RealImaginaryWest Day 17 – Kansas, Kansas, More Kansas, and Kansas City Barbecue

We began our bittersweet journey home after an early breakfast with my family in Denver. We took I-70 across almost all of Kansas, save for a detour for some Kansas City barbecue! Finally, we took I-70 across most of Missouri to a motel in High Hill, about 30 minutes outside the St. Louis area.

So we were back on the road again. When you’re headed east from Denver, the plains of Colorado and Kansas look pretty much the same until you get close to Kansas City…and then there are some trees. And then you cross Missouri.

The End.

OK, just kidding! Actually, the reason we were driving across Kansas in the first place was because I wanted to have something eventful to look forward to along the way home. There was a real temptation to take I-80 back through two states I’d never seen before, Nebraska and Iowa, but the lure of Kansas City barbecue and the Gateway Arch along I-70 thwarted it. Besides that, I didn’t know of anything pressing I wanted to see except for maybe Chimney Rock along the Oregon Trail.

Last Breakfast

So after having such a great time and a short time together with my Denver family last night, we all decided we’d get up super duper early to have a last hurrah this morning before Becky and I hit the road. So we woke up at about 5:30am to pack up our car for our two-day voyage home. This went quite easily, as we had no tent to pack up. Kelli was so kind as to supply us with ice from her freezer, so our cooler was even stocked well enough to make it through most of the day.

We all met up at a regional chain breakfast restaurant called Snooze, right off of I-25 on Lincoln Avenue. The food was very good. I had the French toast and fruit, which was well-prepared and came with real maple syrup. The fruit was also fresh and tasty, and obviously not from a frozen bag. Even though we were in a shopping center in a sea of parking lot, the patio was comfortable and far enough from the cars. It was a perfect place to relax one last time with the family before heading out.

All but a few from last night sacrificed their chance to sleep in today to see us off, and I sure appreciated it! Even though it had been several years since we’d spent time together, it felt just like I’d expect family to feel. I’d seen my Aunt Pat in the last couple of years, but I hadn’t seen my cousins Cathy, Kelli, and D.J. much since 2012, when they came in for our grandma’s funeral in my hometown of Wellington, Ohio. And until yesterday, it had been 15 years since I’d seen any of Cathy’s girls. I sure hope it won’t be another 15 years before I see them again!

After breakfast, we stood in the parking lot for several more minutes…finishing our conversations, saying our thank-yous, we’ll-miss-yous, and our last good-byes. They all talked of making plans to come to Ohio since it’s been several years…I hope they make it soon!

On The Road Again

MOAR TRANEZ!!!

After all the hugs, we drove north up I-25 while I checked prices on GasBuddy. The best price, coincidentally, was at the Sam’s Club off of I-225 and Mississippi Avenue, near where my Aunt Pat lived when I last visited 29 years ago in 1986!

Getting out of the Denver area went smoothly, but as I mentioned, there isn’t much to see along the road across Eastern Colorado and most of Kansas. While it isn’t exactly a void, this part of the country is sparsely populated. The view along I-70 isn’t really too much different from I-90 across South Dakota, except with flatter terrain and fewer trees. Something that’s cool about Eastern Colorado though, is that you can see the glorious Rocky Mountains on the western horizon. You can even single out Pikes Peak from well over 100 miles away. Since I-70 runs southeast for a few dozen miles, it’s fairly easy to look west and enjoy the view when you’re not driving. The highway also parallels a railroad line, with a few opportunities to look out to see entire trains as they cross the plains.

Cows drink from a well near Agate, Colorado. The hazy silhouette of Pikes Peak can be seen on the horizon here, even though it’s over 70 miles away!

Kansas

My cousins scoffed at how terribly boring and long it is to drive across Kansas, and I have to admit my childhood memories of it are mostly just heat, humidity, and boredom. I talked to my mom a little bit one day while we were at Kelli’s, and expressed that I wasn’t longing for this part of the trip. Interestingly, she had a much more positive spin on Kansas. She liked the rolling grassland and fields, and enjoyed seeing the windmills and water troughs used to water the cattle. So I did my best to keep an open mind about Kansas.
Continue reading RealImaginaryWest Day 17 – Kansas, Kansas, More Kansas, and Kansas City Barbecue

RealImaginaryWest Day 16 – Downtown Denver & 16th Street Mall

Today started out as a lazy day near my cousin’s house in Lone Tree. We then took the RTD E Line light rail from Lincoln Station to Downtown Denver for lunch on the 16th Street Mall. We finally took the F Line light rail back to my cousin’s house for a family barbecue in the evening.

