Rocky Mountain High and Dry

Those of us who live here in beautiful Colorado sometimes forget about the effects of the altitude on our guests from lower altitudes. That its high and dry here is not really sufficient warning.

I’m afraid I did not adequately warn Tennessee. Though to be fair, nobody seems to believe any of us about how bad it can be. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way I guess.  

Let’s say for instance, you are someone who can normally go to a Mexican restaurant, have two margaritas with your meal and still be okay to drive home. When you are here just finishing one margarita will knock you on your ass and make you feel like you drank an entire pitcher.

You get back to your temporary abode, driven by the person who has had only club soda, and by 1 pm you are crawling into the bed and the room is spinning. For someone who hasn’t had the spins for decades, this can be an even more unpleasant experience than it normally is. You take a nap and at least you’re not drunk when you wake up but the hangover feels extra.

And it actually is. Alcohol dehydrates you anyway, but you do it here and it can feel like the Sahara has invaded your body. If you’ve reached this point only water will probably not be enough. Gatorade will become your newest friend. I wonder if Gatorade keeps statistics about which States have higher sales?

I’m afraid I have failed in my duties as hostess. I should have consulted my local friends as to the best way to tell your new girlfriend visiting for the first time, how she, as a grown ass adult, is supposed to listen to you that she shouldn’t drink alcohol and to have twice as much water as she normally drinks back home.

The fact that it didn’t even occur to me to say much more than drink lots of water, makes me feel terrible. Especially as she’s lying in bed in the room next door trying to recover as I write this. I’ll have to find a way to make it up to her. Let’s hope she doesn’t decide she’s never coming back. That would be truly tragic.