Well, the Democrat National Convention was in full swing in downtown Denver and I just could not stay away. Everyone had been talking about what a mess downtown Denver was. No parking, people everywhere, roads closed, police patrolling with extra force and weaponry! Sounded like a party to me, so I called up a friend who lives in an apartment in the middle of Denver. "Can I party in your town?" DOWN2EARTH was up for the time.
I drove down after my last meeting that day and was not surprised that getting downtown was not easy. The police force had definitely made preparations, one of those being to close roads and trying to figure out how to work your way around those road closures to get downtown was not easy. However this proved to be no challenge for Croft. She did manage to maneuver around all the road closures into the downtown area. Now what?
Parking??
While looking for parking I followed 3 armored vehicles all with the back door wide open (ready when you are) with police dressed in full "bring down the crowd" gear hanging off the sides, ready to go as soon as the next riot broke out. And right behind those 3 vehicles, a golf cart with 3 more police dressed in plain clothes except for the .45s. I followed that parade for 3 blocks until I could finally park in a way over-priced parking garage - Welcome to Denver. I paid almost 30 US to park for the evening and was told that my car could not be secured for that price and to sign ?here? so that the company would not be held liable in case something went DOWN. As far as I could tell the only thing going down was my money.
Once downtown I made my way through the crowds. It was definitely crowded and there were very few places were people were not set up with carts ready to sell an Obama T-shirts, or perhaps a button, pin, shot glass, foam hand with number one finger. There were people everywhere and vendors everywhere. The streets were lined with carts selling Obama everything and the crowd was colored with Colorado Crocs and REI shorts and t-shirts telling the uptight D.C. types to camp, bike and kayak. This scene was dotted by black suites with colorful ties and women dressed in smart suits with shoes and jewelry to match. Even the airport shuttle drivers were complaining about too many suitcases, some packed only with shoes. I twirled around this lovely mix of American culture completely enamored by it all. What a site to behold!!!
And the camera equipment! EVERYWHERE!!! I had never in my life seen so much camera equipment being lugged around. And LUG is the appropriate word here as this stuff is not small I am pretty sure that 1 out of every 3 people had a very large - like the size of small foot stool - camera with all the trimmings and behind that guy was another with a microphone ready to go at any moment. If only I could have thought of something newsworthy to do??
I finally found my good friend down2earth and the mission to find a place to eat and drink started. About half of the places were closed for private events - and of those about 50% had their windows covered in paper so that you could not see in. And there were very impressive, large, terrifying men standing outside just in case you tried to pull a fast one. We chose not to try any fast moves.
While we searched for sustenance we did get to enjoy a little song and dance by the Chicks with Missile Dicks. I took photos with my phone, but those are not easy to share through the internet. Lucky for me the Missile Dick Chicks have a website: MDC News These girls were great! Very well rehearsed!!! What was really funny is that they drew such a big and focused crowd that hot shot politicians - the mayor of Denver and a couple Senators- walked by and no one even noticed - or cared. GO GIRLFRIENDS!!!
The other thing that was very interesting, and gosh I hope this is not specific to the DNC, is that the place was crawling with girls. And when I say girls I mean ?those kind?. (WINK WINK)
Big billboards were going down the streets on cars advertising girls for hire. And, yes, it is illegal, but hiring a girl to dance for you is not. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. And by looking around you could tell that a lot of guys had taken advantage of being out of town and had hired a girl or 2. While down2earth and I enjoyed a beverage at a Russian establishment we noticed a table with 4 "suits". A while after we got our drinks, a very nice lady dropped 4 girls off at the table, exchanged some words and left. The girls introduced themselves, sat down and the party started. We saw this sort of thing happen a few other times as well. And when we walked back to my over-priced parking space we noticed a lot of over-the-top dressed girls in the lines for the clubs waiting to meet up with well, you know...
So the DNC was very interesting. What I learned is this:
Politicians dress better than I do.
People will rip you off if they can.
Politicians like girls.
Missile Dick Chicks ROCK.
I drove down after my last meeting that day and was not surprised that getting downtown was not easy. The police force had definitely made preparations, one of those being to close roads and trying to figure out how to work your way around those road closures to get downtown was not easy. However this proved to be no challenge for Croft. She did manage to maneuver around all the road closures into the downtown area. Now what?
Parking??
While looking for parking I followed 3 armored vehicles all with the back door wide open (ready when you are) with police dressed in full "bring down the crowd" gear hanging off the sides, ready to go as soon as the next riot broke out. And right behind those 3 vehicles, a golf cart with 3 more police dressed in plain clothes except for the .45s. I followed that parade for 3 blocks until I could finally park in a way over-priced parking garage - Welcome to Denver. I paid almost 30 US to park for the evening and was told that my car could not be secured for that price and to sign ?here? so that the company would not be held liable in case something went DOWN. As far as I could tell the only thing going down was my money.
Once downtown I made my way through the crowds. It was definitely crowded and there were very few places were people were not set up with carts ready to sell an Obama T-shirts, or perhaps a button, pin, shot glass, foam hand with number one finger. There were people everywhere and vendors everywhere. The streets were lined with carts selling Obama everything and the crowd was colored with Colorado Crocs and REI shorts and t-shirts telling the uptight D.C. types to camp, bike and kayak. This scene was dotted by black suites with colorful ties and women dressed in smart suits with shoes and jewelry to match. Even the airport shuttle drivers were complaining about too many suitcases, some packed only with shoes. I twirled around this lovely mix of American culture completely enamored by it all. What a site to behold!!!
And the camera equipment! EVERYWHERE!!! I had never in my life seen so much camera equipment being lugged around. And LUG is the appropriate word here as this stuff is not small I am pretty sure that 1 out of every 3 people had a very large - like the size of small foot stool - camera with all the trimmings and behind that guy was another with a microphone ready to go at any moment. If only I could have thought of something newsworthy to do??
I finally found my good friend down2earth and the mission to find a place to eat and drink started. About half of the places were closed for private events - and of those about 50% had their windows covered in paper so that you could not see in. And there were very impressive, large, terrifying men standing outside just in case you tried to pull a fast one. We chose not to try any fast moves.
While we searched for sustenance we did get to enjoy a little song and dance by the Chicks with Missile Dicks. I took photos with my phone, but those are not easy to share through the internet. Lucky for me the Missile Dick Chicks have a website: MDC News These girls were great! Very well rehearsed!!! What was really funny is that they drew such a big and focused crowd that hot shot politicians - the mayor of Denver and a couple Senators- walked by and no one even noticed - or cared. GO GIRLFRIENDS!!!
The other thing that was very interesting, and gosh I hope this is not specific to the DNC, is that the place was crawling with girls. And when I say girls I mean ?those kind?. (WINK WINK)
Big billboards were going down the streets on cars advertising girls for hire. And, yes, it is illegal, but hiring a girl to dance for you is not. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. And by looking around you could tell that a lot of guys had taken advantage of being out of town and had hired a girl or 2. While down2earth and I enjoyed a beverage at a Russian establishment we noticed a table with 4 "suits". A while after we got our drinks, a very nice lady dropped 4 girls off at the table, exchanged some words and left. The girls introduced themselves, sat down and the party started. We saw this sort of thing happen a few other times as well. And when we walked back to my over-priced parking space we noticed a lot of over-the-top dressed girls in the lines for the clubs waiting to meet up with well, you know...
So the DNC was very interesting. What I learned is this:
Politicians dress better than I do.
People will rip you off if they can.
Politicians like girls.
Missile Dick Chicks ROCK.
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