Arthur and I just spent four days and change in the big square state of Colorado (from which I originally hail), and boy was it a hatful—for reasons beside our inaugural start-to-finish screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show! (Tim Curry: respect.)

Yes, multiple factors led to the head-spinning:

• Going back to where you’re from, when you don’t go regularly, is all but guaranteed to be a trip. “Is that what XYZ really looks like? Where did XYZ go? I can’t believe I used to do XYZ here!!”

• Colorado is different from New York in many ways: more sky, more dry, more guns; you hear fewer different languages spoken on the street—and fewer people are walking down the street to begin with, and the streets are steeply crowned to deal with the occasional flash flooding. That’s just a few, of many more, off the dome.

• Taking a break from your usual routine and surroundings is a shake-up—even if you’re just spending the night on a friend’s couch. There’s nothing quite like shoehorning yourself into a different place temporarily to shift your perspective and put it in… perspective.

I could easily go on, and I don’t want to image myself out of blog-writing business!, but pictures are probably the most apt expression tool in this case. Ladies and germs, prepare to feast your eyes on… Colorado, Spring 2016!

This mural outside the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs has been there since I was a kid

Dragon hood ornament on Bishop Castle in Rye, Colorado

Garden of the Gods!

Spelling it out at the Territory Days street fair

Bishop Castle in Rye, CO: One man’s wacky crusade

Attention Dogs:

Noah and the Ark, Manitou Springs Penny Arcade

Pikes Peak

Unreal buffalo in Manitou Springs

“The Girls”

Readers! Care to show and/or tell me about a trip ‘home’ you’ve taken?