Homeward Bound!

Well, 2061 miles later, we are safely back in Connecticut.  Among the lessons learned on this portion of our road-trip:

• Kansas is a big, big, state.  We spent nearly 25% of our mileage in that state alone.
• Moreover, Kansas is a state that is...  unexciting...  at best.  Besides discussing the religious billboards in close proximity to the adult retail establishments, there is much less to do.
• At 9:30 PM, after nearly 17 hours of driving, any bed looks good, including those at the motel just down the road from the State Pen
• There is such a thing as too many 5 AM wakeups.

Having learned those lessons, we pushed the drive in two days.  We did spend the night 45 miles East of St. Louis (and 40 safe miles from East St. Louis), and we did stop for an extended dinner with Caleb and Blair in Pittsburgh, but we rolled into Connecticut at 3:00 AM on Thursday morning.

We'll be here for a few days, helping Abigail's family as Abigail's mom recovers from a bit of a surgical turn!  The trip was so, so good!!!

Glenwood Springs and Kevin's Mom!

Well, we had a lovely visit to Glenwood Springs the surrounding area!  It was wonderful to see Kevin's mom, Michele, and her husband, Joe.  Lest we forget to sing their praises, our stay was improved immensely by the camaraderie with Michele and Joe's four canine companions: Maggie, Lorda, Lucy, and Bindi!  This is the youngest one, Bindi, here:

On Thursday, we woke up early and went whitewater rafting along the Colorado River, through the Glenwood Canyon.  The time on the river was perfection--a balmy 80 degree exterior temperature made the 68 degree water as pleasant as could be.  Thursday afternoon, we joined Michele, Joe, Bindi, and Lorda for a hike up Red Mountain, a jaunt which taxed our unacclimated lungs.

Friday, we drove up to Aspen and walked through the Maroon Bells Wilderness.  The Bells are stunning and it was lovely to get out in the woods.  We spent the afternoon walking around Aspen's downtown, sunning ourselves by the gleam of the residents' wealth.  We enjoyed lunch in town before heading back to Glenwood and enjoying margaritas on Michele and Joe's back deck.

Saturday afforded much relaxation, including some heated games of Monopoly Deal and Bananagrams (two new favorites) with Michele.  We tossed the tennis ball with the puppies; the source of canine energy derived from the tennis ball would tax any esteemed physicists theories.  Sunday, we toured Colorado National Monument outside Grand Junction.  We dined at the local Italian hole-in-the-wall whose sauce instigates nostalgia of the highest order.  Moreover, Sunday night provided a glimpse of a stunning night sky - one not to be forgotten.

Today, we took in a movie (not a good one) at the local moviehouse and tried to maximize our time with Michele, Joe, and the puppies.  We leave very early tomorrow to begin the 2000 mile race back to Connecticut, which we hope to finish in two solid days.  But we'll see!

Over the Continental Divide!

This little map belies the fact that our drive today was likely the most adventurous of our entire summer.  We left Santa Fe and skirted up the edge of the Rocky Mountains, before turning left just East of Twin Lakes, Colorado.  Admittedly, we did make a small but costly wrong turn and ended up at Monarch Pass on the way, but what's a little detour on an otherwise beautiful roadtrip?

We climbed out of Twin Lakes and over the infamous Independence Pass.  This pass road, only recently paved, twists and turns, and rides a knife-edge along the Rocky Mountains, before lifting you over the Continental Divide.  The Continental Divide is a geographic line that divides whether water will drain East, into the Mississippi River and the gulf or West into the Pacific Ocean.

The drive is beautiful, if scary, and it is not over when you reach the summit of the pass.  Descending the pass, the road continues to wind, but narrows, creating hazardous blind curves.  Ultimately, however, it deposits you in the beautiful Aspen valley, where we contined along Highway 82 to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where we will visit Kevin's mom, Michele, and her husband, Joe, for a few days before we begin our hustle back to the East Coast.

Photos from our day are available here.

Toward Santa Fe!

We just had a wonderful visit to Colorado Springs and with Kevin's grandmother and aunt.  It was very relaxing, especially after the three nights of camping and driving.  And, Kevin's family knows how to cook...  well. 

We wanted to make a quick visit to Santa Fe, however, so we left the Springs and headed South through rural Colorado and into New Mexico.  We made a quick stop in Taos, New Mexico, part-ski-town-part-artists-colony, where we walked through the historical town square.  The artists element of the town is lovely, however, and there are ample galleries and shops to visit.  One can admire the lovely craftwork and the impressive pricetags and grow nostalgic over the deals that might have been had thirty to forty years ago.

