Tuesday 08.26.08

Tuesday was a busy day.

Early, early, early into Denver for a 7:30am check-in on the roof of the Denver Athletic Club for "Convention Conversations" sponsored by Politico.com, Yahoo!, and The Denver Post. Breakfast panel discussions with political leaders concerning the election. Chris had RSVP's for today and tomorrow to see some political folks and get his political junkie fix.

Muffins, bagels, fruit, coffee, juice, water, and then....Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.




Afterward, it was close enough to the capitol that Chris walked over and strolled the parks and grounds. But first, more coffee at a Starbucks underneath the daily newspaper offices. Ahhhh. OK, energized again. There is a huge stately golden dome on the building, but sadly Chris was on the wrong side of the morning sun. The other side with the sun behind would have been better photogenically, but for once I was not going to go completely out of my way just to get a good snap.

From here, it was a jaunt up to Union Station to see what there was to see. MSNBC had their "base" near there for their telecasts. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Chuck Todd, etc. were broadcasting live from there. Up close and almost personal while Chuck Todd was on the air. So close that Chris was broadcast live over the land on MSNBC again (remember the Greensboro Obama town hall where a stage-seated Chris was on MSNBC seemingly every night for a week) as a background head behind Chuck. Neato.

After watching live television, without the bonus of hearing what was being said in Chuck Todd's earpiece, and on the way to Union Station, an energetic man in a hot pink shirt stops Chris. "Is that an official Obama shirt from the website?" Why yes it is, good sir. And this starts the ball rolling in our interaction where it is learned he is a CNN "iReporter" who video blogs the convention. Would it be OK to ask Chris some questions? What the hell, why not? Here is the give and take with the excitable Jose Williams, "MrMan" the CNN iReporter in front of the MSNBC tower:



Afterwards, it was to Union Station to see the trains and just generally explore. Huge trains outside:

And much to Chris's surprise, tiny trains in the basement of Union Station! How cool is that?!?!

Whew, all this activity has left Chris hungry and thirsty. Hmmm, in the land of brewpubs let's hit up another: Denver Chophouse and Brewery. Yum, just like our usual haunt in Washington, DC: the District Chophouse...including their delicious Bourbon Stout.

Lunch in the belly, it was time to head over to go on a brewery tour. Great Divide Brewing Co. No food, just a taproom to order some pints. And directly behind the tap handles? The brewing facility to tour, of course. The usual: big shiny stainless tanks, copper kettles, some wooden barrels. But the most eye-opening of all, the blow-off bucket during active fermentation of their big stout Yeti. You may remember the popped airlock from a recent vigorous homebrewing fermentation here. Well this vigor knocks that vigor completely on its ass:




One of the best taprooms in the country, the COUNTRY, is in Denver: Falling Rock Tap House. Taps upon taps of really fantastic craft beer. "No crap on tap" is the mantra. Delicious stuff. An extremely hoppy IPA from California's Russian River Brewing called Blind Pig IPA was the beverage of choice. Enamel stripping beer. Yum!

Most of the goings on were in the "teens" in Denver: 16th and Wynkoop for Tattered Cover, 18th and Wynkoop for Wynkoop Brewing, 19th and Wynkoop for Denver Chophouse, the entire 16th Street mall, MSNBC's Morning Joe broadcasting live from Sam's Diner on 15th, 14th for the Denver Athletic Club and the Politico breakfast panel discussions. There was a special display of Obama-related artwork all the way over on 30th and Larimer at a warehouse art gallery in an exhibition entitled Manifest Hope. Inspiring and thought-provoking artwork with the good senator as the theme. Intense. Fun. A wonder to behold.


Finally, a nightcap at yet another brewpub, the Breckenridge Blake Street Pub, finishes out a hectic day. Whew.