RoadTrip: Colorado Springs to Mind

The next morning, we woke glad to still be at the Lone Duck Campground as it was very windy while we slept and we talked about how we wanted to plan our time in the Colorado Springs area.  We  wanted to drive to Pikes Peak, check our the Air Force Academy, US Olympic Training Facility and Garden of the Gods.  We decided that Garden of the Gods might be busy on Sunday with Monday being a holiday so we headed towards Pikes Peak to drive the 18 miles up 14000 ft above sea level.  As we turned on to Pikes Peak Highway, Megan spotted a little cafe called Mildred's.  She really wanted some eggs so we turned around and stopped in.

Mildred's was a cute little cafe with 5 booths, a few tables, and then some seats at the counter.  Mildred and her husband still ran the place after something like 47 years.  Mildred might have been one of their mothers but you get the idea.  We scarfed down some eggs and hash browns as we read the local newspaper and noticed that there was a festival going on in Old Colorado City, next to Colorado Springs.  We figured we should check that out after we return from our drive to the Peak.

Shivering at the Summit

We flipped a coin and I won, so I got to drive up, or maybe I made sure I drove up because I was more comfortable loping up the mountain than I was careening down it.  The temperature at our camp when we left was 58 degrees, at 14110 ft it was a windy 27 degrees.  Wind chill of 8.  This reminded me when I was younger and my family drove up to Pikes Peak.  All 5 of us, my parents, two sisters and I, were all caught shivering a top Pikes Peak.  There is a picture of us kids all wearing sweatshirts from the person 1 bigger than us with our knees up to our chests.  This time Megan and I at least looked prepared for cold even though we were shivering and ran inside right after the picture was taken by one of the few other people outside walking around.

No Jokes

The drive down was much more relaxing than I remember as a child.  Maybe because Megan is less likely to joke with my life than my father was. As I famously told my dad on the descent, "No Jokes, Dad! No Jokes!"

I might have repeated that line a few times on our way down but Megan's fingers were too tightly gripped to the steering wheel to make a joke.  At the brake check, our brakes just barely passed the test but we decided to take a break anyway.  If not to give our brakes a rest to give our nerves a breather.

Playing at Manitou Cliff Dwellings

We made it back to town; on our way to check out the festival we stopped at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They were pretty cool and allowed you to walk in and all around them plus there was free fudge samples in the gift shop.  We knew we were going to try to make it to Mesa Verde, another set of cliff dwellings and these small ones got us excited to check out the big ones in Southwestern Colorado.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Panning for Gold

We were looking for some more substance after the fudge and my parents had recommended a BBQ place in Old Colorado City, which was where the festival was going on so we could try to do both.  When we arrived in Old Colorado City we realized that the festival was more than just a little thing, the streets were packed.  So we decided to check out the food options available on the street.  While we looked, Megan found a new hobby and possibly a new career, panning for gold.  We found a gyros stand and chowed down on a gyros with a coke.  After checking out a few local artisans' stands we felt the crowd was too much.  On our way out we stopped off to get some groceries, refueled, and stocked up on packets of condiments from the gas station.  We didn't need a jar of mayonnaise or a bottle of mustard; all we needed were a few packets so we figured that we could save a few pennies by using the packets instead of buying the full amount.

We also made a few phone calls to family while sitting in the parking lot because our campsite didn't have any service.  I called my grandpa, as he had been to the area many times and my parents while Megan chatted away with her parents.  After our calls back home, we went back to our temporary home.  We made some bloody marys with the mini tomato juice that we had and also started snacking on some chips and salsa.  I made some Billy Burgers, which have jalapenos, onions, garlic, and goat cheese mixed in with the meat.  We also had some Caesar salad and baked beans cooked directly in the fire.  We didn't stay out near the fire long as the temperature dropped quickly and we were resigned to reading our book club book in our tent before falling asleep.

RoadTrip: Denver and Colorado Springs

Red Flowers, Red Rocks

After waking, we watched some TV from bed before showering and starting our day.  We drove over to Brett's friend's house to then drive over to Red Rocks Park on the west side of Denver. We did some hiking around the trails and then decided to head towards the amphitheater.

Emily, Megan, Billy, and Brett at Red Rocks

The amphitheater was amazing and we could only imagine how cool it would be to see a killer show there.  I remembered back in high school listening to my sister's Dave Matthews Live at Red Rocks CD. I am almost positive I had no idea where Red Rocks was or even what Red Rocks was.  The museum at the theater was very nice and it had a wonderful history of all the shows that had been put on on the stage.  I enjoyed the part about how the Beatles sold out every show on their Beatlemania tour except for the show at Red Rocks, tickets were $5 and they didn't sell out.  Maybe Denver was more of Rolling Stones crowd.

After climbing the hundreds of stairs up and down at the amphitheater, we were in the mood to do some more hiking and we had seen a sign for Dinosaur Park just down the road.  We didn't know anything about this place but our expectations were nearing Jurassic Park levels by the time we pulled into the parking lot.  The parking lot said "Dinosaur Parking" but when we got out and explored it didn't seem like anything other than a parking lot.  After another attempt to find the real dinosaurs we just found a bike trail off of the parking lot and hiked up it.  It ended up being nothing special with views of I-70 and to the east, Denver.

