

Who knows what the future holds for Blue Pan, and the entire Detroit Style pizza industry. American culture is in constant flux. Some new entries to our mainstream culture stick permanently, while others die off. In the 1990s, the cultural experience of Seattle’s coffee drinking scene traveled to the rest of the country. It stayed. A few years later, the southern cultural experience of Krisy Kreme donuts also came to us. It left. Will Detroit style pizza stay with us? Only time will tell. But, it appears to be off to a good start.

The Action Story

Learning about the world and about ourselves through travel and experiences

Category Archives: cities

When You Don’t Appreciate What You Have

A Visit to Albuquerque

An Old World Town in a New World Region

Life in a Northern Town

NYC- Sort of Home

Where New England Begins

Going Back to My Roots

Festival Season

Lone Star Capital

The New Place in Town