{"id":2447298,"date":"2019-08-08T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=310875"},"modified":"2019-08-08T03:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:00:00","slug":"writing-switch-hobbies-include-hanging-out-with-family-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/writing-switch-hobbies-include-hanging-out-with-family-and-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Switch: Hobbies include hanging out with family and friends"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Travel writing seems like the opposite of lost art. So many people fly to places around the globe, gawk at tourist traps and snap photos with the lone purpose of likes that a picture of the Maroon Bells is now the travel equivalent of grainy concert footage.<\/p>\n

Reviews and recommendations are helpful to ensure that your vacation runs smoothly. GPS helps avoid wrong turns and \u201cshortcuts.\u201d But what about vacations that go wrong? What would \u201cFamily Vacation\u201d be now that Clark Griswald has the tools to review every potential hotel and route? That movie would suck if the Griswalds had a flawless\/mundane trip to Wally World.<\/p>\n

The best stories result from trying that eatery named \u201cItalian Restaurant\u201d that gave you food poisoning or from temporarily losing your child at Sea World. So this week we have two writeups from vastly different trips \u2014 Ben\u2019s shit show in Las Vegas and Sean\u2019s pretty pleasant family golf outing\/reunion in Denver \u2014 to see which one is more entertaining for readers.<\/p>\n

Denver<\/strong><\/p>\n

SB:<\/strong> After checking into the Aloft hotel in Broomfield, we rushed over to Masa, a high-end Mexican restaurant a quick stroll from the lobby. The appetizer round began with mini quesadillas, guacamole and ceviche. The quesadillas and guac \u2014 featuring thinnish slices of radish and jalapenos \u2014 were fine. Ceviche can come a million different ways; this iteration had dark red sauce and was almost soupy, which is probably why saltines accompanied it rather than chips. Again, not bad.<\/p>\n

For dinner, I ordered three different tacos \u2014 barbacoa, adobada and tilapia \u2014 each of which came predressed. As an advocate of the taco condiment bar, that\u2019s not always my favorite route. They were tasty, particularly the fish. However (small Mexican food tangent), I\u2019m fine paying for upscale Mexican food but I\u2019m not sure the right people are making it. White people charging exorbitant prices for under-seasoned tamales is asinine. Start with a taco stand and get the approval of actual Latinos and then you can toss chile arbol aioli on whatever you want for the collared-shirt crowd.<\/p>\n

Golf<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are certain times when something that is objectively bad exceeds expectations, like when Taco Bell doesn\u2019t give you heartburn. The Par 3 course selected for the family golf outing was not one of those times. You know that course you wish hackers would go to before they back up your weekend round? This was that course.<\/p>\n

The combination of dried-out dirt spots and actual grass made the greens a funhouse for putting. Finding a patch of grass to hit off of on the tee box was similarly frustrating. However, moseying around a golf course with family and a couple morning beers is never not fun, so when your teammate runs a ball up the dirt path where rough is supposed to be, it makes up for the three approach shots masquerading as golf holes.<\/p>\n

Failed float<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the part of a travel story where you play the optimist and talk about how you discovered a great pizza place after your first trip to Turquoise Lake got rained out. (Technically, we found a tasty slice but it\u2019s not as fun when you eat it behind the wheel with your shorts sopping up the grease.)<\/p>\n

Nah, I\u2019m not going to let Ben win this write off. If you thought I was going to try to find the silver lining in stormy clouds \u2014 a phrase that made me cringe writing it \u2014 you\u2019re wrong and should probably turn the Travel Channel back on. I packed all my gear simply to unload it back into my closet. The only good to come of it, other than the pizza, was making it back in time to catch \u201cOnce upon a Time in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday in Sin City<\/strong><\/p>\n

BW:<\/strong> Four days and four nights is a long time to visit Las Vegas, especially when you\u2019re staying with your freshman dormie who used to blow snot rockets onto the carpet and piss in the sink. <\/p>\n

