With a melancholy sigh, he slowly started writing a post.

Becky has been commenting on my actions tonight in literary form. :-)

It took a couple months, but I finally started seeing how someone could call Nevada "pretty."After a while, barren piles of dirt do start looking acceptable.

Anyway, I got back. I'm not as ambitious as some people, so I took two days to drive from Nevada back to Denver. I did a quick search on the Internet for hotels to stay in near Grand Junction and settled on the Wine Country Inn. It had really good reviews and for winter rates, it was priced moderately.It turned out to be a really nice place. My "cheap" room was rather large, it had granite counter tops, a huge granite shower with a nice shower head, the most comfortable bed I've ever been in, nice Kohler faucets, an LCD TV, a hairdryer with a retractable cord, etc. (No, I didn't use it, but I thought it was cool.) They also had expensive looking soap, too. It was such a nice break from my dust and spider infested hotel room with the mattress that needed replacing. After driving for 10 hours, staying in a hotel that nice was really nice and relaxing. True, I missed the free wine, but considering the fact I don't drink anyway, I didn't feel too bad. (The hotel is built in the middle of a orchard/vineyard/winery in Palisade.

After taking a shower and dawning my slumber wear, (Thanks for the weird term, P.G. Wodehouse.) I decided I wanted hot chocolate, but I didn't feel like returning to my normal clothes for such a venture, so I settled on coffee. That stuff never tastes as good as it smells. Oh, well.

I was going to eat breakfast at the hotel, but when I discovered a coupon for 20% off any meal excluding breakfast, I decided not to make the same mistake I had made at a previous hotel. Since I have always stayed in cheaper hotels, the presence of breakfast in the hotel lobby means "free food." Well, at a nicer hotel I stayed at once before, I went and ate... Fortunately, my bill came before I left, or I would have walked out without paying $16.50 for my breakfast buffet... Ooops!

After stopping at some fast-food joint I can't remember the name of, I headed for home. Colorado is colorful, by the way. Oh, and while we're on the subject, there's a stretch of road in southern Utah that has bugs that aim for your windshield. When they hit, they seem to transform into a splattering of mustard. When you use your windshield wipers, they smear all over the place.

Since I got home, I've pretty much only been working at work or on my robot. We went skiing Wednesday, and oh, boy. That was taxing. After living near sea level for two months, skiing, even on easy runs was murder. I felt like a snow-boarder and had to stop to pant every 500 feet! I'm glad my siblings are rather patient.