S2E8: Transition.

Day 8: Sept 17, 2023
Boulder, CO & Denver, CO

—

It’s frigid. The first light is finally peaking over the mountains with a soft orange-pink glow. We packed up most everything last night since we anticipated a cold morning. I notice the roof top tent is crusted with frost. I suspect the forecast for 39ºF was not quite true, and once the rig is warming up, the onboard temperature reads 32ºF.

There’s no hanging around for our morning rituals. Hustle is the name of the game, and we broke from camp in less than 30 minutes after waking.

The descent from 9,100 feet into the sun is blinding and high contrast. Thankfully, we are driving slow as a moose crosses the road to have breakfast. Another animal I’ve never seen up close, and what a majestic creature it is.

As soon as we get cell service outside Boulder, I check messages to see a few replies from other friends we’ll meet up with before we leave Colorado altogether.

One of those is Chris Shiflett. I’ve known Chris since the Brooklyn Beta days. He now runs the coworking space Roost, his current agency Faculty, and primarily serves as cofounder at Matter.

We meet up at Neptune Mountaineering, one of the oldest climbing and outdoor shops. There’s historical artifacts displayed throughout and most notably a Chouinard Equipment banner. This is indeed the Yvon Chouinard, the man behind Patagonia.

A cafe resides inside the store, so over beverages, we chat about all things life. This seems to be the theme on this trip.

Later over lunch, Jen and I remark that despite it being only 65ºF, it feels like 80ºF. The sun is so bright here, and given the elevation, is much closer to you. Colorado lives up to its reputation of all those sunny days per year.

Finally in Denver, we stop in at the largest REI and then take a walk around the Highland neighborhood. We’re here to meet up with a dear friend whom I got to know during my stint at VSCO.

We haven’t seen Renn Bloom since he left the Bay Area to return to Colorado, and like anything with the pandemic, time is wonky, so it feels like it hasn’t been long, but also too long. So much life has happened for all of us since.

Renn was a producer and creator liaison, and our friendship grew while we worked together. We’ve kept in touch over the internet (as you do), but in person we got deep about our respective lives. More hugs as we went our separate ways.

Jen and I have marveled at how many people we know in Colorado these days. It is the only other state we’d consider living in, and the grass sometimes looks a little greener (literally) on the other side.