Friday, July 24, 2009

Wandering Down Memory Lane

I was chatting with someone at the bus stop last night and we got talking about all the one-way streets that can be such a pain in downtown Denver. It reminded me of a story my grandpa told me once and I decided to share with you!


Apparently, Grandma and Grandpa drove to Denver for a business meeting that Grandpa needed to attend. The plan was for Grandpa to go to his meeting while Grandma and the kids (not sure what ages they were at that point) entertained themselves for the day and then picked Grandpa up that evening.


The meeting was in downtown Denver. If you haven't been here, I'll tell you that downtown is a mess of one-way streets. Sometimes you have to circle around your destination a time or two before you can figure out how to get to it coming from the allowed direction. It can be very confusing if you're not used to it.


Apparently, Grandpa found it pretty confusing. He circled the block where his meeting was being held many times as he tried to figure out how to negotiate the one-way streets in such a way as to go down the street to reach the building he was aiming for. After several attempts, he finally came to the street he needed and turned the corner. Only to see the oncoming traffic on the one-way road headed right for them.


Thinking quickly, Grandpa whipped the car out of the path of traffic and into a loading area. He then proclaimed, "I can walk from here. Pick me up tonight." And he left. Grandma had to figure out how to get the car out of the loading area and headed the right direction!


When he told me the story - what, 40 years or so after it happened? - Grandpa was still laughing and thought it was funny. Grandma was still mad. =)

3 comments:

Mistaken said...

hahaha, that's cute! I hope to be able to tell stories like that when I'm older

Druciana said...

I love listening to stories like that from my grandparents. It makes them more real.

Melissa said...

What a great story! I was just downtown today, and had that very thought about how difficult it is to navigate the streets there.