Mon, 06:11: I was thinking about this last night … among major U.S. metropolitan areas (at least a million people) in the contiguous 48 states—this sets aside Honolulu as it’s on an island in the middle of the Pacific and too obvious—Denver would have to be the most isolated.
The closest other such city would be Salt Lake City, about 500 miles and an 8-hour drive to the west, and by all accounts hardly an improvement. Albuquerque comes very close to qualifying and is still about 450 miles and a six and a half-hour drive to the south. Either way, Denver’s metro area is about three million people, far larger than either of those cities and thus the largest in about an 800-mile radius.
Mon, 11:00: I did it you guys! I have now visited half (25) of the states, having gone ninety minutes out of my way on the drive from Denver to Cheyenne, to wind up all of two miles into Nebraska, after visiting “Panorama Point” right here in the southwest corner of the panhandle, the state’s highest elevation.
(It’s 5,424 ft, about 3/8 the height of Mt. Rainier back in Washington State. Incidentally, Denver, the “Mile High City,” is at elevation 5,279 ft, so actually 145’ lower than here. Seattle’s highest elevation is … 174 ft.)
P.S. Some intrepid person left an old desk with a pull-out drawer for signing in. Lots of stuff left by people in there, including a handy condom! https://t.co/9EvexvqSeu
Mon, 10:31: Heather is the one paternal cousin I didn’t even know I had until I was in my late teens; she didn’t know about all of us until around five years ago, when she friended me on Facebook; and today we met in person for the first time—the whole reason for my drive from Denver to Cheyenne today. She brought her kids, Michael and Isabella, and among other things, we toured the Wyoming State Capitol. Which, incidentally, was just underwent a full restoration about three years ago, and it’s beautiful! https://t.co/75D5GUCTrp
