Day 3 - Leaving Denver
Aug. 14th, 2005 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellWe're kind of not sure where we're going from here. We have to be in Moab, UT on Wednesday (hotel reservation there), but weather is kinda rainy where we were headed (starting to clear in Denver though) and I don't really want to hike up a 13K peak if I'm just going to be in a cloud. So now we're looking at heading North to Arapaho National Forest, ditching the backpacking altogether, and doing some base camp/day hiking instead (and that way, we get to see Boulder). Still up in the air as to whether we'll spend two days there then go ahead down to Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Southwestern Colorado, or if we'll just spend 3 days and head straight to Moab. We'll see I guess.
Been an eventful couple of days though. Hit rains in Kansas City and they didn't really let up until this morning (seeing sun and blue sky over the mountains out the window of our hotel). Just in and out of cells all the way across Kansas. Good time for sunflowers, even better if there was more sun. The sky is so immense there, pretty much as far as you peripheral vision can see. Tried to capture it in some pics, but it just doesn't do it justice (need a wide angle lens).
BFE Missouri has THE most porn stores I've ever seen! It was really pretty in St. Louis and traffic was backed up over the bridge, so it gave us good time to get some good pics of the city. We've been trying to take some pictures of every city we go through, and then just anything that sparks our eyes. Only got one shot of Kansas City though because it was so dark and about to rain really hard so the rest of them came out really blurry.
Getting close to Denver we noticed a sign for a scenic route (CO-86) west that takes you into the city from the south, but also through some gorgeous prairie land. We pulled off on a couple of dirt roads and got some neat video and pics. We saw real estate signs for thousands of acres for sale (like 1400 acre lots and larger). In south Denver, they have some subdivisions that sell 5 acre lots. Why can't they figure that out back east?
We got to Denver a little later than we wanted to, but I guess things worked out ok. We went to Total Beverage to stock up on beers we've never seen on our side of the country. I could have spent about 3 hours and $300 there! I've never seen so many different GOOD beers! I think we got some good stuff, and there are so many microbrews in the Denver area (and then up in Boulder and such) that it was really tough to pick some stuff to drink while we're out here. I think $170 on beer should be enough to replenish the "cellar" and have plenty to drink for the next couple of weeks. The problem is finding places in the car to stash it.
We cut ourselves off at the beer store and headed back to the hotel to see if our room was ready yet (they had to clean one on the 11th floor for us). We got checked in and what not, then headed downtown to eat at Wynkoop Brewing Company. On the way they, carputer got a little challenge, because a lot of the downtown streets were blocked off for the Denver Grand Prix. I've never seen anything like it! Cars racing around city streets at a 100 mph or more, insane! Ok, so I take that back, I've seen it in video games. Quite a site in real life. All they had were large fences on the sides of the roads. I kept thinking, "what if someone wrecked into a building?"
We finally got to the brewpub, and the area it's in is really neat! It's next to the old railways, and all of the old brick warehouses from the industrial revolution in Denver have been remodeled into stores and restaurants, really neat ones too! We sat there wishing we had more time in Denver on this trip. Some other time, perhaps. Dinner was incredible though! That's the best salad I've had in my life. The Oktoberfest I had wasn't all that great, but the Scottish strong ale Chris had was awesome though, so we got a growler of it.
Then, we hauled ass back to the hotel to get extra clothes (fleece and rain jackets, yes, it was quite chilly) and head to Red Rocks, late for the show. We really wanted to see STS9 and only caught the last two songs of what sounded like an incredible set! Trey was ok, not the Trey of two years ago by any means, but I'm glad we went. If nothing else, it was awesome to just sit in the venue! Granted we were in a cloud and it was cold and rainy for the first half of the set, but it was still gorgeous. There's quite a vibe in that place. Even in an amphitheater full of people, you feel so small next to those huge rocks that rise above the back of the venue. It's so strange though, because it's a mountain, but a venue too. I tried to get some pics, but our camera is just not sophisticated enough, and there wasn't enough light. We left the show early because we were both incredibly exhausted.
