City of Miles
Greetings from Denver, the Mile High City. Lunamania is here for a conference and experimenting with adjusted alcohol tolerance in the extreme altitude.
Denver takes this "mile" theme seriously. Not only is elevation over 5000 ft, but it's roughly one mile from the airport gate to the tram that takes you another mile to the baggage claim terminal. From there I walked another quarter mile to the baggage carousel. After a 45 minute shuttle ride through the flattest landscape ever, I arrived at the hotel in downtown Denver. I roamed outside for a cup of coffee and walked along the mile long outdoor mall.
I haven't been in this city since the summer of '92 when I spent a few months as an intern at an organizing project in Five Points. Those were days of door knocking bullet pocked housing projects, dodging sky splitting late afernoon thunderstorms, and learning how to navigate being Asian in a town where our presence has been erased. I say erased because there is actually a history of Japanese American immigration in and around Denver. My great-grandfather immigrated to Brighton around the turn of the 20th century. That's a small farming town right outside of Denver. He farmed and grew grapes and other fruit. There was even a Japanese school and church that my grandma attended on weekends. During my summer stint, my dad came to visit and we rented a car and drove out to see the town. We got to see the well that my great-grandfather dug and I got to terrify my dad with my newly acquired driving skillz.
I hear folks from Michican use their right hand to illustrate geography, Denver uses the Rockies. The mountains signify West and for the directionally challenged like myself, that's a good thing.