I thought I'd use the blog to capture a few of my reflections on this trip to the UCEA Conference in Denver and then on to a visit with the Toronto Diocesan Catholic School Board, with side trip to London to catch up with family.

As I look back on it, I think I passed the flight in a kind of twilight zone - just kind of switched off and went with it. Travelling alone, you don't tend to get engaged in coversation, so the world is circumscribed by your seat, your book, your movies and the shuffle through transit arrangements.

All in all it was painless. I got the upgrade to premium economy, which was good news. The service is more attentive, but most of all there is a human amount of space - on all sides. I have to say that the seat on the A380 wasn't all that comfortable. In particular the leg rest seemed not to provide any support. May have just been a fault with my seat. I managed to read a draft of some doctoral work, read a bit and watch a couple of movies - but no sleep. Landing in LA before you left Sydney never ceases to exercise the imagination!

90 minutes of the six hours in LA were taken up with immigration, customs, rechecking luggage and finding the new terminal. I was able to get into the Admirals lounge as a Qantas club member, which provided civilised surroundings and a chance to catch up on emails - and not much else. Note to self - bring the THREE pin adaptor if you want to recharge your computer....

The flight to Denver left from one of the satellite terminals, and passed uneventfully. As we came in to land, I could see that smow had fallen recently - a light cover and largey melted now, with pockets surviving in the shade.

Denver airport is structured with a Central terminal and a number of satellites. It takes 25 minutes for your luggage to get to the Central terminal. My Super Shuttle got me to the Marriott in just on an hour. First reflections about Denver as we drove in and through it were - where is the traffic? (This was an impression that was to last through today's walk around Lower Downtown). It is like Adelaide before peak hour, or Sydney at about 5am. Lovely!

I got settled in my room, and decided to go for a walk to straighten out the kinks of 26 hours on the road. It was cool (about 8 degrees) but not uncomfortable as I walked along the 16th street Mall to get oriented. This Mall runs for some distance and has a free shuttle bus running continuous loops along its length. A meal at Subway (who knows which meal it was!) and the haircut I didn't have time to have at home, at Floyds on Champa Street - open until 9pm!

I got back to the hotel, and tried to sort out my choices for the conference, and hit the sack about 7.30. Woke at 10.30, and read, had a cup of tea and back to sleep at 12.30 - then didn't get up until 8.30 - all in all a good night's sleep!

This morning I downloaded a walking tour app using the free hotel wifi and explored the Lower Downtown - known as LoDo here. On the way, I had coffee, grapefruit juice and egg whites in a pita pocket, with fruit, at The Delectable Egg - a proud continuation of teh American tardition of cheap, hearty breakfasts.

It was the historic heart of the new city in the 1850s and became an industrial area subsequently. After the usual period of urban decay it has been gentrified, with warehouses and factories turned into restaurants, hotels , stores and apartments. Again, the absence of traffic was terrific. The sky is a fabulous blue and the air cool and bracing in clear sunlight.

Among the sights along the way were the Wazee Supper club opened in the 1970s, using an old plumbing supply building. Looks like it could be worth a visit.I visited a lovely bookstore called the Tattered Cover, and the photo on the blog is the foyer of the Oxford Hotel, opened in 1891 as a luxury venue largely for travelling salesmen, with 180 rooms, steam heating, electricity and a bathroom on every floor - unless you were a woman, in which case there was one in the basement! Among the later sights were Union Station (build to connect Denver to the transcontinental railroad via a spur, after Denver missed out on its own station), and Coors field, where the combination of low humidity (drying out the baseballs) and thin air meant that balls travelled a great deal further than any other stadium in the country. They still travel about 8% further, but are stoerd in a humidified room!

That's about it for entry one. Conference starts in a couple of hours.