Days 56 and 57: Denver Area

Day 56: Rocky Mountain National Park and Fish!!

I wake up and decide to try showering. Ashlynne has decided to try out the exercise room while I am showering. I get in the shower. It is probably a few degrees shy of boiling. There are two water temperatures: Just shy of boiling and ice. However, in order to get the shower to ice cold, one practically turns the water off. There is no water pressure to begin with. Maybe three of the holes on the shower actually have water coming out. I have no idea how Diana possibly managed to take anything resembling a shower last night. I end up kind of cleaning myself.

I wash my hair in the kitchen sink in ice cold water. There is little water pressure here too. However, it is more concentrated so it works. Ashlynne comes back a short while later. I thought she was going to run 10 miles or something. There is no way she has run that far. Apparently the tredmill would randomly start going backwards and the lights shut off in the room while she was running. Yikes. I would give up too.

We all finally get as clean as we can and head down to breakfast. It is a standard continental breakfast. Nothing amazing. We can't stop laughing at how bad this hotel is. Especially the water. Diana has decided to complain so we all try to be serious... and fail miserably. She tells the desk that the water is awful. They promise to send maintenance. We already paid for another night and just want a place to sleep....

I call the place that installed my tonneau cover and inform them that their work wasn't so great and that my weatherstripping flew off on the highway. They tell me that the cover is crappy and that they warned me. Uh, they said it would be ok. I paid them to do it right since I did not have the facilities to do it!  I ask them to ship me my old weatherstripping so I can at least install those. They agree to... if I pay for shipping. Uhhhh no way. I guess I am stopping in Colorado Springs again to get them.

We head to the truck. I go to plug in my GPS. It wakes up slowly. The GPS has been named "Daniel" after the name of the voice. He is none too happy to see me this morning. Maybe I should be nicer to him. I get half way down the road and he is still not loaded. Jeeze Daniel, I thought I would be nice to you! I spend the rest of the day not being frustrated with him for talking over my conversation and/or music. 

Anyway, we head off to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a little over an hour drive. It is crazyyy windy. The truck gets blown all over. We make it to the town of Estes, right outside of the park. I stop at a fire station and get another patch. Sweet! I am on a roll in Colorado!  We then stop to get some food. We got to a local pizza place which turns out to be awesome. It is a new locally owned place... Cheesy Lee's Pizza. I told them I would put in a good word for them with my friends.

We finally get to the park and stop at the visitor center. I ask what we should do and how the weather is. Well, it is windy and a little on the cold side in the higher elevations. 100 mph winds reported at one of the other visitor centers. Yikes!  She points out a few hikes that should be doable and some good scenic roads.

We head off the the first scenic drive. It is a little windy and there is some blowing snow. Nothing too crazy though. We reach the top and get out to check out Bear Lake. The wind is blowing like crazy and we can't see a thing. We walk a few hundred yards to the lake. Ok, this might be pretty if I could see it! It's windy and cold, back to the truck!!

Would be pretty if I could see anything...

We continue on down the road and get some nice views. I have noticed that when driving in slower areas, if I catch a car, they usually pull over for me. This has never happened before. In the past, I could ride their ass I all want and they would never get over. The new truck must be really intimidating or something.  In many occasions, I have caught a car and they have pulled out at the first pullout to let me by. No ass riding required either. Speaking of the truck, it is now completely covered in road grime. I think I will need to keep it that way for the rest of the trip. I can't wash it with no weatherstripping or my stuff will get soaked. Also, with it being all dirty, it is does not draw quite as much attention.

The Rockys!

After a mishap that resulted in some minor off roading on what looked like someone's driveway (in a national park?? weird), we finally find the trail head for the hike that the ranger suggested. We set off down the trail. It sure is snowy! Once ever few steps, my foot would sink. Maybe snowshoes would help. Oh well. too late now!  We go for a ways and finally make a turn into an exposed valley area. It is really pretty but the wind is being channeled through this valley and is making things unpleasant. Snow and sand being blown in the face at high speeds is not so fun. I am not particularly excited about continuing and we decide to turn back.

Nice hike!

On the way back, we encounter this furry little rodent. It is running all over the snow like a crazy thing and is being blown by the wind. It does not seem to be at all frightened of people either. It runs right up Diana and checks out her shoes. It then checks out Ashlynne's. "Ok little guy, you need to go home... and that's not in my pants!" She tells it. Haha. We make it back to the truck.

Crazy Critter

 I get in and a bird lands on a branch right in front of the truck. I roll down the window to snap a picture. Next thing I know the bird is flying toward the truck and lands on my mirror. No no no!! Do NOT fly in the open window. Window roll up faster!!!! I get the window up before the bird decides it wants to come in the truck. I get some really up close and personal shots of it! Jeeze, these animals are way to used to humans!

