Conference and holiday in Colorado
On Saturday 18th October 2008, I went to Colorado for a software conference, where I gave a few talks.
Colorado Software Summit if you're interested - sadly 2008 was the last of these excellent conferences.
I managed to get a couple of extra weeks of holiday after the conference, and did a little bit of mountain walking, along with a trip to Arizona to see the sights, even skipping briefly into Utah.
Flagstaff - Friday and Saturday 31st October and 1st November
On Friday afternoon, I flew from Denver to Phoenix and from there to Flagstaff.
The first thing I did was check into a tacky motel (actually quite nice).
Then, I found my way to a delightful diner run by Chinese-Americans.
They even had the little jukeboxes on each of the tables.
After supper (which was very good) I walked up to the Lowell Observatory, on a little hill (Mars Hill no less) above the town.
Percival Lowell was a keen proponent of the idea that there were canals on Mars - he founded the observatory in 1894.
It being some traditional American special day when I visited, the streets were well lit and busy with kids in weird masks.