Feeling beaten by the dinosaurs, we were tired and hungry.  That is exactly when you don't want to be hanging around me so I forced the group to stop and get some margaritas, chips, and salsa at a Mexican joint called the Morrison Inn in Morrison, CO.  After sharing a pitcher of some strawberry margaritas we went back to Emily's house where he mom had made some appetizers and chocolate chip pie, which was amazing, that we snacked on while chatting on their porch.  But before long, we had to head out to make it Colorado Springs.

We quickly found out that from the south side of Denver to Colorado Springs is a short drive and we easily made it to our campsite at Lone Duck Campground a few miles west of town.  We got a spot next to some other groups but had a creek to one side and trees surrounding us which gave us a little privacy.  This was Memorial Day weekend and the campground was 100% booked so we felt lucky to have a spot reserved.  The campground had a lot of things going on, there was a heated pool, fishing pond, game room, convenience store, and a mini kitchen.  They were also having pancake and sausage breakfast for the holiday weekend which families seemed to really enjoy but we decided to pass on those.

There is a lot that we wanted to do and see in Colorado Springs and after getting our camp set up we decided we wanted to start doing stuff.  Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Air Force Academy, US Olympic Training Facility.  But we saw a brochure for Seven Falls and it was open at night so we headed in that direction as the other stuff all seemed to close at dusk.

The line of cars at Seven Falls was daunting but as pulled in to the parking lot we figured out the line wasn't because it was ridiculously crowded but that the parking lot was ridiculously small.  It only held about 75 cars and it was difficult to back out of spots with all the traffic.  We got lucky and found a spot way up front and quickly tried to distance ourselves from all the foreign tourists taking pictures of chipmunks and fake bear tracks in the sidewalk.

We climbed all 224 stairs up to the top of the falls and then realized that the better view was to climb up the other stairs to the "eagles' nest."  We then walked back down 224 stairs and up the 185 to get the better view.

We snapped a few pictures of the falls as the lights shining on the falls were changing colors.  The light effects looked pretty neat but it was also very touristy.  I am quite glad that National Parks don't do this type of thing.  Nature has a beauty all of its own, we don't need to manipulate it to make a few extra dollars.  Maybe I feel that way because they got a few dollars out of me.  Be warned, Seven Falls is a tourist trap but we did get a good leg workout.

Roadtrip: Fort Collins and Denver

We woke up a few times in the middle of the night to the downpour of rain (luckily we put the rain fly on) but we stayed dry and warm.  In the morning we woke up to a chilly, overcast day at Horsetooth Reservoir without much of a plan except that my friend, Brett, was arriving in Denver that evening and we were going to try to meet up for some drinks with him and his friend.  We drove over to the showers at the campsite, which makes us sound lazy but it was pretty nippy out, our site was a good 10 minute walk over to the shower, and if we drove we could plug out phones in and get a little battery charge.  So ya, we might have been a touch lazy this morning.

Stout - known for it's growing population and breakfast burritos

It also came in handy that we drove because the showers were pay to use and we needed to have some cash to get the water going.  So we paid our $2 and got to enjoy 6 minutes of hot water.  I am a world-renowned quick showerer so 8 minutes would be plenty.  But that doesn't mean I wasn't stressed about how much time I had left.  I got in and quickly lathered up and rinsed off with fear that I would get caught with suds still in my hair as the water ran out.  So I was done with my shower in give or take, 9 seconds.  I then used the additional 351 seconds thinking, "should I try to scrub more soap on my body," followed by "no! There's no time!"  In the end, I just stood under the hot water waiting for it to end, probably the longest shower of my life.  If there was a glitch and the water didn't shut off, I could have easily been in there for 45 minutes and just thought that "wow, 6 minutes is a lot longer than I thought."

After we were both thoroughly washed and dried, Megan having no issues with the shower, we spotted a little shack that was the "town's" convenience store.  They were advertising $2 breakfast burritos with a coffee.  Neither of us are big coffee drinkers but hell, we're on vacation right?!  And we both really wanted the burritos.  So we picked up a couple and drove back to our campsite to eat our burritos and drink our coffees next to the lake.  We were in no hurry, as the only thing we had discussed doing was going over to New Belgium Brewery.  We had checked online and all the

Breakfast Burritos Next to Horsetooth Reservoir

tours for the day were filled up but we figured we could just stop by and get a fresh pint in the tasting room or buy a souvenir or two from the gift shop.

We got to the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins by about 11 a.m. and it was quite the bustling scene.  I guess in the Craft Brewing Capital it really is 5 o'clock somewhere.  We asked about getting on a tour and the hostess assured us that they could get us on a tour and she was glad that we came without a tour reservation.  She thought that we would either get on the 11:15 tour or the 11:30.  We wasted a few minutes sending a few coaster/postcards that New Belgium would send for you if you filled them out and before we knew it we were on a tour.