Bird up close personal

We head up to a nice observation point. We get out and walk around to take some pictures. Another car pulls up. An older guy gets out and is totally looking at my truck. He sees me and I ask him if he likes my truck. (and mutter something about he had better not touch it!!! to myself)  He does. And is from Wasilla. Small world.

We make one more stop at an alluvial fan area. In the summer, it is a nice waterfall. Right now, it is mostly frozen. Oh well, it is still really pretty! I drop a piece of my letter here. 

We head back to town. It is really really windy and I hear weird sounds coming from my truck. I am really paranoid about breaking down again. I periodically turn down the music and listen to the truck. "Uhhh, guys, do you hear anything weird with my truck??" "No Anna, you might be crazy though...". Ummm. Maybe. I even roll down the window a few times to listen closer. Shortly after rolling it down, I am met with a request to turn on the heat. Apparently, rolling down the window makes it cold.

We make it back to our hotel. There is a beautiful sunset right outside!  I pop the hood of my truck and look at things. I can't see anything wrong. There is a good chance the noise is just from the crazy wind. I go and enjoy the rest of the sunset. That noise is driving me crazy! Ever since I knew what the noise T Rex was making was, I have been hearing it all over. Even when I am not in a vehicle. ahh! Wheel bearing going out! Wait, on what? I am sitting in a room with nothing but a fan on.... I need to chill out. And maybe stop driving so much I guess.

Sunset!!

We are supposed to meet a friend, Claire, whom we all know from Huntsville, for a fancy dinner. The water in the hotel is back on from being repaired. We check the shower. It really is not much, if any better than before. Bummerrr. Claire says we can shower at her house. Yayy!!

We head a few miles down the road to her house. I take an awesome shower. Her bathroom is really great. Anyway, we all get ready and are happy to have a nice shower.

Claire has moved to Denver for grad school and therefore kind of knows her way around. There is a dinner special going on. 2 fancy dinners for $50. Not a bad deal! We go to the aquarium for dinner. There are fish all over the wall. It is super super awesome!!!  On the way back, she gives us a good tour of downtown. Denver really has lit up a lot of the town. There are roads just covered in lights and a lot of the buildings are lit and/or glowing.

Dinner with fish!!!

We make it back to her house and hang out a little more. At some point, we realize that where we had planned to stay last night is more than 3 hours away. I am really confused. The ski resort is 2 hours away from Denver. The hot springs is on the same direction but 3 hours away. However, coming from the hot springs to the ski resort, it is 2 hours. The math just does not add up. Oh well. We are not sure if we really want to drive that far (Especially with me asking if they think my truck sounds funny every 10 minutes....)  tomorrow night. We don't know if we can cancel and it is now nearly 1 am.

At some point talking to Claire, she mentions that she has to go to Colorado Springs on Tuesday. I had mentioned my truck issue and she offered to pick up my weather stripping for me!!! We will be back in Denver on Wednesday so I can get them from her then. Super super awesome!  Since it is late, we decide that I should tell the people that I am sending a friend and that the secret code to know it is her is "Hot Spring".  "Uh, hi, the secret code is hot spring and I am here for the stripping."  Maybe not such a good idea..... I tell her I will just tell them her name and that she will be there Tuesday evening.

We decide to go back to the hotel and sleep and deal with that tomorrow. We can't exactly do anything now anyway. We head back to the hotel. We check the water. It is working a little better again!!  Anyway, we go to sleep and decide to get up later tomorrow.




Day 57: Tours in Golden and Boulder

We are awakened at 8:30 am by the sound of a jackhammer outside. WTF people, it is a Sunday morning. Seriously?!?!?  At this point, I am not exactly surprised. We had picked this hotel because it had gotten pretty good overall reviews and ratings and was cheap. This has got to be the worst hotel experience I have ever had. So much for sleeping in.

We decide that we do not in fact want to drive all the way to Glennwood Springs, regardless of how cool it probably is, tonight. Even if we can't get out money back from that hotel, what we save in gas makes it somewhat economical to just stay and get another hotel. Diana makes that call and gets that dealt with.

We stop and grab breakfast on our way out. We head to the truck and wake up Daniel. Please take us to the Coors brewing company! He is a little more agreeable this morning and before we know it, he has a route to the Coors Factory. They give a free tour of their facilities and have free beer samples!

We arrive and the place Daniel has taken us to is deserted. Hmmm. Well the first tour is at noon on a Sunday and we are half an hour early... We get out and walk around downtown golden for a bit. We stop at the fire department and I try to get patches. They have none but give me a sticker. Maybe that will do. I find a statue of a fishing cowboy to get my picture with. We wander some more until it is noon.

