One big nerdy summer

Since I'm a teacher, I often get asked what I do on my "summers off," as if I spend my entire summer sitting under a tree sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them. While I do spend some time sitting under a tree, mostly I'm playing with my dog or reading a book. I also take time to reflect on the previous year (a blog on that to come), plan for the upcoming year, and do some independent research (and/or attend a conference or two). So far this summer I've done much of that, but I've also found time for some pure recreation. Much of it has been spent in the kitchen, and I've documented a good bit of it on my food blog; and this summer I started my own book blog as well and have been updating that fairly regularly.

Speaking of books, I was vaguely horrified recently to discover that there were quite a few locally owned, independent bookstores in the Denver/Boulder area I had yet to visit. Without waiting long, I began to rectify that, and have taken it one step further.

Not long ago I took a "Nerd's Field Trip" to three bookstores within a short distance of one another on Broadway Avenue in Denver: Fahrenheit's Books, the Broadway Book Mall, and the Denver Book Fair. I found all three stores good places to visit, and I plan to return again soon.

Which brings me to my next adventure: Book Nerds' Big Day Out. Basically, it goes something like this: this Wednesday some friends of mine and I are going to get together and explore as many bookstores as we can in one day. Here's a rough idea of what it will look like for us:

Okay, so here's what I am planning for my Book Nerd's Big Day Out in Denver:

• 9:00 a.m.- Breakfast at Snooze. (A locally owned, independent restaurant)
• 10:00 - Head out to the bookstores. I have found 13 bookstores in the Denver area (I counted Tattered Cover twice); some are within walking distance of each other. I might not go to all of them, mostly because of not wanting to pay for parking. :-p Each of the stores is locally owned and independent: a major theme of mine and certainly a huge part of the day.
• Lunch wherever, whenever (Try to make the goal to eat at a locally owned, independent place, though...bonus points for trying some place new!) :)
• 4:00 - Tea at the House of Commons on 15th St. (*NOTE: If it proves that there are too many, we'll likely change the 4:00 location to either St. Mark's on 17th or Hooked on Colfax.)
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Rules of the day:

• Any and all bookstores must be locally and independently owned. No chains, period.
• As much as possible, buy at least one book at each store (many used bookstores have a $1 clearance section)
• Buy at least one book to trade with someone else.
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I'll be posting pictures and comments soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I would encourage others to put together their own Book Nerds' Big Day Out in their city and post up links to their fun here!


For those that might be interested, here is a list/map of the stores we plan to visit:





View Map for Book Nerds' Big Day Out 2011 in a larger map