Friday, January 8, 2010

Weekend Update #41: (part 1) Happy New Year!!

The boys and I decided to celebrate New Years in Denver, CO. Our local university hockey team, of which we're season ticket holders, was playing in a non-conference exhibition tournament in Denver, CO. And we didn't need much more of an excuse than that.

Actually, we don't need an excuse at all. But we had one for this trip. :-)

Months ago, we booked our airline tickets (you never know what the driving weather will be in January), booked our hotel rooms, rented ourselves a car.....and this last weekend was finally the time to go!!!!!

I've talked about the weather enough on Facebook and such, so I'll spare you the bulk to the weather updates. Basically, eastern Nebraska is suffering through one of the worst winters they've had in quite a while...and Colorado was experiencing record highs.

It was a fair exchange if you ask me. :-)


And off we go!!

Actually our plane was delayed for quite some time. There was a casket of an American soldier on the plane. We watched from the gate, as the family was escorted to the tarmac by a group of soldiers. The airport watched (with tears) as the flag-draped coffin was loaded into the hearse.

Sobering.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful. (yea!)

The plane smelled like a full diaper. (boo!)

I got to sit next to a pretty cute guy. (yea!)

He smelled horrible. (boo!)

But he wasn't the source of the dirty diaper smell. (yea!)

That smell was coming from somewhere else. (boo!)


The Denver airport is full of some strange and interesting things. Allot of conspiracy theories, rumors, and odd artwork.


Notice everyone in this picture is either screaming, mean looking..or dead. Birds in glass boxes and flames in the background.


I was quite fond of this little guy. He was sitting on a pillar way above everyone...in the baggage claim area. Most didn't notice him sitting there.

After we landed, we headed to the hotel, unpacked our luggage, then walked across the street to a restaurant, called Hacienda, for dinner.


They had quite the tequila selection.

We all said Happy New Year to each other in the hotel elevator after dinner. It was 10:30 Denver time, 11:30 Omaha time...and 12:30 New York time. Close enough for us...we were tired!!!

The next morning we got up and headed out into Denver. Besides an occasional layover in the airport, I'd never been.


Yep, it's a horse on a two story chair.


Grrrrrr!!!

The Maverick's first game was that evening, and the local Omaha booster club was hosting a reception for all the Omaha fans to meet up for food and drink.


I was amazed by how many of us there were. Guys - how many would you say...50 or so??

They had raffles, free drinks, and free food. (I won a tshirt!!)


Quote of the day (sensitive eyes should be averted now). "Here, let me give you some head."

From the reception, we drove to the arena for the first game...against the host team, the Denver Pioneers.










The place was packed.

We lost....7 to 0.

(sigh)

I'll blame it on the coach not being there. He's a coach for the USA junior hockey team...winning the gold medal.

(to be cont)

To see all the pictures I took in Denver, check out my Webshots page.

6 comments:

Brook said...

Looks like fun. I don't remember all that stuff in the airport in Denver. Of course I was 7 months pregnant and starving at the time. I wish there was still a hockey team here. I miss Thirsty Thursdays!

MJenks said...

Nebraska-Omaha's in the same conference as Notre Dame, right?

I seem to remember watching them when I was in my first year. Back when I was allowed to go to hockey games.

*eye roll*

Unknown said...

did you make up that horse chair just to see if you could get away with it???

Nej said...

@ Brook - just find another excuse for Thursday Thursday. :-)

@ mjenks - unfortunately, this is the last year in this conference. I'm pretty bummed about not playing ND any more. :-(

@ Moonspun - now, would I do that? (hehehehe) No really, it's outside the library I think. In the downtown area...I promise! :-)

MJenks said...

The CCHA is breaking up? Or is someone moving to a different league?

Nej said...

Not sure of all the changes...just know that this is last year for UNO with them. We're going to the same league with Denver and such. (the Denver that creamed up 7 to 0 last weekend...sigh)