Denver, I love you!

Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver.

I'm in Denver, staying in this quaint and unique Hotel Monaco and enjoying myself immensely. There are free massages in the lobby in the afternoon, we have fluffy robes and loads of pillows on the beds, and everyone is friendly.

My childhood friend, Jeannie, invited me to join her here while she's attending a conference. It was so nice of her to invite me along, and tomorrow we'll be able to spend more time doing fun stuff. (This summer was the first time we had seen each other since we were kids.) Today we took a short jaunt to the incredible Tattered Cover Book Store. I felt so at home I could have stayed all day! In fact, I stayed a long time after Jeannie had to leave and get to her conference. I decided to browse and browse, and then I got hungry so I ordered a Tangy Tuna sandwich and a water and sat in the cafe area and took it all in. I have a soft spot in my heart for cafes that serve whole foods, and have their menu handwritten on a chalkboard. I used to work at one of those.

It's been a long time since I was able to hang out in such a cool bookstore. We have them, of course, and have a wonderful one in Seattle, but I haven't been there in a long time. Plus, there's just something about embracing a place you've never been. The wood floors, and the wood shelves, and the books that seem to go on from floor to ceiling, and the staircase that leads to MORE BOOKS! Ahh. Just wonderful.

I eventually did need to mosey on down the street and see what else there was to see. I passed by some really cool looking restaurants and shops, went in to a couple of shops that were way outside of my budget. $499 for a sweater. Umm, no.

Feeling the shock of that tag, I ventured farther and saw the Federal Reserve money museum. It's free! That's within my budget, so I went in. Now, granted, there is not a lot to see once you get in there, but what can you expect for free, right? There is a display of shredded money and dirt, and info on how they put shredded bills that are taken out of circulation into compost. There are some metal insets with raised images you can make your own money by placing the paper over it and rubbing a crayon over the top. There's a display of $30,000,000 in $100 bills, and a newspaper clipping of the robbery in the 1920s and a description and cartoonish drawing of the suspect.

And hey, they give away free bags of money! Well, it's shredded and worthless, but there's $165 in that bag.