Fat Tire Bicycle

The tour consisted of many beer tastings, and not like here is 3 drops for you and 3 drops for you.  New Belgium was letting you try a full bottle or can.  They were quite generous with the tastings which was greatly appreciated by most all of the tour group.  They seem to be well aware of their image and try to stick to that with giving employees bikes to ride, running the facility off of solar energy, switching some beers from bottles to cans in order to encourage beer drinking outside.  They also have a program where their employees, after 5 years of working there receive a sabbatical where they can do whatever they want.  Then at 10 years they get a trip to Belgium to do a bike/beer tour of the country.  They also have a pretty sweet slide in their office to get from the 2nd floor down to the ground level.

Barrel Aging Beers

After our tour, we were feeling pretty good but we wanted to buy some beers straight from the source, so we bought a 6 pack of Blue Paddle and a mini growler of a sour beer that tasted pretty similar to wine.  We also spotted magnets that were New Belgium bottle caps and discussed how that was such a great idea and that we could try to make those ourselves.  An employee overheard us and informed us they were free so we took a couple and decided we needed to get lunch before we go too far.

New Belgium Chandelier

Using UrbanSpoon to find restaurants, which we became very good at picking the good ones, we found B&B's Pickle Barrel Deli which filled our stomachs' with a big BBQ turkey sandwich and some chips.  We then played rock, paper, scissor to decide who had to drive down to Denver and who got to sleep.  Let's just say that I was well rested when we got to Denver.

As we got close, we used Expedia to find a hotel on the south side of Denver that seemed like it would be a good place to spend the night.  The Crestwood Inn was perfect especially for $49.  We lounged on the bed, Megan napped as I watched multiple episodes of Storage Wars, YUUUUUPPP!  We showered and headed out to meet up with Brett and his college friend.  We were a bit early and slightly peckish so a quick burger and fries from Good Times gave us the energy we needed to have another round of drinks.  We met up with Brett and his friend Emily and her sister Anna at Ludo's. It was a huge bar and we enjoyed our drinks on the second floor patio looking over southern Denver.  We made plans to do a hike the next day with them and as Friday night turned into Saturday morning we made our way back to Aurora, CO and our cozy hotel bed.

Emily, Brett, Megan, Billy, Anna
at Ludo's in Denver, CO

Travels: 2009

Because this is my memoir, I get to jump from story to story without worrying about time and space.  This past weekend, I was talking with my parents about their recent trip to Ireland and my mom told me that I needed to write down some of my stories from my time in Europe because my memories won't always be so vivid.

Listening to their stories about stopping in pubs, seeing traditional Irish music, and just general travel stories gave me the motivation to recount some of my finest travel tales.

Mississippi River Barge from the Top of Caruthersville Elevator

After graduating from Indiana University in May of 2009 I started a training program with Bunge, a commodities company.  I started the training program with two weeks in Miami, 8 weeks in St. Louis, 4 weeks in a small town in the bootheel of Missouri, Caruthersville. Then I started to work my way towards international travel with a quick trip north of the border to Toronto for 3 weeks.

St. Louis Arch

While in Miami I was with 6 others just starting the training program and we were in for quite a good time.  In the group there was, Charlie from San Francisco, Warren who I randomly went to high school with for a year, Eric from the western suburbs of Chicago, Danny from New York, Harry from London, and Deepti, the only girl in the group, from Hyderabad, India.  We had speakers come and discuss commodity trading basics and then after our work we were able to experience the better side of business travel and training; dinners.  We were 7 strangers and we stopped being polite and started being real. Wait no, that is Real World.  But we were 7 young people with fresh AmEx cards and someone else picking up our tabs.  We had plenty of delicious meals and nights out while in and around South Beach.

Tacky Niagara Falls

After spending a few weeks in the Midwest, I moved to Toronto, in December.  It was bitterly cold and they were having a dry (as in no snow) winter so there wasn't even anything white, it was just freezing and gray.  I took a trip to Niagara Falls and was impressed with the size and sheer power of the falls and was disappointed with the incredibly tacky and touristy feel of everything else.  But I did enjoy the casinos and sports books which gave me reason to stay the night and gamble on college football.  (Be warned, the sports book would only allow parlays and no single game bets.)

Niagara Falls

Although I didn't spend a whole lot of time in Toronto, I did make it out one night with a coworker, who later would become a good friend while we both lived in St. Louis.  We went to some underground dingy bar that had some great bluegrass / twangy type band playing.  I don't remember the name of the bar or the band and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I would have remembered it even the next morning.  I do remember the massive headache the next morning and the annoying chills I got when trying to find a greasy hamburger in downtown Toronto near my hotel.

Following Toronto, I made quick trip back to Chicago for Christmas, which included a classic college reunion weekend with my former roommates living in Chicago.  I landed at O'Hare and got picked up by my parents and little sister.  We went to a pizza place that we used to go to with old friends around Christmas.  It was great to be back with family after not seeing them for so long but I was also anxious to get downtown to meet up with Adam, Chachi, and Jones.  We went to a Chicago Bulls game and then got picked up by a trolley with a bunch of friends and friends' friends.  We drank all over town and had a grand old Christmas themed trolley party.

