The first installment

Yay...made it back from the great USA on Sunday...we had a marvellous time...it has all gone by in a flash and now seems like a distant memory.
Will tell you a wee bit about it...over the next few days...
Firstly...the flight over to LA was horrible...not rough or bumpy...but hot and cramped and I was a sick as a dog. I got wedged in the middle of two people...the man on the isle was very smelly...why do they let sweaty, smelly feral people in public places...plus he was a mega whinger...he complained about everything and invaded my personal space with his greasy pillow...not sure why, but I was sick...yucky vomit sick for the second half of the flight, so was very glad to arrive in LAX. We had been warned that the customs people were mean...I was pale, clammy and clutching two paper sick bags in the queue just in case the fish dinner made another appearance...the man I encountered on the customs/immigration desk was just lovey...in fact all the people we came across at the airport were very helpful and friendly.
The next flight was only 2 hours to Denver...Denver airport was massive...you had to catch a train to get your luggage...and of course our luggage was missing in action. Never mind...we headed for our hotel in the free shuttle...the hotel was flash...lets not forget the first 10 days of my trip were with my work partner, a slightly eccentric hairy armpitted female GP...and we shared a room...(not ripping off the tax payer...doing our bit for the health budget). We were due to meet our friend Mark, who was flying in from the UK but he decided to spend the night in Colorado Springs which turned out to be a wise decision...driving on the other side of the road at night in an unfamiliar place after a 14 hour flight would have been a bit mad.
We encountered our first American meal...Mexican...what fab food, but we learned that American food comes in HUGE portions and cheese features in large amounts...
After a good nights sleep we met up with Mark who managed to reach us in his fancy rental with the help of one of those speaking GPS systems who you could set to talking in a "sexy" voice...it was fun to play with and a great help to help us make our way to Manitou Springs and The Two Sisters Inn......a very quaint B&B...photos included...I loved this place...very shabby chic...I got my own room (pictured above)...and they even make their own lemonade from the carbonated springs (thus the name Manitou Springs)...there are 7 springs there...all with different supposed special powers...the lemonade we had was from the spring that has Lithium in it...great mood enhancer...


We spent the next few days exploring the local area on foot and via rental car (thanks Mark)...we even went on the famous Cog Railway which took us up to 14,000 feet...the trip up the hill was fun but by the time we came down the boredom had set in and the site of a huge stag with velvet coated antlers glowing in the setting sun saved the trip from being a tad mind numbing.
A highlight of our pre course stay was a visit to The Garden of the Gods which was an amazing park which had these massive cliffs and rock formations, the rock was red and had great texture...you could walk or drive around...we walked about for about an hour...the sun was hot but it was dry heat and we were so slathered in sun screen we were happy.

From Manitou Springs we traveled the short distance to Colorado Springs and the Cheyenne Mountain Resort...wow, this place was flash!! It has a huge aquatic centre, a lake, golf course, many tennis courts (indoors and outdoors), a day spa, shops, a coupe of restaurants and bars...and it was just beautiful set on the side of the Rockies....
The course itself was hard work, long days, lots of thinking, speaking, presenting, and challenging ideas but it was fantastic. The people were fun, Doctors, Nurses, Professors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists...quite an intimidating bunch but what a great group. We had a lot of laughs and I really feel like we made huge progress on our project, which is all about improving the physical health of people using mental health services. One afternoon we all packed up and headed toward Canon City (which has a extraordinary amount of prisons...interesting fact), and went white water rafting on the Arkansas River...what a fantastic adventure...it was wild, fun and invigorating...here is a photo of some of us in our boat (click on photo to enlarge)...tune in next time for the next riveting installment!!