Colorado Cool (9.19-9.22.19)

The inaugural Agee, Kyna, Schmanne Friend Trip kicked off in Colorado.  Thanks to the affordable guest suite through my job, we decided to visit Co since none of us had ever gone there before.  Fun facts I learned about CO at the end.

9.19.19: Day One

First stop, Denver Biscuits.  Two words-ABSOLUTELY DELISH!!!

Since we were there, we had to visit a dispensary, and get the scoop on legalized marijuana.  I just hope that every state that has legalized marijuana is working on releasing prisoners that used to sell it.  It's ridiculous not to.

After a nap, we headed to Benihanas so I could see what all the hype was about.  It was just ok, especially for the price.

9.20.19: Day Two

After a quick breakfast at CFA, we headed to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods.  Such amazing beauty.

Since we still had time, we ventured to Seven Falls.  We opted to use the elevator up to the Eagle's Nest as opposed to taking the 180+ stairs up.  And we chose NOT to take the 220+ steps up to the top of the waterfall.  That was going to be just a bit too much.

We were famished, so we stopped at Raisin' Canes on the way back to Superior.

We had to quickly freshen up to make it to the movies to see 'Hustlers'.  Afterward, we stopped at a bar to wind down. I forgot the name of it, but I ate beer cheese soup for the first time.  It was amazing!

9.21.19:  Day Three

Our only planned event for Saturday, was a visit to the Black American West Museum.  It was filled with such history of my people and their contributions to settling in the West.  We saw a video -regarding the ghost town of Dearfield, CO-interesting story. The building itself was the former home of the 1st black female doctor in Colorado, Dr. Justina L. Ford.  We ate lunch at the only remaining black owned restaurant in the Five Points area.  Gentrification is taking it's toll on the area, which is sad.

 We were joined by Kyna's Godmother (Ms. Pam) and Godniece (Imani) for the remainder of the day.   They gave  us a tour and mountain ride in Boulder.  We also ventured out to Estes Park, which reminded me of the Cherokee area.  I won't tell too much of Imani's story, but she definitely reinforced the fact that I NEVER want to visit Wyoming.  Unfortunately, I just don't think I'd feel welcomed after hearing her experiences attending college there. They were amazing hosts.

This was an amphitheatre at the top of the mountain where a wedding was being held.  It was a beautiful setting.

Black Squirrel Video

Black squirrels are rare in my neck of the woods, but they're so cute.

9.22.19:  Day Four

The last day of the trip was pretty much a travel day.  Me & Kyna dropped Schmanne off at the airport since her flight was earlier.  Then we stopped at a few stores before heading back to drop the car off and go through the process.

I must say that day four was my worst day.  I did experience motion sickness traveling to CO, but coming back home was extremely worse.  I did throw up once we landed in Atlanta, and thought that I was going to do it again when I landed in Greensboro.  My head and stomach felt like they were going to completely explode.  I did try a CBD/THC gummy to help with the sickness, but it either did nothing or made matters worse.  Since I did long term parking, I struggled to drive myself home.  Dee tried to nurse me to health Sunday night, but I didn't recover until Monday around 3pm.


CO Takeaways and Fun Facts
1. Boulder City has its own set of laws including women can go topless since men can.  They also have a sugar tax on candy, sodas, desserts-pretty much anything with sugar to help fight obesity.
2. Billboard signs and tall buildings aren't allowed in order to protect everyone's view of the beautiful mountain scenery.  The pictures we took just don't do it justice.  I'm not sure if that applies to all of CO, but definitely to the areas where we visited.
3.  Even though there aren't many, there were more black people there than I anticipated.
4.  Bell Flatirons is a beautiful property with so many amenities.  I knew this since it's one of my properties at work, but it was awesome to see it in person.  If I lived in the area and could afford it, I'd definitely live there.
5.  I'd still love to visit again to see Pike's Peak and do more hiking.
6.  Although I've known Schmanne practically all my life, we became a 3-some with Kyna back at A&T in 1995.  And even though we don't get to be together much, we still have a great friendship & sisterhood like we did over 20 years ago.  I LOVE these ladies!!!
7.  There are still plenty of places that I'd love to travel and visit, but sadly, this airplane ride may have been the one to end those hopes and dreams.  I still have Cabo and Jamaica in the works, but it looks like my road trip and camping adventures will be birthed pretty quickly.
8.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE NATURE!!!

Heavy & Humble (9.14-9.15.19)

I have been trying to visit the National African American History Museum since it opened in 2016.  For all that know, it is a task trying to get the free tickets.  I was finally able to get some in order to attend in September.

As I've heard, it takes nearly all day to tour the museum, and it is worth it.

It's amazing how much of our (African-Americans, Blacks, etc) is whitewashed (pun intended) in schools, especially as I was growing up.  But I will definitely say that the first portion (most of the C levels) are extremely painful and heavy on the heart as a black person.  It baffles me how people today have an expectation that we should just forget about it and move forward, and disregard the fact that our people have had an unfair advantage in this US life.  As someone who  can fairly say that I've experienced little to no direct instances of racism, it is still very painful to think of those who have current experiences and those of my ancestors.  After coming home Sunday, I literally cried myself to sleep thinking of the treatment of my enslaved ancestors and those who had to experience the brutalities of segregation.  I could go on and on, but I wont.  Just know that EVERYONE in the US should visit this museum and take the time to soak in the exhibits.  I'm reminded of one of the final scenes of the movie "A Time to Kill", when Matthew McConaughey's character delivered his closing speech.  Everyone of another race needs to follow suit with what he said.  (If you haven't seen the movie, it's a must see.  Matthew & Samuel L.-love it)

Thank God the other section of the museum, the L levels, lightened the spirit by the end. 

Before heading back to G'boro, we met up with my cousin Kevin.  He took us on a tour of the military base in/near Ft. Washington, MD.  Love my little cuzzo!

Football, Fun, & Fam (9.5-9.8.19)

I'm glad that I finally enjoy watching football.  I had three days in a row of football fanatics from Maya's JV game on Thursday, 9/5 (Dudley v. Page; Dudley won!); then the varsity game against Page on Friday, 9/6; and lastly, A&T's game at Duke (sadly, we lost).

I will say that the A&T versus Duke game was exciting.  However, the traffic and the congestion inside the stadium was crazy!  The worst part, other than the Aggies losing, was the 30 mile trek we had to take from the parking deck to the actual stadium.  Typing this on Sunday, my legs feel as if they are going to just fall off from my hips!  That campus is completely too big for me, and I never need to go back.  

But before heading to Duke Saturday morning, I headed to WS to meet Schmanne & Shana.  We attended our very first roller derby.  I must say that it was very fun and intriguing.  There were some questionable things, but I won't get into that here.  We met 'Rainbow', who has to be the best customer service provider on the planet.  She gave us Fan Zone passes and broke down the entire point of the derby to us.  Shana was able to get us entered as stand-by contestants for the Tic Tac Toe Derby relay, and we won!!!  I'm even thinking of dusting off my skates and becoming part of the Greensboro team next year.

Here's a link to our relay race.....

On Sunday, Maya & I headed to Martinsville to celebrate with my mom at First Baptist Church's 123rd Anniversary/Homecoming.  It was nice to fellowship with many of my hometown church family members.  My mom was on the committee, and I think she did a great job getting the presentation together with Renee's help.