Family Stockings over the Fireplace

After the weekend downtown, I got to spend the week with my family at home before I was going to be heading over to Europe to continue my training.  My time at home was wonderful! The whole family was around and we were all in great Christmas spirits.  Also, my childhood friends were around and we got to hang out like we were kids again without many worries to get in our way.  This included spending massive amounts of time outside in the snow building a giant snowman that we then spray painted to make it look like he had clothes on.  But before I knew it I was headed back to O'Hare to meet up with Eric and Warren as we were going to Amsterdam for a few days including New Years Eve before we had to report to work in Geneva, Switzerland after the 1st of the year.

DIY: Roadtrip Shadow Box

Last night I was feeling ambitious and wanted to get stuff done.  I saw that my picnic table needed to be stained and my car needed to be cleaned but I wanted to do something more fun.  Plus with visitors coming this weekend it would be a great time for people to admire my craftiness if I were to complete the shadow box.

Beginning Shadow Box

I found an old TV cardboard box in the basement and was able to cut out a giant piece (41x22) that was going to be the backing to my shadow box.  I used a few nails in the corners but mostly I used wood glue to try to get the cardboard to stick to the box.  Then after letting that dry for a while I brought the whole thing inside and started planning on how I would fill it.

I had 45 pictures, 3 postcards, and then a bunch of nick-knacks that were going to be used to fill up the shelf space. 

After a quick trip to Walgreens to pick up some double sided tape and stumbling across a glue stick I began arranging pictures.  I am very glad that I found that glue stick for three reasons: it was quicker and easier than tape and also using a glue stick makes you feel like you are 3rd Grade again.  Mrs. Wizenski would be proud!

I first worked on the background and quickly realized that with all the pictures there was no need or room for a map to be the background. So that immediately cut out part of the process which was already coming along rapidly.  I worked my way from 1 rectangle to the next, placing pictures, moving them, rearranging them, replacing them, trimming some corners until I had them just right.  I decided that there would be no order, rhyme, or reason to the pictures that way the nick-knack souvenirs could be randomly put in where they fit best as well.

I ended up using 44 pictures, 12 magnets, 4 stickers, 3 coins, 3 figurines, 2 ornaments, 2 key chains, 2 patches, 2 pins, 1 postcard, 1 rock, and 1 cork.

The RoadTrip Shadow Box

Top Left

Bottom Left

Bottom Right

Top Middle

Top Right

 

DIY Idea: Shadow Box

As we traversed the Western US, Megan and I knew that we were going to gather souvenirs along the way.  We also obviously were going to be taking about 100 pictures a day for a month (and that isn't really exaggerating.)  We needed to come up with a way to display our trip in a way that would be creative, interesting, and unique.

In a combination of ideas we came up with the shadow box idea.  We could do pictures in the background, put souvenirs on the shelf or tacked up on the backing and this would be a wonderful display of our massive trip.  Then the idea hit me that instead of going to Hobby Lobby to buy a massive shadow box for $100 we could try to make one ourselves.  I remembered seeing on Instructables.com a shadow box that was made from an old pallet or skid.  This way the entire project from getting the lumber, to making the box, to filling the box would be completely personal and 100% unique.

The Skid

I got a skid and began construction or really destruction.  In order to get the wood I pretty much had to destroy the skid.  But I had to be delicate with it because the slats of wood would crack when being pried away from the nails.  I split more than a few but started to improve as the destruction went along and by the last slat I had enough long pieces to make the top and bottom and I could use the good ends of the cracked pieces to make the sides.
 

All together I had 3 long pieces, 2 medium pieces, and 5 short pieces that were useable.  The long pieces were about 35 inches long, medium pieces about 20 inches and short pieces about 10 inches long.  I didn't have a blueprint for my shadow box but I knew I wanted to break up the large box by making smaller rectangles and by doing so adding support to the structure.

I tried out a few displayed and decided, not surprisingly that I liked the aesthetics of a symmetrical design but I didn't want 4 or 6 equal rectangles.  Using some wood glue and finishing nails I constructed the main structure and then with some measuring, remeasuring, cutting and nailing I put together the inside shelf and supports. 

Shadow Box

In total, the project took about 2 hours split pretty evenly between destruction and construction.  Now I am left with an empty shadow box and my ideas are starting to flow with how to fill it with our trip's memories. 

I am thinking that a map of the US or the states we traveled through glued on to a piece of hard cardboard would do well as backing.  Then we can trace our route through all the states.  We can add pictures throughout the entire shadow box to complete the background.  As for the shelves, we tried to buy smaller souvenirs on our trip in the thought that:
1. we were going to get a lot of souvenirs and if they were big it would tough to display them.
2. We didn't have a ton of space in the car for a collection of big souvenirs.
3. Big stuff costs more and we didn't want to spend all of our money on souvenirs.

For the most part, we have small nick-knack type souvenirs that will display perfectly in the shadow box. We bought key chains, magnets, pins, small replica statues, and the occasional coin or medallion.  We also tried to pick up a rock or a pebble from each place we hiked or stayed or stopped at.  Obviously this worked better in wilderness places and not as much in LA but if there is room in the shadow box to display the rocks with a small location tag the shelves will be filled with those as well.

Jefferson St. BBQ

If you ever find yourself driving near Converse, Indiana you are probably lost or running away from Jason Voorhees and if you think you've lost him, you should stop.

