Here we are, holed up in a resort, while Colorado in every direction burns. I can see the smoke from my balcony, where I’m typing this.

TK is here for a business conference and since our road trip brought us to the area he invited us to crash here for  few days at “The Broadmoor.”

With bus boys holding the doors open for me, luxury of every kind, The Broadmoor feels like someone else’s paradise. But it is nice to be here, a change from the wild unpredictability of The Road. I bet I could leave this laptop on a chair by one of the pools, come back three hours later and it would still be there.

This is a departure from the Narco Hotel where I spent holy week in Guatemala. But that’s a much longer story.

Coming from the chaos of Central America, to the uncertainty of traveling with purpose but not a plan, to here, is going to be the ultimate test of whether or I’m due for some culture shock. I’ve never really bought into culture shock.

Or maybe it’s that I bought into it fully. I’ve been feeling culture shock since I learned to crawl. Not bad culture shock, just a healthy dose of wonderment. Holy crap, I’m a person, in a world. I’m alive! This is so wack!

A guy I met in the elevator is staying here because he was evacuated. “Not a bad place to be evacuated to,” I told him and he smiled.

The almonds here at The Broadmore are exquisite. It’s some spice I can’t place that does it. I look for ingridients on the mini bar’s can, but there’s nothing to read. Here the staff refer to the mini bar as “The Refreshment Center.” You can just imagine the meeting that led to the change in nomenclature. “The word bar has too much bad conotations. Bar fight, Barfly. Some of these people have alcoholics in their family. It’s so much more than a bar. It’s got everything. It’s a refreshment center.” And it’s really expensive. Those almonds cost $7, and they give you so little, that it makes you wish you had $21.

I love the smell of campfire. I can’t help that. Too many good memories associated with it. Camping with my dad and brothers. Seeing the stars for the first time in a new way.

Yesterday I voted we drive after dar to as close to the fire as we could get. I was outvoted 3-1. This is an example of democracy failing. Instead we went to the V Bar. Then to Dunken Donuts.

I had never been in a Dunked Donuts. I was impressed. They had so much more than just donuts. I got a steak croissant. Not very donutty at all.

A guy with dreadlocks I met in the park in the sketchier part of CO, Springs said he had been evacuated from his home.

The Golden Bee, the restaurant based off a 19th century pub in England, the piano man played a song called “Rocky Top.” I’ve since become obsessed. Tyler and I spent most of the morning playing it.

 

When we went to downtown Colorado Springs on our first day, there seemed to be a lot of tension in the air. Tyler thought that was just because there was a bike rally going on. The police were out in full force, but fights still broke out. One guy was being taken on by 12 other guys who were pushing him into the street where a dozen police officers started confronting him, asking what the trouble was.

 

It looked like things were going to get ugly, but the police seemed to play their cards right and he left the scene without further incident.

At one bar, an Iowa bar, a girl styled my hair. As far as I know, that’s the first time this has happened in a bar.

For people that are scared, and that seems to be everyone you talk to outside of the resort, the local newspaper fills the front page with half color spreads of burning lands with bolded all-cap headlines that storm “UNCONTAINED”

Tyler, TK and I all agree–we are the first people to grill on the balcony of The Broadmore. We had salmon and corn on the cob that night. Ironing boards it turns out make excellent countertops.

 

The clouds seem to be at least considering rain. But according to CNN’s 10 day forcast, the clouds are lying:

And he winds are crazy… they feel like they’re cruising through this valley fast enough to make tomorrow’s headline seem even more ominous than todays.

Will keep you posted,

-Luke