A Day in the Life of Flat Colin

Within hours of me sending out an invitation for Tin's surprise 40th birthday, one of the first RSVPs I received was from our cousin, Laura.  She had just been talking with Tin the night before about the possibility of her coming out for a visit.  After quite a few emails, phone calls, and scheming for our devious game plan, Laura flew into town yesterday.  Tin thought it was just a coincidence that Laura was able to make the trip the same weekend as her birthday.  Little did she know what was in store for her!  The big shindig is planned for tomorrow.  So what better thing to do today than have a girls day and show Laura the town.  After dropping Connor and his pupcakes off at school this morning, I headed over to Tin's house.  When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find a breakfast awaiting me: creme brulee french toast, frest fruit, and fruit smoothies.  Yum!  While eating, Tin and Laura broke the news to me.  A boy was crashing our girls day.  His name, Flat Colin.  Our cousin Gary's son, Colin, was given a school project to create his own "Flat Stanley."  He first sent it to our cousin Lisa in Texas, who then forwarded it on to Laura.  The goal was to take pictures of Flat Colin as he "travels" the country.  The first picture taken of Flat Colin was on the lightrail as we headed downtown.

Once we arrived downtown, we walked down 16th Street towards the state capitol.  Much to do, much to see.  Almost immediately, we saw some police activity.  There were quite a few squad cars and quite a few officers.  Most of the police officers were busy attending to some guys with handcuffs, but there were a handful that didn't have anyone in custody.  Laura took that opportunity to ask them if we could take a picture of Flat Colin with their squad car.  They didn't mind.

We stopped a few more times along the way, but finally made it to the capitol.  One of the items on Laura's "to do" list while in town was to get her picture taken with the mile marker at the capitol.  Surprisingly, there are now two mile markers.  Apparently they recently used GPS to check the mile marker, and found that ground had settled over the years.  We made sure we to take Laura's picture with the correct mile marker.  Reservations are required for a guided tour of the capitol, and they were booked when we checked into it.  We were glad to learn we could still go inside and give ourselves a tour (a/k/a wander around aimlessly, making up facts as we go).  When we happened upon the House, we thought it might be fun to get a picture of Flat Colin.  Before we could even ask, one of the security guards asked, "Is that a Flat Stanley you have there?"  They were awesome!  Although we weren't allowed to sit in any of the House chairs ourselves, Flat Colin was able to sit in one for a photo op.  They were very accomodating.  Then we headed over to the Senate.  Talk about the exact opposite experience!  The doors were closed and locked.  But just as we approached the doors, one of our illustrious senators walked out.  We asked her if she would mind taking Flat Colin into the room for a picture.  She said she had to get to a meeting, obviously irritated we had interrupted her.  Laura did not let that deter her.  She knocked on the door, and a security guard opened it.  When she asked him the same question, he responded that no one other than a senator was allowed in.  She explained none of us needed to go in.  We just wanted him to take Flat Colin up to the podium so we could take a picture from where we were standing.  Nope.  No exceptions, even for a Flat Colin.  So we continued on with our self-guided tour.  We came across a wall of paintings of all the past presidents.  In the spot that is reserved for our current president, we placed Flat Colin for a picture.  We're thinking he would be an excellent candidate in the next election. 

We eventually found our way to the stairs that led us up into the dome, which the last stop of our tour.  We had worked up an appetite by this time, so left the capitol behind us in search of food.  I had suggested the Rocky Mountain Diner, only to find once we got there that it had closed.  Just a minor setback, but still disappointing.  We made our way to BD's Mongolian BBQ and had a leisurely lunch before heading back down 16th Street to head home.  We had big plans for a road trip, so needed to get home.  As we paused on one corner for another photo op with Flat Colin, who should walk up to us but Nate!  Talk about coincidence!  He was on his way home from work, so joined us on the lightrail trip home.  Even if he did crash our girls day, we had a blast with Flat Colin!  And now the wheels in my head have started turning.  I'm going to check into getting the books for the boys.  It could be a fun summer project for them . . . and for the unsuspecting friends and family who get to help.