Denver 2022 day 10: May 13- The Final Ride of the Ugly Monkey

Happy Halloween!

But- being spooky on Halloween is for amateurs. See multiple posts before and after this one (or really any time) for horror movies.

With nowhere to go in the morning, we got up later, sleeping until 9:30. (Or whatever time it actually was. I never acclimated.) When I woke up (briefly) at seven o’clock in the morning, I thought Rosa was up already. This is because Anabelle had glommed onto her, and I only realized Rosa was still there when I saw four feet sticking out of the covers.
 Awwwww.

The morning was spent putting the final touches into, weighing, and then taking some of the final touches out of, the suitcases There was cleaning up as well.
 
We wanted to let Abuelita walk NEAR the lake, but there was no way she could walk the distance TO the lake. The GPS would only find the road names I tried to look up in a completely different town. (Local Herbs again.) Instead we drove the Ugly Monkey all around the lake through little side streets and cul de sacs, looking for a place she could get out near the playground.
 
Good News- We found one!
Bad News- there was a Biblical Plague sized swarm of Gnats there.
 
Naturally, after we gave up, we passed the parking lot for the playground on the way to Walmart. 
 
Luckily, we were in Colorado. This meant even taking a stroll in the Walmart parking lot meant there were gorgeous views all around. While they walked I ran in to return one more item, something we did nearly as often as we stopped to buy things we had forgotten. Maybe we need a Grid for shopping on vacation.
 

The really good Mexican place we had been to near Titi’s on our previous pre-plague trip had changed names. We decided to try it on the last day, and the quality had not changed with the name. While eating, sentimentality led to non-stop Personal Trip Disney Trivia questions.
 
Back at the house, we loaded the Ugly Monkey for the final time and bid farewells to family. Over at the Circle K I filled the tank and we gave it a run through the car wash. The woman ahead of us seemed determined to camp in the wash and not let us enter. 
 
We finally got in and chose the “no touch” wash method to avoid scratching the rented Ugly Monkey. Maybe I didn’t read the fine print, but “no touch” also equated to “no wash.”
 
Then it was time for the last Ride of Pigeon as well as the Ugly Monkey.
 
We took a very specific route, since the highway we usually used was backed up. Then I screwed up and got off the wrong exit onto Route 25 heading toward the highway we usually used. There was a bit of swearing.

“A LOT of swearing.”- Anabelle and Rosa

However, after a couple of quick exits and entrances we were back on our original path.
 
Pigeon’s last ride was giving Anabelle a great deal of disappointment, as randomly selected music was only playing slow numbers or songs she didn’t know. There was a rousing finale, however. Queen’s “Don’t’ Stop Me Now” and “Come and Get Your Love” from the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy let Pigeon finish on a highly active and musical note.
 
There were no new state plates found on the Ugly Monkey’s swan song. An extra Alberta put the final total at 45 out of 51 US plates and 6 bonus ones. The Idaho total was 16. (Apparently, I have given up on the "write out the number" rule as I got tired. Alas.

Also, I think this is a call back to a joke from a completely different travelogue that hasn't been released yet, meaning it will make no sense. Alas, again.)
 
When emptying the Ugly Monkey for its return to vendor, I needed to throw out one full can of Diet Dew. I guess I should have drank that Coke Zero from the plane in the car on the way into Denver instead of buying that single, oversized bottle of Dew after inhaling the Zero in the airport after all. There was a joke planned here but I lost it in the shuffle of uncompensated product placement. Lets forget these last two paragraphs happened and forge ahead.
 
The rent a car shuttle took us to the airport proper. On the way we took hundreds of photos of the big blue bronco statue. Perhaps one of them came out half decent. 

 Probably not.

The security line was insane, weaving through the entire airport and passing most of baggage claim before getting close to the normal security entrance. We decided it was practice for Remy’s new ride in EPCOT. Passing a gargoyle sitting in the airport for no reason added to the fantasy elements of the wait. 

Anabelle bonded with an individual sharing the security ordeal with us. He was highly entertaining, and when selected to go to a newly open checkpoint waved to the rest of us and yelled, “Peace out, losers!”  

Of course, my Dinosaur belt buckle required an extra-long look on the x-ray line, separating me from my family. Once we were reunited with each other…

and our shoes...

we went toward the trains that go to different terminals. The fun continued as a Stag party with matching hats, and one guy in a full cheerleader's outfit with skirt, went tearing past us up the escalators in a desperate attempt to make a connecting flight.
 
For the first time in our history of travel, we had enough United Club free passes for all three of us AND we were early enough for the flight that we had time to use them.
That’s when we saw the sign stating the United Club would not be honoring one time passes that day.
Alas.

My family went to forage first, while I guarded the luggage. Sadly the “Game Jerky” stand I previously had gotten airplane dinners from for this outbound flight had switched to only beef jerky.
Alas again.
 
They came back with a pepperoni pretzel for Anabelle and a gluten free breakfast sandwich for Rosa. (This is more proof that no one continued to know what time it was.) 

While Anabelle was completely against Airport Fish I risked it with an Ahi Tuna Sandwich. The altitude, travel and dryness had screwed up my stomach completely anyway.

 
The risk was worth it and I had an excellent meal with no side effects. Woo!
 
Hey, some of the Dinosaurs are still on the floors there. Some more Woo!

We did a final M&M and keychain souvenir run in the little shop and boarded on time.
 
Then we sat on the ground for about a half hour because someone remembered putting fuel in the plane before it was airborne was a good idea.
 
There was a woman behind us coughing, blowing her nose and sounding generally like a congested resident of the Pachyderm house the entire trip. Fun! 

Fortunately both she and we were wearing decent masks.
 
Mashed in my little personal zone again, I read my "Tarzan and Groo" comic (hilarious and well representing of the Burroughs source material- highly recommend) and finished the Silmarillion. 

Rosa read Liz Sladen’s excellent, and now heartbreaking, autobiography and played solitaire on her phone.
 
Anabelle listened to music and held Duffy, but mostly was enthralled by the Hallmark Romance occurring - not on any screen- but across the aisle.  A young, single (we hope) man and woman, who never met before, were seated next to each other, and they were both going to different connecting flights somewhere New York. By the end of the trip, they both had the same drink, which Anabelle thinks he paid for, and planned to meet up (at possibly a different) somewhere in New York.
Don’t ask me, I was reading my own fantasy stuff.
 
We landed only as late as we had taken off, dodging some dodgy weather. We had to wait forever and a day for the ground crew to get us to the docking point for unstated reasons.
 
Then we had to wait two forevers and two days for the luggage. Luckily, we heard via random rumors that the airport had changed our luggage carrousel or we’d still be there hoping for our bags to show up.
 
I kept our limo driver entertained with a running commentary of text messages concerning our series of unknowns. He let us know his position, which I was far too tired to realize was not on the floor we got the luggage on until we went outside. A short elevator ride later, and we were finally on the way home.
 
And then…
We were home.
Ole!

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