Converse, IN

We were returning from a weekend up at Lake Wawasee and had a hankering for some BBQ.  We were hoping to find some place by using our sense of smell, hoping that we'd see a place that was doing some Sunday barbequing in a gas station parking lot or something like that.  Luckily, Jefferson St. BBQ has put their name out there on the internet because after a few quick searches on our phones it popped up.  There wasn't a whole lot of information other than they were open and they served BBQ but that was enough for us, so we began heading towards Converse, Indiana.

Converse has a population around 1100, is .9 square miles and of course with a town that large it is in 2 counties, Miami County and Grant County.  My guess is that Converse is sought after so much by both counties that neither could dream of giving any part of her up.  The Converse Bordermen high school basketball team was once like Hickory High from Hoosiers (or the actual Milan HS) in that they were a tiny school and would occasionally beat the Goliaths.  According to Wikipedia they also had a unique dress code for away games but I couldn't dig up anything else on that, Wikipedia is just teasing us with that information.

Back to the BBQ, we arrive in Converse excited to get out and hungry for some food.  Jefferson St. BBQ has an incredibly inviting entrance with large windows in the front.  The inside is charming with wood floors, exposed brick, corrugated tin siding, and tin pails for light fixtures.  There was also a big, new TV in the corner that had the Colts game playing.  There were a few outside tables on the sidewalk which we were eager to use since it was a gorgeous day.  The cashier was smiling as we walked in the door and friendly while helping us decide on entrees and sides.  Jefferson St. BBQ also had a great selection of drinks available including grape soda and red cream soda, which we were super excited to snag out of the refrigerator and start drinking right away.  They had beers too but since most of us were fighting off a hangover, some more than others, we stayed away from the alcohol.

Most of us got the brisket and one got the pulled pork.  They were both quite tasty but I would definitely recommend the brisket.  It was juicy and flavorful with nice thick slices and some fatty pieces that turned to liquid when they hit your tongue.  The jalapeno bbq sauce was perfect, had a little kick but didn't make you reach for the water.  The sweet bbq sauce was good; I rarely use sweet sauces so I am not the right judge but I did squirt a little of this stuff on my platter.

Jefferson St BBQ

As for the sides, the jalapeno cornbread muffin was amazing! Make sure you get a least one, I think two would be better so you can use one to sweep up any excess sauce or meat left on the plate.  The coleslaw was decent and I am a coleslaw snob.  I was leaning towards describing the macaroni and cheese as decent as well because it was tasty but lacked anything special.  The baked beans were the same way, just lacking that one thing to make it amazing.  All the sides were good but they left us wanting something more, maybe bake the mac and cheese so it is crispy or add some extra cheese, add a few spices to the coleslaw, try to make the beans less runny with some brown sugar.

The owner, a young lady, walked by as we were finishing up and she was helpful in taking our garbage and made sure we were happy with our meals, which is always a nice touch, you know caring about your patrons.

As I said, if you ever find yourself lost near Converse, Indiana you can at least know that you won't go hungry because Jefferson St. BBQ can hand you a tray of food that will making you wanting to go back.

Jefferson St. BBQ
Jefferson St. BBQ on Facebook

RoadTrip Day 3: Mountains!

We finally get to play in the mountains!


We slept in today, Thursday, as we had had a few beers the night before.  The days are already starting not to matter, Monday, Saturday, Wednesday, Friday, they were all the same.  It was going to be a great feeling not having to dread Mondays.

Boulder Mountain Park

The weather had passed through while we slept and the sky was bright blue and the sun already high as we showered and packed the car.  The Rodeway Inn Boulder had a decent breakfast, some cereal, fruit, pastries, and juices.  We filled up on that and took a little something extra for a snack that we might want on a hike later in the day.

Over breakfast we discussed possible activities for the day and decided on doing a hike in Boulder Mountain Park.  We also had read about Boulder Falls, possibly going to Estes Park or trying to get a tour at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.  But Boulder Mountain Park is close to town and we could do some light hiking as we got acclimated to being at 6000 feet.  We drove over to the park and found the office because we needed to find a map of some trails.  We had read that the Royal Arch was a pretty decent hike and you can make it a big loop trail instead of an out and back.  The guide in the office agreed and if we went to the Flatirons first you could hike along the base of the giant rocks as you approached the Royal Arch.

The Flatirons

Boulder Mountain Park is an awesome city park with a lot of locals using the trails.  There were a few people running, a couple others taking their dogs for walks, and some more just heading out for a leisurely hike on a beautiful day.  We made our way up to Royal Arch, which was more strenuous than we had expected.  Luckily, I am super annoying when it comes to elevation and staying hydrated, so we had packed enough water to refill Lake Superior if we needed to.  We took lots of water breaks and there were many times when we stopped to rest because the scenery was so pristine that it deserved a picture.

When we arrived at our turnaround spot, the Royal Arch, there were a couple other groups enjoying the views created by the large natural arch.  We were happy to follow along and find a spot to relax and take in nature.  We snacked on a few granola bars and fruit snacks as chipmunks played around us hoping to get a snack for themselves.  All the signs said "Do Not Feed Animals" but a few people were happy to feed the little guys whatever they had with them.

