Same Difference...

You knew it was coming...a blog entry highlighting a few of the differences between Denver and DC:

Some call it the building block of life, I call it difference #1, water. I'm definitely going in two directions with this, the first being that although there are a few reservoirs and some lakes in Denver, it's basically a desert. DC, on the other hand was built over a swamp right near the Potomac. On one hand, hanging out on our friend Alex's boat for a late night cruise with National monuments in sight and plenty of rum on board is a lot of fun. On the other hand, the humidity is RIDICULOUS. Even late at night for an evening game of sand volleyball, your shirt can get soaked with sweat before the 5 minute warm up is done.

Touring the Potomoc

That brings us to difference #2. I have returned to the heart of the Atlantic Coast Conference. No longer does UNC mean University of Northern Colorado, no longer do Big 12 games fill up Saturdays during football season, and wearing a UVA shirt doesn't necessarily become an instant topic of conversation. I've seen more UVA ball caps than I can count, several Virginia Tech lanyards, and even a disgusting stuffed Hokie bird. But with the good (getting to go to UVA football games live again), I'll take the bad (insane amounts of Maryland sports coverage) and the ugly (the aforementioned Hokie bird).

We're back...

Wow...so much to write about over the last month. It's been just over a month since we were living in Denver and the craziness hasn't subsided one bit yet.

Sad goodbyes to good friends in Denver (we even played volleyball our last night), many work related goodbyes for both of us, moving across the country, seeing family and friends again, only having a three day volleyball break before starting again on sand courts with Bruce and Colleen, seeing my best friend growing up get married, helping my best man move away, parties to celebrate birthdays and a housewarming. Oh, and did I mention unpacking?!?

So I could go into more detail on many of these (and hopefully I will over the next few weeks), but I'm starting off with one last Denver post, almost a tribute really. Even though I claimed the other night while getting a little tipsy on a waterfront bar in Georgetown for Traci's birthday, that they (and all of our friends in DC) were making it very difficult for us to miss Denver too much...it was only a half-truth.

It is certainly nice to be back "home," but I have to point out a few things that we'll miss about Denver:

1) Denver introduced us to the addiction that is volleyball

We played in two indoor 6s leagues, an outdoor grass 4s, and countless pickup games on Thursdays and Mondays in Washington Park. It's a a great way to stay in shape and a lot of fun to learn a new sport. During our going away party, our 6s team that won the final tournament ended up giving us the actually cool looking plaque that now hangs in our new apartment:



Of course we're continuing to play fairly regularly here, but its not the same.

2) Denver gave us some great friends

Much like other addictions, we ended up making a lot of friends through volleyball. It became a tradition to play until we could barely see the ball on Thursday nights, and then go grab a beer and maybe some grub at a nearby restaurant.

Although not everyone of the gang made it on our last Thursday, here is a shot of a typical Thursday night outing right before we flew back to DC:



3) Denver gave us a great church.

So when you move to a new city and don't know anyone within probably 1000 miles, we ended up starting to go to a great church called Pathways. It ended up being a great place for Sarah and I, and was really the lynchpin for #1 and #2. I was very impressed with their commitment to transforming the Denver community through service and outreach. We had a chance to help out a Denver youth shelter called Urban Peak and sorting medical supplies going overseas for an international Health Care organization called Project CURE. When we first starting going to services, to try to meet people we ended up going to the church picnic, playing volleyball, hearing about the summer's weekly schedule and the rest was history.