Who doesn't love a bagel?

TR had a conference in Denver so he drove there. I kept teaching and then caught a flight over there on a Friday evening.

On Saturday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to downtown Denver for the conference. I would have been fine walking around town on my own, however, I attended the big group meeting and just blended right in sitting with TR, a ranger friend of ours...BJ, some other guy from some other park, and the chief of interp from Zion. When people asked me which park I work for I simply responded, "I'm currently not employed with the NPS but I was an interp for nine seasons at Timpanogos Cave." K and BJ went to some other sessions after the big group meeting, but I found this guy. His name is Wil Reding (Kalamazoo) and he took us on a walk around town demonstrating various interpretive techniques. He has taken on the persona of John Muir.

Everyone else in our walking group (25 people or so) had their conference name tags dangling from their necks, but no one questioned my presence. In fact, Wil mentioned that sometimes he'll be doing these walks/talks and complete strangers will just join the group!

I learned a lot. We came upon three bananas thrown on the sidewalk in front of the 7-11 store and he used those to demonstrate "handles." If you're an interp, you'll know what I mean. The guy totally had me in tears not once, but twice! I couldn't believe the emotional connection I made while he talked about his grandfather's tractor! He wasn't perfect at his craft, but he was pretty good!

The squirrel was making bank on that bagel!

After the morning sessions, TR and BJ and I went to Noodles and Company for lunch before hugging goodbye. And off we went to explore the Denver area a bit more and to head for Limon, Colorado.

On Sunday, we attended church in Limon. The Limon Branch is struggling just a bit. They all thought we were Brother and Sister Fife, the guest speakers from Colorado Springs. They meet in an old building that they lease from another faith. It was a great little meeting and we were glad to join with them. After Sunday School they announced that church was over with for the day because the toilet was acting up again and they had "no restroom facilities."

We headed for Wichita.