Taking It Slow

After a big day in Colo Spgs with Lexi and Joe yesterday, we slept in soundly at my cousin Kelli’s house in Lone Tree. They have a beautiful house in a subdivision near the edge of suburban Denver. The end of their street is high enough that you get an incredible view of almost the entire city stretching out in front of the Rocky Mountains.

After running so much the last few days, we decided to take things slow this morning. We didn’t have to be anywhere until noon, when I’d planned to meet a colleague for lunch. We made plans to meet up on the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver at my cousin D.J.’s suggestion. Being that I’m super interested in urban planning and design, I wanted to see what they’d done there, and I was interested in checking out the light rail system the region had built in the past 30 years. This evening we’d be back where we started, as my aunt and all my cousins were coming to Kelli & Jamie’s for a barbecue. Some of my younger cousins were well into their 20s and married now, and I hadn’t seen them in almost 15 years, so I really looked forward to this!

After spending so much time on the road, it was really nice to have a home base and hang with friends and family for a few days. By this point, our cooler didn’t have much beyond a few bottles of beer and our condiments, but it’s amazing how much more we appreciated the simple things…like refrigerators! Since we got to Kelli’s, we no longer had to check and restock ice. And then yesterday, Joe drove us around for the entire day, and today, the train would drive us everywhere.

Breakfast

Well, everywhere except breakfast…Jamie recommended a little place a few minutes from their house called the Silver Creek Diner. Being that this part of town was built in the last decade or so, the decor had a clean white contemporary look with some warm color accents. And even though it’s in the suburbs, Becky and I appreciated that it was a mom and pop establishment instead of a national chain. The service was top-notch, the prices were good, and the food was superb! Becky and I both went with eggs, bacon, toast, and home fries. Everything was prepared to perfection.

After breakfast, we still had a little time before we headed downtown, so we dropped into a nearby REI store to check out camping gear. Despite some negative experiences with wind and rain on this trip, Becky and I were far from finished with camping! And while we weren’t likely to camp on the way home, we were interested in options for upgrading our tent and our ever-flattening air mattress. Besides that, the nearest REI for us was over 100 miles away, so carpe diem!

Heading Downtown on RTD

It was either a five-minute drive or a ten-minute walk to Lincoln Station where we could catch either the E Line to Union Station or the F Line to the middle of the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver. Since Union Station sits at the end of the 16th Street Mall, either train would do…but first we had to buy tickets. RTD uses a zone system, which made it a little more confusing to figure out which tickets we needed to buy. I finally realized that we needed to buy regional tickets to get downtown, and opted for two all-day passes for $14 each. The price was a little steep compared to transit systems I’d used recently in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Cleveland, but I figured it would probably be easier and cheaper than driving and parking.

Union Station, with the tops of the Amtrak and commuter rail platforms in front

Even though we were well between rush hours, trains ran rather frequently. It took no time at all before we were on our way to Union Station. All but the last few miles run right next to I-25, with several stations at major interchanges along the way. The stations connected the line conveniently with nearby shopping centers, office parks, hotels, and apartment complexes. When the line diverges from I-25, it follows old railroad right-of-way through a more industrial neighborhood before passing through stations for Mile High Stadium, Elitch Gardens, and Pepsi Center. The very last stretch goes through a bustling canyon of brand-new residential complexes before pulling into Union Station. Amtrak and commuter rail lines all converged here, and the underground bus terminal below saved everyone from dodging a plethora of noisy buses as well. All of this was a short walk to the west end of the 16th Street Mall and the heart of Downtown Denver. It was awesome to see such a modern and efficient transit system in a major city!

Downtown Denver & the 16th Street Mall

A Mall Ride bus crosses Stout Street as we look west down Denver’s 16th Street Mall.

The Colorado State Capitol peaks through the trees at the east end of Downtown Denver’s 16th Street Mall.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest Day 16 – Downtown Denver & 16th Street Mall

RealImaginaryWest Day 14 – Two Miles High in Rocky Mountain National Park

After setting out from Craig, we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park at about noon. We drove scenic Trail Ridge Road to Estes Park, spending about 90 minutes at the Alpine Visitor Center along the way. Finally, we proceeded to the Denver suburb of Aurora to spend the evening with family. (Ignore the map for now…Google Maps is being dumb 😛 )

Once again, we got a later start than we hoped. Though we weren’t out incredibly late, we didn’t get to sleep until around 11 last night. We wanted to be up and on the road by 6am to possibly beat the traffic rush at Rocky Mountain National Park, but that didn’t happen. Yesterday took a lot out of us, and rather than using the bonus time from not having to pack up our tent to get an early start, we opted for more sleep. We managed to get on the road by about 8:30.

