June 9th 2008

"It's pretty mountainous around here - I suppose it is the Rockies"

We're in Denver about to do the thing you do in Denver when you don't want to be dead: eat. All we have in the van is some stale bread, homemade peach jam (for me), peanut butter (for Jenn) (which we had for lunch), cereal (which we had for dinner last night) and some tins of soup (which is fine when you can have a BBQ, but we can't just pull over and start a fire on the pavement (sidewalk) in the middle of Denver. They don't like that sort of thing.) So we are doing what any budget dissin' travellers would do and disrespecting our budget.

Luckily we've chosen an Italian restaurant where you are served endless bread! I don't think we'll be putting that claim to the test.

It's a luxury but it shouldn't put too much strain on our budget if we share an entrée. Our budget: it may be the prevailing memory from this trip if we aren't careful. (Actually it'll be this podcast - The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe - that we've been catching up with the back catalogue of. The Skeptic's Guide... It's like they saw me coming!)

Jenn is very good at keeping track of exactly what we spend (to the cent), if not so good at heeding her regimented calculations and staying in the black. I'm the opposite: unorganized and tight (I think the term for that is a Yorkshireman). So we have the best of both worlds: no organization and no money! Nooo, Jenn keeps track and I try to keep the spending in check. That way when the check bounces... There's a joke there somewhere but it's not worth the effort.

This is our 21st day and we will finish exactly on budget... If we don't leave a tip :) While I'm on the subject why does the percentage we tip rise over time when percentages aren't subject to inflation?

Anyway, that's all, please leave comments; I get a notification each time, and it's nice to get email that isn't from Abubakar Usman, president of the bank of Zaire.

Ps. Zion NP is amazing. If we'd known how much better than the other Utah sites it was we'd have gone there last not first. The others don't compare. The next time we have guests in CA we want to take you there (or for you to take us there).