So, that brings us up to today. Pics so far are here.
Been an eventful couple of days though. Hit rains in Kansas City and they didn't really let up until this morning (seeing sun and blue sky over the mountains out the window of our hotel). Just in and out of cells all the way across Kansas. Good time for sunflowers, even better if there was more sun. The sky is so immense there, pretty much as far as you peripheral vision can see. Tried to capture it in some pics, but it just doesn't do it justice (need a wide angle lens).
BFE Missouri has THE most porn stores I've ever seen! It was really pretty in St. Louis and traffic was backed up over the bridge, so it gave us good time to get some good pics of the city. We've been trying to take some pictures of every city we go through, and then just anything that sparks our eyes. Only got one shot of Kansas City though because it was so dark and about to rain really hard so the rest of them came out really blurry.
Getting close to Denver we noticed a sign for a scenic route (CO-86) west that takes you into the city from the south, but also through some gorgeous prairie land. We pulled off on a couple of dirt roads and got some neat video and pics. We saw real estate signs for thousands of acres for sale (like 1400 acre lots and larger). In south Denver, they have some subdivisions that sell 5 acre lots. Why can't they figure that out back east?
We got to Denver a little later than we wanted to, but I guess things worked out ok. We went to Total Beverage to stock up on beers we've never seen on our side of the country. I could have spent about 3 hours and $300 there! I've never seen so many different GOOD beers! I think we got some good stuff, and there are so many microbrews in the Denver area (and then up in Boulder and such) that it was really tough to pick some stuff to drink while we're out here. I think $170 on beer should be enough to replenish the "cellar" and have plenty to drink for the next couple of weeks. The problem is finding places in the car to stash it.
We cut ourselves off at the beer store and headed back to the hotel to see if our room was ready yet (they had to clean one on the 11th floor for us). We got checked in and what not, then headed downtown to eat at Wynkoop Brewing Company. On the way they, carputer got a little challenge, because a lot of the downtown streets were blocked off for the Denver Grand Prix. I've never seen anything like it! Cars racing around city streets at a 100 mph or more, insane! Ok, so I take that back, I've seen it in video games. Quite a site in real life. All they had were large fences on the sides of the roads. I kept thinking, "what if someone wrecked into a building?"
We finally got to the brewpub, and the area it's in is really neat! It's next to the old railways, and all of the old brick warehouses from the industrial revolution in Denver have been remodeled into stores and restaurants, really neat ones too! We sat there wishing we had more time in Denver on this trip. Some other time, perhaps. Dinner was incredible though! That's the best salad I've had in my life. The Oktoberfest I had wasn't all that great, but the Scottish strong ale Chris had was awesome though, so we got a growler of it.
Then, we hauled ass back to the hotel to get extra clothes (fleece and rain jackets, yes, it was quite chilly) and head to Red Rocks, late for the show. We really wanted to see STS9 and only caught the last two songs of what sounded like an incredible set! Trey was ok, not the Trey of two years ago by any means, but I'm glad we went. If nothing else, it was awesome to just sit in the venue! Granted we were in a cloud and it was cold and rainy for the first half of the set, but it was still gorgeous. There's quite a vibe in that place. Even in an amphitheater full of people, you feel so small next to those huge rocks that rise above the back of the venue. It's so strange though, because it's a mountain, but a venue too. I tried to get some pics, but our camera is just not sophisticated enough, and there wasn't enough light. We left the show early because we were both incredibly exhausted.
So, that brings us up to today. Pics so far are here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2005-08-14 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-08-17 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-08-15 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
on 2005-08-17 10:04 pm (UTC)We're in Moab, UT now, there's been so much we've covered in the past few days, I'm not sure I'll be able to catch it all in a post, but I'm going to try damn it!
Wow!
on 2005-08-15 03:18 am (UTC)Re: Wow!
on 2005-08-17 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-08-17 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-08-17 10:05 pm (UTC)Kansas is certainly desolate, I'd go nuts living there. The high plains of Colorado are so much better, at least there's gorgeous mountains to see.