What Might Have Been

Travelers Inn, our motel in Craig, Colorado

Beyond our last day in Yellowstone, we couldn’t make reservations at Grand Teton National Park, and we didn’t have any at Rocky Mountain National Park. This gave us the option of spending either two nights at Grand Teton and one at Rocky Mountain, or vice versa. We ended up staying the two nights in Grand Teton. Our original plan was to spend one night—last night—camping in Rocky Mountain, which would give us the better part of the day to hike in the east side of the park near Bear Lake.

However, on our first full day at Grand Teton, we wound up at the emergency room in Jackson because I was dehydrated. We had planned on hiking up into Cascade Canyon. Since we didn’t want to leave without a hike, we decided to extend our time at Teton—and we dropped the plan to camp one night in Rocky Mountain National Park. All of this resulted in having time only for a basic drive through. Now with the late start, my original goal of hiking near Bear Lake looked like a major long shot. I often wonder how things would have gone if we hadn’t juggled things around so much, because I had drank enough water like a good boy! C’est la vie…

Reality In the Rockies

I can’t really complain too much…for being a couple of first-timers doing this on our own, well over a thousand miles from home in strange, rugged lands, without our moms or dads or any locals by our side to help us avoid dangers, we’d seen and done an awful lot without dire consequence in the last two weeks! Adventure awaited us yet again as we set out for our fifth and final national park for this trip. Up until 9 days ago, Becky and I had only ever seen 6 of the 47 national parks in the Lower 48—and in this one trip we’d almost doubled that number and seen places we’d only ever read about in books, seen on TV, or dreamed about. I always thought this would be a lot harder…and I’m really glad we decided to do this!

Anyway, we started out east on US-40 with me driving to the next town, Steamboat Springs, which was almost an hour away. We traversed high desert for most of yesterday, so I was hoping for some trees today. The maps depicted national forests just a few miles to the east of Craig, but yesterday we saw nothing of these woodlands on our drive in from Wyoming, not even in the distance. Most of the drive from Craig to Steamboat Springs followed the Yampa River and a railroad line. It was pretty country but not spectacular, with a lot more greenery than anything we saw last night. The scenery really started to improve just as we entered Steamboat Springs.

Steamboat Springs

While Craig seemed more like a blue collar town where the locals worked at growing, mining, or making things, Steamboat Springs instantly struck me as a larger version of Jackson, Wyoming…a fancy ski resort town with a lot of tourist money flowing through. On the mountain in the distance, you could see grassy green ski trails between the trees, although we were not yet close enough to make out the lifts. The architecture as well screamed “rustic ski resort!”. You could tell they worked hard to appeal to international tourists too, with all their speed limit signs in both imperial and metric units.

The plethora of retail along the main road had me hoping for a decent place to score a quick breakfast. Also, the amount of water I’d been drinking made the stop totally necessary. We still had nearly two hours of driving to get to Rocky Mountain National Park, and this was the most sizeable community for quite some distance. We drove through most of town when I finally just pulled into a Starbucks. One of their La Boulange breakfast sandwiches would do the trick for me, and Becky was happy to get coffee and dig into our trail mix.

Our Big Fat Bag of Potato Chips

When air pressure outside the bag drops, air inside the bag expands to equalize pressure.

Among the many things we packed for our trip back home in Northern Ohio were two bags of Trader Joe’s Hawaiian-Style potato chips. Somewhere in South Dakota, Becky noticed that she couldn’t get them to fit into one of the plastic food bins in the trunk. By the time we’d reached Cody, Wyoming, the bags were puffed up like a balloon, and Becky wondered what had gone wrong with the chips! She knew that sometimes a bag would spoil and expand, but she couldn’t believe it had happened so fast. She opened one of them, and the chips seemed perfectly fine…but she was still mystified as to what was going on.

When Becky brought this to my attention, I asked her what happens to air pressure at higher elevations. I saw the light bulb go on instantly! Back in Ohio, we live below 1,000 feet, but by the time we were in Cody, we were around 5,000 feet, with much thinner air, causing the air in the air-tight bags to expand. Our last bag of chips had survived some pretty high elevations so far—most of our time in Yellowstone was over 7,000 feet, and we’d crossed Powder River Pass in the Bighorns at over 9,500 feet. Now came the ultimate test—Trail Ridge Road—which at one point surpasses 12,000 feet! When I rummaged for my camera in the back of the car, as Becky was taking over on driving, I remembered our our big fat bag of potato chips and put them in the back seat so we could hear when it pops. Either it was gonna blow today or not at all!