I tried as hard as I could without hurting myself to get on top of the arch.  It is what I do in situations like this when anyone can get to a spot on a trail, I want to find a way to get to the place that others can't reach.  This time I was stuck looking through the arch, instead of looking down from the top.

Looking Through the Royal Arch

We made our way back to the car taking a different much less scenic route and thoroughly enjoyed the downhills as our quads had received a pretty good workout on the way up.  We were starting to get hungry but wanted to go check out Boulder Falls which was just going to be short detour before having lunch.

The Falls are a few miles outside of town and only a few steps off of the road so the trip to them only took 30 minutes roundtrip.  But this little guy got us started for some much bigger falls that we were expecting to see later on the trip, like the ones in Yosemite and Yellowstone

The parking situation at the falls is not ideal leaving you to cross the 1 lane state road with cars going pretty fast up and down hills and around curves.  There were a lot more cars parked than what we saw walking around the falls so there might have been other stuff to see in the area but we were hungry and I get cranky when I'm hungry, so we headed back towards town to find a place to grab a late lunch.

In town, we decided that a filling Italian meal would suit us best after hiking and walking a fair amount to start the day.  We found a place that had some outdoor seating in the sun, which felt great as the air was a touch cool.  We split a salad and then both got an entree which was a lot of food but as we were coming to the conclusion that we ordered too much food we also figured that we could keep a box of leftovers in the cooler and could snack up on the remains for dinner.  We also decided that even though we couldn't get a reservation for a tour at New Belgium Brewery that we should still go up to Fort Collins to check out that town and we could still stop by New Belgium if only just to get a souvenir.

As we started driving the 45 miles or so up to Fort Collins, we used the All Stays App on my phone to find the campsite at Horsetooth Reservoir just outside of town.  We took some back roads to get up to Horsetooth and made it by late afternoon.  We had our pick of campsites and choose one off by itself with a beautiful overlook of the Reservoir. It was a great place to relax and we both tried to take a little nap and read some of our books.  We needed to get some supplies, like firewood and ice so we left our site and headed towards town.

Dusk at Horsetooth Reservoir

We got our essentials at the gas station on the way in to Fort Collins but decided that we wanted to check out the main drag in town.  As we were driving, we spotted a mini golf place and I love a game of Putt Putt so we stopped.  After a demolition of Megan during the first 18 holes, we decided that a bet was in order.  I beat her by 8 strokes so I would give her an 8 stroke lead to start the second round of 18 holes.  I knew I was in trouble as Megan started making putts off the bricks, with her eyes closed, and I think one time she tripped as she was approaching her ball and it went in.  She also drained two hole-in-ones that easily propelled her to victory even without the 8 stroke handicap that I had given.

Pizza Cowboy Style

After my poor performance on the golf course, I was not going to have any more fun in this town so we went back to our campsite to have a little late night dinner.  We got the fire going and after reading some more I cooked up the leftovers from lunch and the remaining pieces of pizza.  I dubbed this meal Pizza Cowboy Style.
After filling our bellies with hot leftovers and enjoying the fire a bit longer we turned in to have a peaceful night under the stars.

RoadTrip Day 2: Death by Kansas

We started day 2 after a delightful first night sleeping on the ground.  The sleeping pads worked out nicely and we found that by putting a blanket over our 2 pads they stayed together and the extra blanket made it feel almost like a bed.

We had stocked up on little drinks and snacks from the grocery store in an attempt to not spend all of our money at gas stations.  We also had reusable water bottles that we had decided would be the best way to stay hydrated, cut down on garbage, save room in the already full car, and save a dollar or three along the way.  By my estimate that is a Win, Win, Win, Win Situation.

We had breakfast while on the road as the mountains were calling our names only 1 state to our west.  After finishing our dry as sand granola bars with copious amounts of water we headed away from the sun, full of vigor.  We used GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas within 20 miles of us; it is important to drive 4 miles out of the way to save 2 cents a gallon and with the tank holding 12 gallons that is almost a whole quarter, Audrey.

We also took a look at the Roadside America app, which I mentioned has the crazy, quirky, interesting "tourist" spots.  Well near Kansas City there the famous Car-Henge (Stonehenge made of old cars), the Negro League Baseball Museum (lucky for Megan we hit town when they were closed), and the World's Largest Ball of String.  We had to see this!

Largest Ball of String

Let me tell you a little about the World's Largest Ball of String or WLBS; it is NOT TWINE!  Don't let anyone confuse the two.  Twine and string are not even in the same ballpark, the WLBS is offended if you think twine is really the same thing.  You may be thinking to ask someone that has been to the WLBS, what is the difference. My answer: I have no idea. But there it is, in a lonely corner of some restaurant's patio.  We got out, took a picture, read about how some bored child somewhere started making this ball and didn't stop until he was 59 years old, and then jumped back in the car before anyone could stop us to talk.

I think this was about the time I had to start limiting Megan's use of the Roadside America app.  But we were heading in the direction towards Colorado, already close to 20 miles in to Kansas with beautiful fields of amber grain waving; we'd be there in no time. . . . .

What I meant was there was no time that could measure how long it takes to drive across Kansas.

