Denver Recap

It's been a week so maybe I should start reminiscing before I forget what happened? HeHe.

Friday:
When we were starting our descent to Denver International Airport (DIA), we went through crazy turbulence. Can I just say how much I hate turbulence? Shaking is fine, but when the plane starts bobbing up and down, then that's when I start holding on to the arm rests. {;P Anyway, I look out the window and all I see is fields...barren fields. It's entirely different from what you see when you leave/land at Sea-Tac Airport! I get off the plane and proceeded to baggage claim. DIA is HUGE! My gosh, the city consists of barren fields, but they have a huge airport. Weird! I found my way to baggage claim and waited for my bags. The night before, my brother called and said he wouldn't be able to pick me up from the airport because it's an hour away from the hotel, he'll have to go through 2 toll roads, and he didn't know where to go. Instead of relaxing the night before, I was calling long distance to Denver, trying to figure out which shuttle to take, etc. So, while I waited for my duffle bag, I heard an "Excuse me." I was like, "Great, who the heck is trying to pick me up?!" All I wanted was to be left alone. I mean, did he not see the scowl on my face, clearly indicating "No strangers allowed"? The guy goes, "Did you just get off the Seattle flight?" First thought that came to mind, "Dammit, I have a stalker!" HeHe. Then, the guy says, "Are you...?" Then, it finally clicked! It's cousin R from Chicago! He's 1 of 2 cousins that I had yet to meet. So apparently, someone was supposed to pick him up at the airport, but they missed each other. Ate R, who was getting married, told R to wait for me, and he and I could catch a ride to the hotel together. Great, I didn't have to be alone afterall!

After getting on Shamrock Express at $21/person (Thanks to my knowledge because R was CLUELESS about getting from Denver to Longmont...and he was there at the airport for 2.5 hours before me!), we started our 1-hour shuttle ride. Boonies! I have never, ever seen such boonies in my life. If you've ever been to Yakima, WA, it's like that...but worse! I couldn't believe it! Being that R is from Chicago, and me from Seattle, we were like, "Oh my God!" in between our constant laughter. We changed shuttles and met Debbie the Driver. She liked us. HaHa. I guess, it's interesting to hear city folks' reaction to Longmont, CO. HeHe. We got to the hotel safely and ate before proceeding to the church for the wedding rehearsal.

Once at the church, I saw the majority of the U.S. cousins whom I haven't seen since 1997. My Ninang C from Manila was also there, who I haven't seen for 14 years since I didn't see her when I was in Manila in 2002. We proceeded back to the hotel afterwards. When we got to the hotel room, Cousin Kuya B from Houston finally got there, thanks again to my instructions to get his butt on Shamrock Express. He said that Debbie mentioned to him that she enjoyed our company when R and I were on the shuttle. HaHa!

For the rest of the night, we just hung out. My girl cousins were doing the Martha Stewart thing in their hotel room, finishing the small details for the wedding. Since I can't hang with girls when they're doing girly stuff, I hung out with the two boys in the patio where I got schooled on a) the difference between men and women regarding love/relationships, b) how to deal with parents, and c) how traits of generation 1 got passed on to generation 2 successfully. HaHa. Geez!

We stayed up until 1:30 a.m. while we waited for Kuya B's parents to get there. During this time, I got the usual, "Why are you still single?", "You've lost weight since the last wedding" spiels from my Tito B. He was drunk, so one must be really thick skinned to take whatever he threw at the three of us that night.

Since I was up since 6 a.m. that morning, I was glad to finally get some sleep...well, I thought I was going to get some sleep.

Saturday:
I had two hours of sleep, thanks to my mom's snoring. My eyes had huge bags under them, which I have never ever gotten before, and of course, I was cranky. After getting my hair tangled inside the blowdryer (I'm so retarded with kikay stuff, HaHa) and getting my make-up on (my cousin did it for me), we proceeded to the church. Since R and I were both ushers, we were basically together during the entire weekend.

It was a small wedding, a stark contrast from the usual HUGE Filipino weddings that I have been to. Afterwards, the reception was held at Celestial Seasonings. Pure gluttony when the food came, especially when the dessert came (chocolate-covered strawberries, cake, and a lot more cake). We didn't get a chance to get on the dance floor, because there was none. Tsk. Tsk. I sat next to my godsister and her cousin so I got updated with the latest Manila happenings, including Ateneo updates. I really need to get my butt to Boracay. *SIGH. Anyway, I didn't cry at the wedding, but I cried when we were all watching the slideshow at the reception. I found out later that my mascara (or whatever the crap my cousin put on my face) smudged, thanks to my tears, and I looked like a racoon from then on. The majority of the group pics were taken after the slideshow, so yet again, I'm sure I look pretty darn horrible. I swear, formal ocassions are not for me (or at least, at events where I have to be a "girl"). LoL.

After the wedding, I slept. I needed to sleep because the cousins have planned to go out that night and I really wanted to go. My social self truly comes out when I'm with my cousins. {;P I woke up at 6 p.m. and I still hadn't gotten a word about the final details of this night out. My brother, sister-in-law, Ganda Girl, and I drove to Boulder to see what's out there. I found that Boulder is a "better" town compared to Longmont, but they have crazy weather. It would get sunny, then suddenly rain really hard all in a matter of 10 minutes. I was like, "Dang, so you'll never know what to wear that day because you have to prepare for weather changes!" We ate dinner at Noodles & Company. Yum!

When we got back to the hotel, the cousins still hadn't called. Figuring that I was left out because I was the only one left at Residence Inn while they're all at Westin (and that I'm the non-partier out of all of us), I went back to bed. I woke up an hour or so later because I thought the phone rang. Sure enough, my cousins called twice to get my dad to wake me up. But did he wake me up? No! I called Kuya B's number, but only got his voicemail. He didn't get back to me until 2 hours later or something. I totally missed out. *SIGH. I even left 1/4 of my film for this night out...so now I have 1/4 of film unused here in Seattle. Ugh!

Sunday:
Our family went to Downtown Denver. This was probably the last time I'm traveling with my parents. No more, I say! Downtown Denver is dead. Everything was closed. Here in Seattle, shops in downtown are always open. We hung out at 16 Street Mall, this long strip of shops and stores. We ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck and I was given the bill. Sure, give me the bill when we don't eat at a cheapy place! I found my Denver Starbucks City Mug (hooray!) and a couple of souvenir t-shirts. One is quite funny, mind you. Remind me to take a pic of it one of these days.

For dinner, we ate at Texas Roadhouse in Longmont. They have the best bbq ribs ever! You guys gotta try them! One word: gluttony in its true meaning! Afterwards, we visited the newlyweds' house. Ate R's husband is very handy, so he's been working on the house by himself, installing new stuff. Someone has told me before to marry someone who knows how to build things and I can now see why. HeHe.

Monday:
We flew back to Seattle. On our way to the airport, I found out how far Downtown Denver is from DIA AND saw the two toll roads my brother was referring to days before. Tito B's flight to Cali was leaving around the same time as our flight so we were able to hang out one last time at the airport. DIA has a Panda Express at the airport, wee! HeHe.

So, that was Memorial Day Weekend 2004 for me. I'm still not caught up with my sleep and I am dead tired since I'm back to my LOVELY 7-days-a-week routine. The cousins plan to meet up in Las Vegas this summer so hopefully, I'll have the money to participate. I need to make up for my non-involvement on Satuday night...plus, I need to get a Las Vegas Starbucks City Mug! HaHa!