I finally made it Boulder. All it took was my niece’s wedding.

Boulder is famous for a lot of things, but if you’re a bookstore aficionado and poetaster, as I am, then the only place that matters is the Innisfree Poetry Bookstore, one of only three poetry only bookstores in America. It was smaller than I expected, but it was also filled with poetry. I might quibble with some of the curation, but have nothing but respect for their focus on Colorado poets and for stocking a good sized selection of chapbooks. Actually, one of the two books I bought was a chapbook by Joshua Corey entiteld Hope & Anchor (the other was Selected Poems by Paul Celan).

While wandering a farmer’s market in Boulder, we randomly hit on the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMOCA). It was small, but it was free on Saturdays and a pleasant way to pass an hour. Some wall hangings (thought nothing that would properly be called a traditional painting), but mostly larger installations (including a cool sound installation, based on the progression of the chakras).

The mountains are beautiful and I love a nice hike or walk, but in the end, Boulder would be somewhat wasted on me, because I’m more of a bookstore and museum guy, than I am a mountain guy.