We started off by listening to the one Kansas City station I enjoy, the comedian station.  They play short clips from comedians' standup routines.  It is really enjoyable and I have to admit to Kansas that I caught myself smiling for portions of that drive.  But before we knew it, the station was lost to the airwaves and we were on our own.

We listened to some country radio, but too much talk about corn prices and soybean plantings for it to be a long term solution to our Kansas boredom.  We played the Alphabet Game, in order finding words that start with each letter.  Luckily, Salina, Kansas has a zoo or we might still be playing.

After the game, in which I can assure you that I won and Megan tried to cheat her way to victory, we listened to a few CDs that we had.  Zac Brown Band, The Killers, Coldplay, hillbillies playing the spoons, radio static, really anything we could find.  This is when I dubbed Kansas, the state that you even listen to the bad songs on CDs.

We didn't want to stop for lunch. Sorry, let me rephrase that, there are not any places to stop to eat lunch in Western Kansas so we pulled off at a rest stop and ate some leftovers that we had luckily packed.  Cold pizza and an ice cold coke.  I wondered if people in Western Kansas had refrigerators yet.

When we finally made it to Colorado we commented that the first field of amber waving grain really was beauitful, even majestic looking and then there was another 450 miles of the same stuff. Unfortunately for us, when you enter Colorado you aren't immediately thrown in to snow-capped mountains.  We drove on for another few hours as we were still deciding where to go first.

We had a friend that was going to be in Denver in 3 days and wanted to try to meet up with him and we had Colorado Springs planned for the weekend so we though Boulder would be a fun place to stay and then we could stay there, go to Estes Park or maybe up to Fort Collins to see New Belgium Brewery.  We got on Expedia and found a cheaper but still decent looking hotel in Boulder, plus it served breakfast which is always a great perk to have.  The Rodeway Inn turned out to be a decent place to stay especially for the $55/night fee.

We pulled in to town after getting stuck in Denver traffic under a steady downpour and low hanging clouds.  We couldn't even see the mountains.  But with the summer of 2012 just starting, I believe this was the last rain the Western US had until August.

In downtown Boulder

We checked in to the hotel and unpacked all of our clothes from the car.  We figured out that we needed to utilize a 2 bag system, the overnight bag would be filled with clean clothes that we could access easily and the other large bag would be the dirty clothes and anything waiting to be worn later, which could be on the bottom of everything in the trunk.  I opened my large bag and found that my bottle of Nyquil that I had been taking to fight off a cold had leaked over a handful of clothes.  Annoyed and stressed I began doing a hand washing and ringing of clothes in the shower to get the red liquid and medicine smell out of my belongings.


Being satisfied with my wash and having taken our showers, we deserved to get some dinner and drinks.  We found a few places that according to UrbanSpoon, were right up our alley.  We went to Mountain Sun Brewery first because it was close to where we parked our car and the rain was starting to pick up, little did we know how lucky we were.  The place had a good feel to it and we decided to ask for a table, with a short wait the bar was looking might appealing.  We ordered a couple of pints of some FYIPA and Annapurna Amber and before we knew it we were sitting down at our table.  After being seated, our waiter Dave started answering our questions.  We wanted to taste a few of the beers and he was more than happy to bring us a round of samples to wet our taste buds.

Don't worry about how long this meal is taking to get through, there is a reason for the buildup.

Date Night Burger from Mountain Sun Brewery

The Date Night Burger.  The Date Night Burger is the reason.  I am not one to get caught up in hyperbole, but this was the best burger I have ever had in my life.  It was a big hunk of ground beef, thick bacon, roasted poblano peppers, date puree, and a glob (technical definition) of warm goat cheese.  I still have dreams about how this burger tasted.  I think Megan ordered some food too, excuse me for not remembering, I was in my own little zone.






After dinner, the rain had subsided a bit and we made our way to Walnut Brewery where we tried a few more beers.  We also made a friend at the bar that was there on business and had a heaping plate of mini donuts and was willing to share.  These delicious little morsels came with a chocolate and caramel dipping sauces. Our friend was from Colorado Springs and told us that we must go to Garden of the Gods and that if we were in the area we should try to go to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison out in Western Colorado.  This was exciting to hear because neither Megan nor I had heard of this place until we saw a "National Parks Magazine" in the grocery store and there was a little blurb about the Black Canyon.  We figured that if it was in a magazine and now we also had a personal recommendation from someone kind enough to share her donuts that it must be a place to see.

Share the Experience Photo Contest

I have also submitted a few of the more colorful pictures from the National Parks portion of our RoadTrip in a contest to promote the use of the beautiful US Parks.  And hopefully win me some $$$!

My most recent submission of a geyser pool in Yellowstone is here. 

My Past Submissions:
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Grand Canyon National Park - "Dead Tree Dusk"
San Juan National Forest
Canyonlands National Park
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

And One Submission from a Trip to Portland:
Mirror Lake at Mt. Hood National Forest

Starting the RoadTrip

I last left off with the preamble to the roadtrip as we readied our gear and said our heartfelt goodbye to our puppy as we left her in the tender hands of Mimi and Obo (my parents.)

Before I jump too far into the trip, I want to include a little more back story on what we had planned.  We knew we were going to head west from Chicago.  We didn't want to plan too much because we wanted to fly by the seat of our pants and didn't want to be rushing to move on if we loved a place or twiddling our thumbs if we were bored with a place.  This was going to be test for me as anyone that knows me understands that I am a planner and I'll call myself time conscious, others might say anxious.