After Taos, we headed directly for Santa Fe, which is a little bit like the robust version of Taos.  We had a lovely recommendation for a Bed and Breakfast from Kevin's mother, and we were able to check in early and start a long walk around old Santa Fe. 

We walked among the local Native Americans who sell their crafts at the edge of the town square; we visited the Cathedral, the Loretta Chapel where, over a century ago, a mysterious 'carpenter' named 'Joseph' constructed an 'inexplicable' staircase at now charge, and the oldest Church in America; we walked through the Georgia O'Keefe museum and visited galleries with classic American photographs of the American west and its native inhabitants; we walked by the oldest house in America; we had margaritas at a local Cantina; we savored chili-chocolate soup at a local bistro; most of all, we appreciated the adobe architecture and the loveliness of this little town.

Photos from this wonderful day are available here.

Pictures from the West!

We're sorry that we haven't had the chance to update the blog since Chicago.  We've been in regions with less than ideal cellular and wifi access.  But, we were able to upload pictures last night; and while we will give you all the running narrative at some point, here are links to pictures:

• The South Dakota Prairie, including the hysterical Mitchell Corn Palace.
• The Badlands, at sunset and in the morning.
• Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, a tour of an old missile launch facility and silo.
• Wall Drug, one of the epitomes of the Western road trip, a depression-era tourist trap.
• Rapid City, a great old West town.
• Mt Rushmore, and Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota's black hills.
• Devils Tower, in Northeastern Wyoming.

The Black Hills!

The Black Hills are a National Forest, a sacred Lakota landscape, or some controversy involving one of the two.  To the average tourist, however, they are beautiful and home to some of the American west's great treasures.

You may recognize this particular treasure.  For those of you who have spent some time in Morocco recently (you know who you are), the presidents on the mountain are, from left to right, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.  Surprisingly, the choice of presidents was left entirely to the artist who sculpted the mountain, Gutzon Borglum.  Borglum, meanwhile, was the estranged scultpor of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who had been summarily dismissed from the project in Georgia.  Borglum had to flee Georgia (for S. Dakota) because he had destroyed all the models of the Stone Mountain sculpture when he had been fired and the state issued a warrant for his arrest.

He chose Washington because he was the father of the country and the man who set precedent for the presidency, generally; he chose Jefferson to honor the Louisiana Purchase and the Jeffersonian ideals of the yeoman farmer and manifest destinty; Teddy Roosevelt's selection was controversial at the time, but Borglum respected TR's 'common man' ideals and his emerging philosophy of conservation; finally, Lincoln was selected because he stewarded the union through the war and maintained the union against all odds. 

After Mt. Rushmore, we swung by the Crazy Horse monument, a long-in-progress sculpture of the Native American hero, before heading toward Deadwood, a well-preserved if morally-corrupt town of Old West lore.  Photos from our day are available here.

Finally, we arrived in Wyoming and set up camp at the base of Devils Tower, a geological oddity in the Northeast corner of the state.  The Native American legend of Devils Tower involves a bear chasing people up the tower; the clawmarks from the bear allegedly form the rivulets along the tower.  Photos from Devils Tower are available here.

The Badlands and the Landscape

Well, when we turned into the Badlands last night, we were confronted with an awe-inspiring sunset.  We found a campsite at the edge of the Badlands and attended a ranger's talk.  Tired from our long drive, we turned in early, only to be rudely awakened by a set of enormous thunderstorms that shook us from our serene sleep.  The pounding rain on the tent, the electricity in the air, and the fear of a flooded campsite kept us up for a few hours.

We awoke, however, to dry, if grey skies, and managed to find our way around the Badlands in the daytime.  This formation of rocks and eroding hillsides is shocking and calls to mind one's idea of a moonscape (even if, as Abigail points out, one has no idea what a moonscape looks like).  Photos of the Badlands are available here.

After leaving the badlands, we had an opportunity to tour a decomissioned nuclear missile launch facility, buried thirty-one feet into the South Dakota terrain.  It was a pretty amazing and informative tour; it's quite impressive that we managed to keep everyone on earth from nuclear disaster for so long.  Photos from that tour are available here.

After the tour, we headed to Wall, SD, whose famous Wall Drug is the epitome of a roadside tourist trap (photos are available here).  It is the "South of the Border" of the West, with billboards as far away as Kenya.  Nevertheless, we were successfully trapped, and we took advantage of the homemade donuts and pie.  It was well worth the stop!

After Wall Drug, we stopped for a quick bite to eat in Rapid City (a cute town, photos are available here).  Then, we turned South and headed into the Black Hills, where tomorrow we will visit Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood, before heading to Wyoming.