by Libby Kyer

It’s important to know everything you can about the upcoming GNSI conference in 2003. Location, lodging, workshops, field trips, travel time, tourist sites and rest sites. Finding the right mix of education and fun makes the trip well worth the while. And all the time, during the planning, after all the effort to get everything just right, we all know the important question has to be asked. Is the food any good? We understand. The Inuit have an ancient saying, “Food is sleep.” After all, if you really are going to take in everything offered AND discover Denver, you won’t be getting a lot of sleep, will you. So food is indeed important.

Regular dining fare will be available at the University of Denver, cafeteria style. Herbivore and omnivore selections are available, and the food is fresh and reasonably priced. A listing of further dining options in Denver will be available when you register, and will run from the sublime to the ridiculous, crossing ethnic, economical and regional boundaries. Count on some good Mexican cuisine recommendations, al fresco dining possibilities and much-better-than-decent barbeque, not to mention Lebanese, Vietnamese, Indian, nouvelle cuisine, and plain good eating. Fast food, slow food, high food, low food, Denver has it within easy reach of the DU campus.

Of course, the highlight of our meals will be the annual banquet, focusing on regional cuisine. Good food, old and new friends, awards to some special folks – all great reasons to get together for a meal. This popular event will take place at the Grant-Humphreys Mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a designated Denver Landmark.

The Grants' Beaux-Arts mansion is an exuberant mixture of elements, combining a brick facade with terra cotta balustrades, projecting balconies and 20-foot columns. The 30-room mansion was completed in 1902 at a cost of $35,000. The home is now a public space, available for special events throughout the year.

Remember – food IS sleep, and with the variety and quality available at the conference and in Denver, you’ll be making up for the sleep you’re missing as you enjoy the mountains, plains and city. Next month, we’ll have full registration information available for you, with workshops, lectures, field trips and banquet information detailed. Let’s get ready to go!

Factoids:

Theodore Davis Boal and F.I. Harnois designed the Grant home on "Quality Hill" in the Beaux-Arts style, borrowing elements from the high architectural periods of the ancient world and Renaissance Europe

James Benton Grant, born in 1848 in Alabama, the son of a plantation owner later impoverished by the Civil War, studied at the prestigious Freiburg mining institute in Germany. He established the Omaha and Grant Smelting Company in Leadville, CO.

In 1882 Grant was elected third governor of Colorado, a position he held for one term from 1883 - 1885.

The Grants counted Denver's most wealthy and influential families among their friends, and the mansion was frequently the scene of receptions, teas, dinners and dances.

The mansion was sold in 1917 to Albert E. Humphreys and his wife, Alice Boyd Humphreys. A determined entrepreneur, he had acquired - and lost - two fortunes in logging and mining before amassing a third through successful wildcat oil speculations in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Texas.

The Humphreys' son was Ira Boyd, an inventor who won an engineering award for the Humphreys Spiral Concentrator, a device used in the development of ore concentration, during World War II. accomplished pilot in the early days of flight.