We did reserve a place over Memorial Day Weekend, a place at the Grand Canyon, and a place in Yellowstone because well I needed to do something and I told myself that those times and places are always busy in the summer.  Other than those 6 nights we were going to be living free and easy for the next 5 weeks or so until the beginning of July when we had planned on going to see Steve Miller Band perform with my sister and parents.

As for how we were going to go about finding things to do, places to stay, where to eat, and any general information we needed while exploring the country, both Megan and I had our iPhones, my car has a plug so we could keep things charged.  The important iPhone apps that helped us the most were AllStays Camp & Tent, Trip Advisor, Expedia, UrbanSpoon, TV Food Maps, GasBuddy, Roadside America, and of course the Camera, Maps, and Weather Apps.  I will hopefully remember when we used them and be able to give them some reviews for their performance.

It was the morning of May 22nd, a sunny day with the heat of a midsummer's day in an already hot summer.  We had discussed possible routes towards Colorado, either driving through Nebraska or Kansas.  I believe this decision is similar to deciding between hammering nails under your fingernails or giving yourself an appendectomy.

Leaving Mimi and Oboe's in the freshly cleaned Red Jeep

We picked the latter, as in taking the Kansas route, so we left the Chicago suburbs at 7:05 a.m., already 5 minutes late by my plan but I didn't say anything to Megan about that.  The day before we left, we had searched what to do while on our drive as we were hoping to make it to Kansas City on our first night.  We didn't want to spend too much time in the Midwest because the fun to be had was out in the mountains and we wanted to make it there as quickly as we could.

Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk in Riverside, IA

While searching for stops to make along our route, we found a few gems that we didn't want to miss.  On the Roadside America app, which is essentially every odd, quirky, off the beaten path tourist stop across the country.  Well, in Iowa we found ourselves driving to the town of Riverside, IA to see the Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek.  Megan is a Star Trek fan and thought this was going to be so cool.  It was less than thrilling for me but I knew I would get her back on the trip for the things that I enjoy a little too much.




Which lucky for me, unlucky for her, was only a few miles down the road from Riverside in Des Moines.  My beloved Chicago Cubs AAA farm team was playing an afternoon game and we just happened to be driving through town as the game started.  We threw the car in park at a metered spot for 75 cents and bought a pair of $8 tickets.  It was a great day to be at the ballpark and we enjoyed a few innings and snacked on a hot dog and a beer.  Man did it feel like a classic American afternoon.

Principle Park, Des Moines, IA - Home of the Iowa Cubs

We headed towards KC after I had had my fill of baseball which was a bit longer than Megan who had her fill after about the third pitch. I know what you are thinking, three pitches wow, she actually might enjoy baseball but she was a little distracted during the first and second pitches with her beer. We just needed to make one more quick stop in Iowa at the Hot Air Balloon Museum in Indianola, IA.  This was an important place for Megan as her dad is a hot air balloon pilot as I have already mentioned.  Well, he isn't just a normal pilot; he is a National Champion pilot from back in the early 90s.  The museum in Indinaola is also the Hall of Fame and Megan's dad has his picture up on the wall.

In the Basket at the Hot Air Balloon Museum

We entered the museum with a definite sense of entitlement, as we knew someone on the Wall of Champions, and quickly found out that we also knew a hell of a lot more than the little old lady working at the museum.  We versed her up on some ballooning secrets, snapped a few photos, and of course had to buy a cheap souvenir before heading back to the Jeep.

Oklahoma Joe's BBQ

 We drove the final part to Kansas City with relative ease.  At my previous job, I worked with a fellow that was from Kansas City and with a short text exchange he told me straight away not to miss Oklahoma Joe's BBQ and a margarita from Ponak's couldn't hurt either.  Oklahoma Joe's is a gas station BBQ that knows what they are doing.  I was loving the Chicken Z Man sandwich, which isn't on the menu but my boy Jason told me to follow his lead and go off menu.  BBQ Chicken, Cheese, Onion Ring, Sauce. It was Zelicious!  I also was very surprised with the chicken gumbo.



 After dinner, Megan and I decided, "Hey, we are on vacation. Let's do some margaritas. Why not get the pitcher."  Ponak's does things a little differently, they serve their 'ritas on the rocks and they also have a tap to keep 'em flowing.  They look like they would be way to sour because they are lime green but the tequila balances them out enough and there seems to be a healthy (/unhealthy) amount in each.

We knew we couldn't have too many drinks at Ponak's because we still needed to find a place to stay so we snatched up a 6 pack of Boulevard, KC's favorite local brew, quickly found a campsite on my iPhone app only about 20 minutes outside of downtown and headed that way.

Our Camp at Weston Bend State Park, MO

We stayed at Weston Bend State Park which was on the Missouri side.  We were just starting to work out our routine of setting up tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, arranging clothes in suitcases, and keeping the car clean enough to live out of for the next month. But we had our camp set up and fire burning within minutes.  We relaxed with our beers next to the fire and discussed all the things that we were excited about on the trip!