Any of you who are following along to this saga via Dad's Daily Report emails knows that our last hotel wasn't exactly glam. The internet was dicey, and every time I tried to actually do something of importance (like answer work emails or write this blog) it crapped out on me. So I'm a few days behind. In all likelihood that will happen again and it will be entirely my own fault, but this time at least I have a legitimate excuse.
The drive from Topeka to Denver is extraordinarily boring. Our hotel was right next to the highway so with the exception of the on-ramp in the morning, we spent the ENTIRE drive on I-70 til we got to Greater Denver. So 500+ miles on the same highway through Kansas which (spoiler!) is very flat and doesn't have much to look at. I bought a GoPro for this particular foray, so I did spend some quality time learning how to do a time lapse video while driving (which I plan to use to much greater effect later in the trip). But anyway, here's the first attempt:
After DJ'ing for a few hours, I suggested we listen to the Hamilton soundtrack. The short story here is that my Mom was completely enthralled by the story and my Dad is an uncultured lout. We'll keep him anyway. Truly, though, the drive was uneventful and dull and the best part of the day was arriving in Denver and learning there was a ramen place less than a mile down the road that makes ramen with chicken broth! And then I was able to talk M&D into eating dinner there! And it was every bit as lovely as I'd hoped! Dad, steak and potatoes man though he is, fully committed to trying new things and ordered some sake and chicken teriyaki. And Mom is down to try anything. So I won and they supported me (story of my life. God I'm a lucky bitch).
We slept in on Day 4 (staying put in Denver for a Rest Day) and then headed to Red Rocks Amphitheater to check things out. I'd been there before but was psyched to return (it's way cool, for those of you who've never been. Fun fact: it won a contest on best outdoor music venues so many years in a row that they finally just named the award after it so another venue would have a shot). We poked around a while and then opted to divide and conquer: me to a hike, M&D to the Visitors Center.
After we reunited, we popped over to a picnic area that I had passed along my hike and made friends with this fellow:
Because we're weird bird people, we spent the better part of 45 minutes trying to coax him to eat out of our hands (unsuccessful) and to hang with us on the table for longer between crumb bites (slightly more successful). Do I have to say we loved it?
Storm clouds were rolling in, so we called it a day around 3 and headed back to the hotel to get ready to meet my cousin Alli and her husband, Patrick, for dinner in their neighborhood in Denver. We got to hear all the latest about their life out here (they've been here for a year!) and how they're embracing the outdoorsy active lifestyle here with snowboarding and golf. We, meanwhile, updated them on all the latest family gossip. It was so great to see them both, and especially wonderful to know they're loving it out here!
We bailed from dinner before it got too late - after fighting traffic to get back to the hotel from Red Rocks, I was SO not interested in doing it again in the morning to get out of town. Not least because we knew we had a ~9.5 hour drive to do on Friday. M&D spent approximately 25 minutes trying to choose new ringtones for their phones (and new alarm tones!) while I tried to fall asleep. Finally, success.
Friday we were supposed to be up and out by 6am LATEST to avoid traffic. I was being fanatical about it... and we still didn't manage it. I got up 10 mins BEFORE my alarm went off - to no avail. A food delivery truck tried to box us into our parking spot but I managed to slip past him in the big-ass Nissan Armada we're driving around. Those surround-sound backup cameras are legit, y'all.
So anyway, Mom's driving. We hit the traffic we had wanted to avoid, but not as much as we might have. After some tense moments of me back-seat driving while Mom was blocking up the left lane (we were both right? wrong? whatever?), we made it out. From there, smooth sailing. I completely lost track of time, we realized over dinner that we didn't listen to any music or anything - so I have no idea what we did with the day. I mean, we drove. But how did we stay awake? Not sure. Collective realization that we've left behind shorts-weather hit us pretty hard in Wyoming. Temp was in the high 50s and WINDY! We didn't really stop for much besides a lunch in this idyllic spot by the Wind River:
But then we got to Moran, Wyoming. And I forced us to stop and do a little photo shoot. Natch.
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| Guess what that is in the background? MOUNT MORAN |
Moran Junction is inside Grant Teton National Park, so the views from Moran had these stunning views of the whole Teton range. After Moran, we were on the prowl for Moose, WY.
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| The land of my father |
I finally committed to getting to our Airbnb, getting settled in, and going to eat dinner. The drive to Driggs, Idaho, located on the west side of the Tetons range, wasn't very long but we WERE stuck behind a slooooow charter bus the whole time. Curvy roads behind a bus just are not great fun. We made it in one piece though, and had a solid dinner at a sports bar in town. Our hosts built a guest apartment onto their barn (along with a dental lab, so we're not talking a smelly, old barn. We're talking lovely and updated) and they showed us some lambs that were born YESTERDAY!!! Let me tell you, day old lambs have legs for dayyyys. I dunno how the ewes get these leggy buggers out. But they're also precious babies and it was so fun to hang out with some goats, chickens, cats (and kittens), and, obviously, sheep.
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| New pals |
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