I found a nice cowboy!!!

We decide that we were in the wrong place and keep wandering. Eventually we somehow end up in the right place. There is a hugeee line. Wow this is popular. I guess free beer does that.... We wait in line for a bit before getting on a bus to take us to the brewery. the bus takes us through town and gives us some information about it before dropping us off at the brewing facilities.

Inside the brewery

We spend some time wandering the facilities and get to try lots of beer!  I did not know that Coors also makes Blue Moon (one of my faves!) and Killian's.  They give us so many beer samples that we don't use close to all of our vouchers. I have to drive, Diana doesn't like beer, and Ashlynne got the beer that Diana and I didn't drink and didn't use her vouchers at all. Bummer... I feel so inefficient! We finish the tour around 2:15.

We head back to the truck. I am hungry and have to pee. We are trying to make it to Boulder, 30 minutes away to the Celestial Teas factory before the last tour at 3. I plug the address into Daniel and he gives me an estimated arrival time of 2:56. That assumes that I hit no stop lights. This is gonna be fun. Buckle up guys!

I take off in the direction of Boulder. I hit a few lights and speed a little. I arrive at 2:58 and take the first parking spot I see. I malign it and end up driving over the curb. Wow, that was wayyy to easy to do. I have been driving trucks for a while and this one I don't even feel the curb in. We are in a hurry so I leave the truck parked haphazardly. As I walk in, I see that most of the parking lot is empty and some old guy is staring at us (me?).  Ohhhh well!

We make the tour with seconds to spare. I end up having time to find and use the bathroom! The tour is pretty awesome. (and also free!!) There are so many smells along the way!  We go to the "peppermint room". My nose feels like I have just shoved a candy cane up it. They use a lot of peppermint here.

After the tour, we sample some teas. Sweet, beer and tea for lunch. I think it is time to find dinner!  We head off to downtown Boulder. While doing this, Diana calls and actually books another hotel for tonight that is nearby. Cool, we have a place to stay now! I do a better job parking this time. We wander about and find a place that looks ok to eat. I get a buffalo burger. I must say it is superior to a cow burger.

We wander through downtown Boulder and check out the shops. We head in a few. There is some cool stuff around here but I can't spend any more unnecessary money at this point in my trip. It is starting to get a little tight. This is a pretty cool town!

Around 7, we head off to the hotel. We check in. It is already way nicer than the last place. We head to the room and I check the shower. It looks awesome!  I decide to do some laundry. I am running low on underwear and socks... I wander around the hotel clutching my dirty laundry looking for the laundry room. I find a door labeled "Laundry room" and go in. It is all industrial sized washers. That can't be right. I finally find guest laundry upstairs near our room. I put it in and we decide to get some ice cream and find the hot tub.

We ask at the front desk where we can get ice cream and where the hot tub is. They suggest McDonald's across the street since it is close and inform us there is no hot tub. Well, bummer. Oh well! We go to McDonald's and get shamrock shakes (very artificial peppermint in honor of St. Patrick's day) and mcflurries. We check out the stars on the way back. We can see some. The city lights are just too bright though to see many. They should be good out at Breckenridge!

We get back and I check the laundry and put it in the dryer. I run through all of the snow gear they will need for skiing tomorrow. I am super excited to ski!!! I do my best to get them properly equipped for snow. Diana is pretty good to go from her previous Alaska adventures. Ashlynne has never skied or worn snow pants before. She tries on some snow pants and is pretty excited about them. Good! Snow pants are the best! I would wear them all the time if I could.... I can't wait to play in the snow again tomorrow!! :D And do a little bit of teaching. We decide to post review of the pizza place near the Rocky Mountain National Park (since the guy cared enough to ask us to) and of the hotel we were at (because it was soooo bad it was funny)

Anyway, I show them the rest of my trip pictures. We have been through all 2,000+ of them now. I then get distracted and start showing them you tube videos. First the Honey Badger Video (I got here from a picture from the zoo...) and then to Jenna Marbles. (Correlation here is Honey Badger is funny and so is Jenna Marbles and I had mentioned last night that Claire kind of reminds me of Jenna Marbles so I had to share) We laugh hysterically for a while before deciding to head to bed to be ready for some awesome skiing tomorrow!!!!

I also wanted to share Ashlynne's status update on Facebook. I think it kind of sums up the trip in a few sentences!

Lessons learned in Colorado:
1. DONT LOOK DOWN! (mountains, drinks, elevators...just don't do it)
2. Three girls can in fact fix the bed of a truck in a hotel parking lot with nothing but a pink hair dryer :)
3. Even in five ft of snow and 100 mph winds, the rocky mountains are beautiful!