tired...

footies.

spent the first half of my day at the airport, on a school tour. we split into two groups and found out some of the intricacies of DIA. funny how you take people to the airport, pick 'em up, or go through on your travels, and miss a lot of things. sure, you know where to queue up in line, where to grab a bite, and where the restrooms are, but...did you know that the main terminal (Jeppesen) is three football fields long? or that the multicolored granite in the floor comes from India (red), Texas (speckled pink), Africa (black), and Italy (speckled white)? how about the control tower? the FAA control tower is 327' high. what about the cost of the airport? it initially was priced out to be around $2 billion dollars...but ended up costing almost $5 billion. there is a gargoyle perched in a Samsonite suitcase on the east and west ends (in the middle, on the fifth level, near baggage claim) that silently watch over the travelers, protecting them on their voyage. oodles of things that too many people miss because they're talking on their damn cell phones or looking for their kids whose hands they should have been holding onto in the first place...

after the two hour tour, we had about an hour and a half for lunch before we were to meet in front of the veterans memorial obelisk across the street from the state capitol. and from there, we suffered through a walking tour of downtown. our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but to the point of being verbose. by the time i decided to bolt, 1/3 of the students had already gone home; my footies had pounded enough granite and pavement for the day. i wonder how much longer the stalwarts lasted...whew.

even though the spiel of downtown tour was getting long in the tooth, at least it gave me a good idea how NOT to give a tour ;) the man was spouting out names that people could care less about...i think he needs to bone up on some architectural styles instead of giving glaring generalities...you need some cool details or saucier stories. ah well...maybe it's generational too. the guy was probably 75 and still living in the 50's ;)

glad the day is over though. got a little time to blog and put my feet up...ahhhhhh.