\u201cJesus, Trent, you need to get some Comet for that thing,\u201d I said upon first witnessing his lavatory after flying in. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that? Oh, like one of those brushes?\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe the accommodations weren\u2019t the greatest, but I knew most casinos kept their facilities in solid condition, so I would make do. I\u2019m not much of a gambler these days, having been weaned off taking out cash advances to hop on the motorcycle and make that midnight run across the Missouri River to Harrah\u2019s in Council Bluffs, Iowa. That afternoon we joined a tournament, I won it, and that night we feasted at the buffet Golden Corral-style before descending on the Strip.<\/p>\n

I hated every second of it. For decades, Vegas has pumped billions of advertising dollars into creating the illusion that it\u2019s the playground for the rich, and if you\u2019re not rich, you\u2019re about to become rich \u2014 that everyone\u2019s hopped up on drugs and banging each other and having the times of their lives (hmm this is starting to sound familiar). What it\u2019s created is thousands of people who can\u2019t hold their alcohol stumbling through the streets, buying cocaine from the homeless of Vegas outside CVS and accidentally prostitutes (Disclaimer: I declined both of those offers).<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/strong><\/p>\n

We met up with my friend Blaine, who is a professional Michael Phelps impersonator on Fremont Street, in the hipster district, which was actually a few bars and shops in shipping containers placed in a circle. I thought I would be among my people but perhaps I belonged with the inebriated tourists after all. We opted to transfer for a round of BJ. <\/p>\n

\u201cF\u2014 you, Ben! You dragged us here!\u201d Blaine yelled after spending $200 in 10 minutes. That was not true; I recall the decision as rather unanimous. <\/p>\n

Soon after, Trent sulks back to the nearest Uber bay alone because Blaine and I were \u201cwalking too fast.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI see how it is,\u201d he texts. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlease leave your door unlocked and don\u2019t throw my crap in the street,\u201d I write back, nervous that I\u2019m about to be homeless in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Sunday\/Monday (they blurred together)<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Trent awakens at 2 p.m., he comes into the living room, where I had been provided one of his bedsheets and a blasting A\/C vent turned to 65 all night. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just forget about yesterday,\u201d he said soberly. <\/p>\n

I agreed. On the docket was relaxing at the Tropicana pool and taking in a show of Michael Jackson impersonators. I had even brought my sequined glove that came with the preorder of the Wii dance game. <\/p>\n

Sometime between the first and second events, Trent had forgotten to flush after taking a dump, because that\u2019s definitely not something you have done a hundred thousand times. So that caused some commotion and delay as we aired out the evening\u2019s clothing. \u201cIt\u2019s Vegas, everyone\u2019s late,\u201d he assured me.<\/p>\n

By the time we made it across town to the Strat and stood in the wrong box office line, the show was over.  <\/p>\n

I took a spot at the hold \u2018em table while Trent yanked his shirt off and went on a slot walk. <\/p>\n

When I peeked at my phone a couple hands later, I had numerous missed calls and texts. \u201cHold my seat I have to pee.\u201d \u201cHey asshole tf are u?\u201d \u201cGet over here now.\u201d \u201cI called 17 times your such a b\u2014- bud.\u201d It\u2019s at this point I realize I\u2019m in an emotionally abusive relationship with my ex-roommate. \u201cWe can\u2019t be friends after this. I\u2019m literally over you,\u201d Trent finishes. I don\u2019t respond \u2014 not even to point out that\u2019s not proper use of literally \u2014 and retrieved my belongings from the room and went back to the game.<\/p>\n

I walked out of MGM Grand in the morning surprised the sun was out, so I began the 2-mile trek to A.J. McCarron Airport, passing through the intersection where they killed Tupac. At least he didn\u2019t get stabbed in the back. But the money I won from zombie gamblers overnight while screaming \u201cBISCUITS AND GRAVY\u201d was stuffed in my pocket, and when you party like it\u2019s the end of \u201cOcean\u2019s 11,\u201d you can\u2019t complain about being tired.<\/p>\n

sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a> bwelch@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Travel writing seems like the opposite of lost art. So many people fly to places around the globe, gawk at tourist traps and snap photos with the lone purpose of likes that a picture of the Maroon Bells is now the travel equivalent of grainy concert footage. Reviews and recommendations are helpful to ensure that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 15:58:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}