Rabbit Ears Pass & US-34

On the road again, we ascended from 6,700 feet in Steamboat Springs to over 9,000 feet over Rabbit Ears Pass. The highway hugs the side of a mountain most of the way up, giving way to spectacular views of lakes below, and snowy peaks far off into the distance. About halfway between Steamboat Springs and the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, US-40 and US-34 are marked as the Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway. The two roads fork just before the town of Granby, where US-40 heads southeast to I-70 and Denver, and US-34 proceeds northeast into the park.

US-40 follows the Colorado River through some semi-rugged terrain east of Hot Sulphur Springs.

For several miles, US-34 follows the resort areas along the shores of Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake. The lakes were rather large with giant mountains rising up on the opposite sides. There were a number of marinas, motels, vacation houses, and mobile homes all along the highway. We crossed the fledgling Colorado River a couple of times here, as the road closely follows it.

Finally we passed beyond Shadow Mountain Lake, turning northward and more uphill, and saw a sign that we were entering Rocky Mountain National Park. The busy resort area gave way to forest and meadows on both sides of the road. All around, everything was green and peaceful.

Looking to the mountains across Lake Granby

Rocky Mountain National Park

Not far down the road we came upon the Kawuneeche Visitor Center, which is just outside the Grand Lake Entrance Station. We stopped here so Becky could get our friend’s National Park Passport book stamped, and of course, so we could use the restroom. The visitor center was small, but extremely busy. It was close to noon, and every family was there with their kids. One room had a relief map of the park and its features. You could press a button and get one to light up—but it was of little use with the never-ending stream of kids repeatedly pushing all of the buttons out of shear boredom.

While Becky looked for the stamp, I looked for a park ranger. I suppose it was wishful thinking, but I asked if it was realistic to get a hike in at Bear Lake and still be back in Denver by 5:30pm. She told me that driving and parking there at this time of day is no picnic, and that we’d probably run out of time for a hike before we found our way to a trailhead. She suggested options along Trail Ridge Road…some were along the Colorado River, while others were in the alpine areas of the park. She warned us to be careful about lighting in the alpine areas, since there’s no cover.

The Grand Lake Entrance Station

For some reason I still thought we should head for Bear Lake, but I was more open now to checking out something in the high country, especially the Alpine Visitor Center. The west side of the park was green with lots more trees, but Bear Lake was on the more interesting rugged east side of the park. Besides its ruggedness, the east side was also within a two-hour drive of Denver, which made it exceptionally popular. The alpine regions through the center of the park sounded like a worthy compromise.

Ascending the Trail Ridge

So we got back on the road, which for about 10 miles passed through forest land, with the Colorado River on our left, and mountains towering to our right. The Colorado at this point is just at the small beginnings of the mighty river it turns into downstream. The valley narrows gradually until the road takes a hairpin turn to the right and begins ascending a long switchback that surpasses two miles above sea level!

Along the way were spectacular pulloffs, but we were unable to stop—not so much due to time, but due to urgency. Since we were going up a road that topped out over 12,000 feet in elevation, I had been drinking plenty of water to thwart a repeat of my dehydration episode at Grand Teton National Park. So even though I took care of things back at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center, I had to go pretty badly…again.

We passed right on by the Fairview Curve and on to our first restroom opportunity at the Lake Irene Picnic Area. After relief, I felt a bit woozy and just told Becky I wanted to sit for a minute and get used to the altitude or whatever was bothering me. I hadn’t eaten a lot so far today, and we’d just gone up a switchback with numbered U-curves with a full bladder, so who knows for sure if it was one of these factors or the altitude.

It didn’t seem like we were two miles high up where we were. I looked around but didn’t find Lake Irene…I just saw a bunch of cars and a few picnic tables with people kicking back for lunch. We were still subalpine with trees surrounding the little meadow here. The only indications you were very high were the millions of hungry mosquitoes trying to eat you before the cold came back and killed them, and your body feeling funny and telling you to slow down.

I decided to eat a few slices of bread to calm my stomach. Becky was chomping on trail mix or almonds we had with us. All of a sudden, POP!!!

We looked at each other and thought for a second, and then we began giggling. Our science experiment in air pressure had ruptured at just short of 11,000 feet above sea level! The bag had ripped open along its bottom seam. We laughed some more about how low the air pressure must be, and started snacking on the chips too.

A few minutes later we felt jolly enough to continue up the road. About a mile down, we crossed the Continental Divide for the eighth and final time. After a few miles more, we ascended above the tree line to the alpine elevations—where only the smallest plants and grasses manage to survive. Another switchback later, we arrived at the Alpine Visitor Center, way up at 11,796 feet.

Looking southwest from above Medicine Bow Curve toward part of Trail Ridge Road that we drove on below Medicine Row Curve as we approach the Alpine Visitor Center.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest Day 14 – Two Miles High in Rocky Mountain National Park