Guest Blogger: Trish Pottersmith, "10 Reasons To Love Boulder In The Springtime"

Today, I'm proud to feature a post by a dear friend of mine, Trish Trrish Pottersmith. Trrish is one of my very favorite Who fanatics (and when I say she's a Who fanatic, I mean it). She is one of the most giving people I know, and has boundless energy and love. I've been fortunate enough to share in some great Who events with her and her family in the NYC area (here's me, Trrish and her husband Scott ("Ozzie") at the Rihga Royal in 2002). Trrish now lives in Boulder, CO, and has written a great list of the top 10 things she loves about Boulder during this time of year. I've never been to Boulder, but after reading her list, I wanna go. And you should too.

So without further adieu...here's Trrish's list, 10 Reasons To Love Boulder In The Springtime (or anytime, really):

Here is a shameless plug for what I have come to love about what I think of as my hometown (for 16 years now.)

And that list is:

#10: The Zip Code Guy. I run into David at the vegan cafe a lot. He is representative of the freaky talent you find on the Pearl Street Pedestrian mall. You tell him your zip code, he'll tell you all about the town. It's freaky. He auditioned for Letterman and was too freaky even for them. Ozzie used to do face-painting next to his spot on the mall, so I got to know him.

http://www.dbi.org/index.php?load=visitors&page_id=19


#9: KBCO and 99.5 The Mountain. Two radio stations worth having. One was bought by Clear Channel (watch out for Charles!!), the other is independent. While I disagree with KBCO's playlist at times, and the jocks on The Mountain sometimes make me want to slap them, overall I love them for what they are. Both are Who-loving, and both have enough local flavor and NORMAL jocks who don't shout at you making bad attempts at humor.

#8: The Flatirons: http://jdlphotos.com/mercantool/mtool.pl?command=productpage
_show&product=28&category_ID=4


#7: Open Space Program. An intentional program by Boulder county to preserve land from being developed (and yeah, driving real estate prices sky-high. They don't call us the People's Republic of Boulder for nothing). However, the payoff is pretty impressive. Boulder is surrounded by pockets of "open space" that are public parks and trails for use by all. The hiking here is phenomenal. I've never been anywhere that is so...active. Rock climbing, hiking, bike riding, mountain bike riding, marathon training. It's something. When I first decided to move here, I dreamed that they wouldn't let me in because my thighs were too flabbly. Seriously. I dreamed that. I still worry.

http://www.co.boulder.co.us/openspace/


#6: The Boulder Food Co-op. The co-op's cafe, Cafe Prasad, is one of a handful of places in the country that runs a true vegan cafe, and supports the "raw food" community with gourmet style. I'm serious. You have to see it to believe it. It just ended up in the top 10 list of vegetarian restaurants in the US according to the Alternative Medicine journal. I think you'd have to go to San Francisco to beat the quality. I am a frequent visitor - probably
three times a week. I tend to think of myself as a "lipstick vegan". I like the diet without the dreadlocks...

http://www.bouldercoop.com/


#5: The LC. The Lesbian cafe, or actually, The Walnut Cafe. I say this with the utmost respect, not as a snark. The cafe is run by a prominent local woman who is active in the community and makes some great pies!!! Seriously, you just have to try them. She also happens to be lesbian, and there tend to be a number of lesbian waitresses. I find that the female quotient adds to the nurturing style of the cafe and I can't think of any place I'd rather hang out
for lunch. Caters to all types of diet (a big issue in Boulder) and is safe for vegetarians, a little iffy for vegans. I like to think of myself as a "lipstick lesbian wannabe"!!

#4: The Bolder Boulder. The 2nd largest running race in the US, and raises money for loads of local charities. Where 50,000+ runners take to the streets of Boulder, ending up at Folsom Field (U of Colorado Football Stadium) where 100,000 spectators greet them.

Each year for the past 10 or so, my family has participated. While everyone else in Boulder is wondering "will I beat my time from last year??", the Pottersmiths are wondering.. "Can we get to the stadium before 11:00 am this year????" Last year we beat our previous times by 10 minutes - a world's record!!! This year, Dagny wants to run...oh no, what is that going to do to our slacker tradition???

http://www.bolderboulder.com


#3 The Trivial Bowl (Recently moved to the fall, but who's counting). Originally modeled after TV's GE College Bowl, the CU Trivia Bowl became the largest non-athletic event in CU's history. It was featured nationally in the press in its heyday. It was a multi-media event, with audio and video questions.

These days, the student body doesn't have the enthusiasm anymore, but the trivia teams still show up and play each other with great joy. A number of contestants have gone on to win the big bucks on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Jeopardy". It has spawned "The Basement Bowl", to which my teammate Paul and I were invited to this winter. After which we felt incredibly...honored?? Pumped up?? Intelligent?? Witty??? No, actually we felt incredibly stupid. These guys are 1000 times better at it than we are. Ok, so we were a bit honored. Here's an article on the Basement Bowl. It certainly gives you the flavor of the stifling geekiness of the whole thing. And ya'll know how I love stifling geekiness. And you all know I say that with love. I like to think of myself as a "lipstick geek".

http://www.westword.com/Issues/1994-04-20/news/feature3.html

#2 Kinetics!!!

There's not way I can explain this one. Suffice to say, it's an opportunity for crazy people to act legitimately crazy for a week. It's one of those things that I just marvel at. I marvel that first, anyone would think of such a thing in the first place. And B), that everyone shows up to participate!!! It's just too much fun. Plus, music. This year, Los Lobos, John Butler Trio, and Mike Doughty and Yonder Mt. String Band at the Ball. Next year, my family are going to be volunteers.

http://www.comfortableshoes.com/content/boulder-kinetics.cfm

#1 The Conference on World Affairs

This week-long conference hosts participants who are experts in their field - at their own expense!! They come to Boulder, shack up with a local who's volunteered their spare bedroom, pay for their own meals and sit around and hold sessions on the world's problems for 5 days in a row. It's an intellectuals dream. This is the event where Roger Ebert has come for the past 30 years to do his "cinema interruptus" with a different film each year. I wouldn't miss it for the....world.

http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/


and also coming in at #1 - hey folks, we have a tie,

The Weather!!! Did you know that Boulder has something like 325 sunny days a year?? Seriously. It's amazing. Those rumors you've heard about the tough winters?? HA!! It's just a ruse to get all those Texans not to move here (hi Alan!!!). Yeah, there are *maybe* 10 bad snow days a year. But the next day, it's sunny again.

Every spring, I realize again how genuinely happy I am to be here. The only other place that truly has given me pause for thought in comparison is the Big Island of Hawaii. Pretty hard to pull off, though (hi Seth!!).


Can you tell for the last few weeks at work I've been arranging site visits for my colleagues from other universities to come here to meet with us about a huge upcoming project I'm working on?? And that I have tons of energy today that I don't know what to do with?? I should be out mountain biking. Shame on me.

trrish

Trrish, thank you for allowing me to share this list on Plagiarist! No doubt we'll spend some time together this Fall, broke and happy....but after that, I'm coming to Boulder.