We still need to wrap this up, do we not?
Of course, since it's been a fair few days since I got back home, I may have forgotten a number of things.
Apr 21 - A tiny hole in the groundThat was the day we undertook a hike in a canyon, the name of which I'm sure I'd remember if I'd taken to writing this textwall any earlier than two weeks after the fact. Shame on me. (EDIT: it's Castlewood Canyon. Good thing one of us has a working cranial memory card.)
It's a nice little national park fairly close to Denver, anyway. Fraze's parents drove us down after a brief interlude at the outlet mall we
browsed way back on February 10th. We got to the park just about around closing time, but it mostly just meant that the place was devoid of people and we could engage in some wonderful beautiful Trails.
The trail looks more or less like a ping-pong paddle. It goes down into the canyon and ends with a closed loop so when you get to the fork, you get to choose whether to turn back or do the loop. We did most of the loop after a shortcut.
Apr 22 - I Can Climb The Highest Mountain...except we didn't, because even we aren't insane enough.
This was kind of a brief driveyaroundy day in the nearby Rockies. We went to Mt Evans, or rather to the trailhead that leads to the very top of Mt Evans. It was what, 14 miles?
One day.
Apr 23 - ?Yeah, I don't know >> At one point we went to an awesome Mexican restaurant (man, do I miss Mexican food) and then browsed a few nearby stores and I got myself a dress because clearly my bags weren't stuffed enough for the flight back, but that's also all I remember about that day.
Apr 24 - Clearly a BargainAlso known as auction day. Fraze's dad digs through auctions on a regular basis and we decided to tag along that day. He took us to IKEA first, simply because I hadn't been to one in ages (only seen one once, in Finland). It felt... surprisingly like home, really. It's crisp and simple and no-nonsense and very Nordic and that's really pretty much how Scandinavia (and my homebits, aka Scandinavia-in-denial) looks like.
The auctionhouse was maybe half an hour from there and filled with fascinating stuff. One day, when I'm rich enough and have a house fancy enough, I'll buy myself a pair of stuffed bears. In your face, solicitors.
The auctions usually last a long time, so Fraze and I decided to bail out early once we'd been through all the stuff, and took the bus back. Turned out that it wasn't exactly the best part of town. Being the racial minority on a bus was kind of an interesting experience, really.
Apr 25 - Rolling RocksYesh, I know, those titles keep getting lamer. You try staying creative and punny for three months straight.
That was the day we spent driving around the foothills of the Rockies again. The area is chock full of cute little towns begging to be discovered, and that's exactly what we did.
It's also chock full of casino towns begging to be discovered in much more flashy and desperate ways. We checked one out, out of sheer curiosity. It was everything you'd expect from the movies, minus the Bonds and busty chicks in glittery dresses. Most people in there look really, really gloomy. Ain't no such thing as having fun in a casino.
The town of Central City wasn't too far from there, and that's a much less desperate-looking place. It has its casinoes, but is mostly just an adorable mountain town. We visited the city hall, which is old and nifty and apparently haunted.
Central City.
Then we drove down the Oh My God Road, named by numerous people who ever drove down its narrow, unpaved, steep, railing-free insanity. It had a glorious view.
Oh my god, I love this view.
After a few more pretty mountain towns, we detoured to Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater that seemed to be a haven for people who want a good exercise. Got more info on geology than I've ever gotten on my own home country (shame on me, yep).
A jail? Your attempt at catching the pirate queen is adorably cute at best.
Red Rocks.
April 26 - Another Poetic Frame, this time of the 16th Street Mall that we'd briefly browsed on the 3rd, for nothing else than Mexican food because there was a snowstorm.
(Mexican foooood D:)
It was a fairly nice sunny day, so we got to see more or less the entirety of the mall, plus the Capitol (we couldn't get in, go figure) and the famous Cash Register Building, and I got my bro a shirt.
The Convention Center has a big blue bear. Because why not.
It does look like a cash register, innit?
April 27 - ?Yeah, I don't know again >> Stuff presumably happened. Nothing that's recorded itself on our cameras or brains.
April 28 - ??Still got nothing. Chances are I got packed at one point. We also went for walkies. And had an earlyish night because I had a 11:10 flight the following morning and we all had to get up by 6, on account of Fraze's parents being nice enough to drive me to the airport.
April 29 to oh gods timezones - Bon VoyageDidn't sleep well. Of course I didn't. I never sleep well when I have a big event coming up and know that I have to get up early. It used to bug the living daylight out of me and make me cranky, but at some point I resigned to my insomniac ways and anyway if I get coffee in the morning, I can drift around pretty well in a happy dizzy haze.
(Besides, being awake and conscious = more time spent with Sir Snoresalot xD)
So yeah, we were all up at 6, had a sleepy sort of breakfast that was to be my last proper meal until the other side of the world, and set off for the airport.
There may have been a bit of gushing, and a bit of snuggles, and a bit of handholding, and general last-minute sap. Funny thing with being constantly together for 88 days is, you get used to it, and then you don't realize how little time you have left over, and then it suddenly happens and it doesn't properly sink in until it hits you in the face. Probably for the better, really, or we would've spent the last couple weeks clinging and fearing the day, and that just would've been depressing. As it was, we made the most of our time, and all the better for it.
Also, we got a better shot at the Denver hellhorse =D *pro at spoiling the sappiness*
Got to the airport, went to check in and stuff as Fraze's parents went off to park the car, made our way to security check and that was it. We shared a final kiss, one to last us through the upcoming months.
(It doesn't really work, but you can't fault us for trying >>)
And off he went, and so did I, not knowing if I was feeling happy or sad or what. Probably a bit of both. I mean, that trip had been in daydreaming stages since at least 2010, I'd spent my entire teaching stint saving up for and looking forward to that one trip, and now it was over. Plus, y'know, that whole leaving Fraze behind thing.
But hey, each happy end is a brand new beginning. (Name the reference, win a cookie.)
Not that it was really over, because I was still in Denver. The rest was endless patience in cramped airplanes waiting to get home. Had the one flight to Minneapolis on time, followed by a brief-ish layover and another transatlantic flight to Amsterdam. Nine and a half hours. Read a bit of Pratchett's
Making Money, decided to give in-flight movies a go, watched Puss in Boots (decent), Johnny English Reborn (pretty good) and Toy Story 3 (cut in half because the plane was landing just as Ken was shakin' his booty, which isn't a mental image I recommend for being stuck in anyone's brain as they head out for a long layover).
Interesting thing is, I got out of the US without anyone checking my passport. For all my fussing about not overstaying my visa time, nobody would've been any wiser if I'd left a month later. I only had to show the passport when getting into Amsterdam, which was a breeze because nya-ha-ha EU citizen. Then I finished Making Money during my layover and sat bored for an hour. Finally got home a few days later; home here meaning Tallinn airport, which is still a few hours out from my hometown. It was 1 p.m. on the 30th. No sleep since 6 a.m. MST on the 29th.
The parentses treated me to... lunch/dinner/very late midnight snack/I don't even know any more, and I got home proper at 6 p.m. or so.
Then went online and stayed up until 1 a.m. because this is how I roll.
***
This feels a bit like it's owed an epilogue.
What can I say? You just followed a thread that itself followed three months' worth of a journey in more than one meaning, an insane once-in-a-lifetime sort of journey I undertook with the love of my life (and which we, more importantly, both survived without slitting each other's throats x3). What do you even say to end something like that?
Until next time, I suppose.