Darchers Do Denver 2010

What a great road trip. This is going to sound bad, but I was really surprised at how well Andy and I road tripped together. I was worried that we would get on each others’ nerves, but it really didn’t happen. Maybe once, but it was on the last day when we were driving from Naselle back to Seattle and we were both exhausted.

 

8/27/10: Day 1
I got off from work early and ran some last minute errands. We packed up the car (Bebe was stuffed to the gills) and headed down to Naselle to switch out cars with Andy’s parents.


8/28/10: Day 2 (Official First Day of Road Trip)
We got on the road by 6:30 am. I love driving early in the morning like this. It is very peaceful. We did a lot of driving this first day. We hugged the Columbia river for a bit, then headed north (I think) up through Walla Walla. We drove through wheat fields as far as the eye can see, which is actually prettier than you would think. We had a quick lunch at a rest stop, where I used the smelliest toilet of the whole trip and got back on the road. The first night we made it to the Idaho side of Lo Lo Pass, which is basically Montana. We finally set up camp about 6:30 pm (12 hours of driving). There was some confusion about how to set up the rain slicker for the tent, which in the end I am very happy we figured out, because after we ate dinner the skies opened up on us and it started pouring rain. It rained the WHOLE night. It was so loud at times that I couldn’t sleep. But our tent was a trooper and we never got wet.

Carly singing in the rain

Towards the tail end of our time in Yellowstone it began to rain again, and yes there was quite a bit of snow mixed in with the rain. We decided to put a little bit more driving in and pushed through to Dubois, Wyoming.

Yellowstone

08/30/10: Day 4

This day was mostly taken up by Wyoming. Let me just say that I am not a fan of Wyoming. While we did see plenty of antelope, that was about all I liked of Wyoming. We drove through Wyoming going about 90 mph the whole way and made it into Aurora Colorado at about 3:30 pm. I met Andy’s aunt Peggy and his grandmother for the first time. Both women were extremely welcoming. Andy’s grandmother is a wonderful person and she made me feel right at home.


08/31/10: Day 5

We slept in finally! And after a hearty breakfast (thanks to Andy’s grandma) we headed off to downtown Denver. We walked around the botanical garden for a bit, ate a decent-ish Greek food place and went back to Aurora to meet up with some family and have a big dinner. Andy’s family is great! In fact the remind me a lot of my own family, so I felt like I fit in after a while. I got to meet Andy’s cousins, one of which is taller than he is! I know, I didn’t think it was possible either.

Roof Top Garden

09/01/10: Day 6

Andy, his cousin Colleen and I got on the road early and headed up to the mountains. We drove through Golden, which for those of you who don’t know is where the Coors Brewery is. We spent the day going from old mining town to old mining town. Andy showed us one of the mines that his father used to work at and we ate lunch at a bar that his parents used to hang out at back in the day. We then headed up to Mt. Evans where we traveled on the World’s highest paved road. We saw mountain goats and marmots. At that point we were tired so we headed home to take a nap because we needed to have as much energy as we possibly could for Casa Bonita.

O Casa Bonita! The food was not as bad as I expected it to be. Velveeta cheese on everything! Campy is place I have ever been too. There were cave divers and an arcade. I have been there once and don’t need to go back again, but I am glad I went.

09/02/10: Day 7

This was a laid back day. We ran some errands and visited with Andy’s grandma. I took a 2 hour nap and then we headed over to Andy’s aunt Alice’s house for pizza and games. I have found a new game that I must have…Bananagrams! I love it! I had a ton of fun that night. It was a great way to end my stay in Aurora.


09/03/10: Day 8

Got up and had breakfast at the Village Inn, said goodbye to grandma and headed on the road. I was not looking forward to this trip because it meant that 1)vacation time was almost over and 2)driving through effing Wyoming. We did a lot of driving and made it all the way to Boise, Idaho. We saw a beautiful sunset in Idaho and stayed at one of the best Best Westerns I have ever stayed at.

Sunset in Idaho

09/04/10: Day 9

We got a sorta early start, we were on the road by 7 am. We busted ass driving and made it to Naselle by 3:30pm, where Andy’s parents were hosting a little Labor Day Weekend camp out. Normally, I would be very happy to see so much family. But I was exhausted and it was killing me to know that I was that close to home and my own bed. So where we originally wanted to stay a little longer on Sunday, we got up early and were on the road by 11 am

This was a great vacation! I had a blast. I wish I would have taken more pictures and that I owned a tri-pod. Andy and I are already talking about heading back to Yellowstone next summer. Mostly, the road trip gave me plenty of time to think about things and make some plans for the upcoming school year and the next phase of my life, but that will be a different blog post.