Denver - Day 3

Denver – Day 3

Last night was interesting. The Lakers and Nuggets played for a playoff spot and half of the crowd stayed here. Unfortunately…the hotel continues to plummet on the Dan approval scale. I had two guys next to me who were loud, annoying and probably drunk. Needless to stay it kept me up and I wasn't overly happy. They are gone now!

I woke up (thanks to housekeeping) and started back to Golden to find Cassie Bernall's grave. I had my directions on my laptop so I knew exactly where to go. Unfortunately, for some reason, my laptop was low on battery. It had the only directions I could use on it. I had to stop at Radio Shack just to buy something to charge it with. Anyway…

I got to Golden Cemetery finally. The only catch with seeing Cassie's grave was there was a funeral going on in the vicinity and I didn't want to seem rude. I waited for about 30 minutes and they cleared out. FINALLY I got to Cassie's grave. She was the first story we heard on the news about someone who stood up for her faith when asked by the shooters. At age 18, she was able to stand up for her faith even if it meant death. It was a pretty moving thing to be in the presence of. I've seen her face a million times, and for the first time was seeing where she was in person. Her grave read:

"Bunny Rabbit, We know you're in the arms of our living Lord and yes, Cassie, we're happy for you"

At the end it had a saying of Cassie's:

"Honestly, I want to live completely for God. It's hard and it's scary, but its totally worth it."

She wrote that in her journal the day before she was killed.

I left and headed for Rachel's grave. I got lost a bunch of times…again. It took me 30 minutes to find. At the end of the cemetery were 13 stone crosses, one for each victim. Wow. Looking over each was moving.

Seeing Rachel's up close was moving. She was the first one killed by many reports. There is rumor that she too was asked if she believed in God. She has so many journal writings that showed how sold out she was. One of her biggest sayings about her faith was "I won't be labeled as average." She too is a role model to me! I took some video of my thoughts at the time. They're nothing special, but I wanted to get what I was thinking and feeling on tape.

After a somber morning, I headed to Fado's Irish Restaurant to watch the Chelsea-Valencia game. I was again surrounded by British. However, since they were Chelsea fans, I was cool with it! I had my traditional Irish Boxty (potato pancake with sirloin, onions and mushrooms covered in a brown gravy sauce that is TO DIE FOR). I finished it off with brown bread ice cream…great stuff!

I am debating on just staying in this evening and doing nothing. I have a full day in Colorado Springs tomorrow. American Idol tonight….no Senjaya!