Day 36: We're not in Kansas any more--thank God

Day 36 was the longest driving day of our trip, and only our second 3 state day (Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri).

If you are ever in Boulder and don't know what to do for breakfast, may we suggest The Egg & I.

We knew we had a long day, and wanted to be quick about breakfast.  We didn't realize this was a sit-down restaurant until we got there, and we were a little concerned.

The food arrived pretty quickly though.  Seeing it, we remained skeptical.

Croissant is not really a croissant.

Turns out it was REALLY good.  Sorry to be doubters, Egg & I.

Mile 6348:  We leave Boulder. After passing Denver, it was a lot of this:

Nothing.

Mile 6413: Kate waves at a fellow Wisconsin driver, and to our delight, they wave back.

Mile 6538:  Leave Colorado, enter Kansas.  We are not super excited by this prospect.

Colorado had some of the better state signs.

Kansas

Kansas is pretty much all huge farms.  Unfortunately they are not doing all that well in many cases.

Kansas had some of the saddest corn we have
ever seen.  We feel bad for that farmer.

There was some entertainment, though:

Mile 6607:  Note the sign on the right, advertising
the activities available at the Prairie Dog Town.

The sign says: "Five Legged Steer/See Live Rattlesnakes/Pet the Baby Pigs".  Other attractions at the Prairie Dog Town included the worlds largest prairie dog (8000lbs) and a collection of bison.  We passed.

There was more entertainment available in Colby, Kansas:

Cowboy Preacher concert.

We were tempted to stick around until the 13th to catch the Cowboy Preacher live, but again had to pass.

Mile 6790:  A large bug hits the windshield.  We proceed to watch for and talk about bugs as they hit the window.  Kansas is that boring.

Mile 6955:  Mercifully, we hit Missouri

OK people, sometimes it is hard to take a picture out
of a moving car

Kansas City skyline

The only thing we really know about Kansas City is that it is rumored to have good ribs.  We decide to test this out for ourselves.  We walked to the restaurant from our hotel and were thoroughly impressed with what we saw of Kansas City's Country Club district.  I didn't see any country club, but there were a bunch of restaurants and stores, and several musicians/bands playing on the street.  Very lively.

This place was close to our hotel.  #2 BBQ in KC
according to Yelp

Our BBQ.  Wooo doggies! (That's Southern for "I really liked that")

Some thoughts on our 'cue:

1) Damn, that was some good stuff!
2) The yellow stuff was called cheesy corn.  It was like an utterly incredible mac and cheese made with corn.
3) The little chunks on the right are called "Burnt Ends".  They are a Kansas City specialty, bite sized chunks of bbq.  We have literally traveled around the country trying bbq, and one of those burnt ends was the best single bite of bbq I have ever had.
4) The big takeaway was that every single thing on the plate was super good.  They didn't slack on anything.

After an amazing dinner (and we shared that plate and both of us came away full), we went to bed.

Tomorrow we'll see what Missouri holds...

Day 35: The Benefits of Boulder

The first order of business is a hike. How can you come to Boulder CO and not go for a hike? The destination was Wild Basin Trail Head of Rocky Mountain National Park (yes, one more use of our National Park Pass. We certainly got our money's worth on that one).

Oh no. More bears. At least we know James' insurance policy covers mauling. 

Small waterfall on the hike, James would like you to know that it larger than it appears... I feel a 'that's what she said' should be inserted here

This is Longs' Peak. It's 14000 feet. Nobody on our road trip hiked that.  Maybe a future goal.

James did some fishing. I am sure you will be shocked to know that the water was really cold. Fishing didn't last long.

After everyone has cleaned themselves up, we head out to check out the city of Boulder. It's 100,000 people, but it feels much larger. Traffic is worse than you would think, but the Rocky Mountain view is really beautiful.

After checking out the town, James wanted to visit a brewery in Longmont (just 15 minutes outside of Boulder).

Apparently there are lots of breweries in Longmont... and they seem to all be super crowded. 

We stopped in Left Hand Brewery to have a beer. Just one because we had to drive (it's the royal we... James drove)

On the way we encounter a family of deer. They actually stopped at the stop sign before they crossed,

They certainly took their time crossing the street. Maybe they talked to the bison we encountered early in our trip

Back in Boulder, we went to dinner at a local pizza place.

Oh... Jesus is here too... it must be good 

The place was called Pizza Locale. 

James had an anchovy pizza. I would have shared, except for... yuck

I had the arugula and prosciutto pizza. It was really good, but no Bob's Biga (remember, from Missoula)

We head back to our creepy hotel. We couldn't figure out why almost every hotel in Boulder was booked.  Then we were chatting with some older fellow at the bar of the restaurant, who informed us it was parents weekend at the University of Colorado.  That explained why the only hotel we could get was about 20 years overdue for a renovation. Anyway, we went to bed. It's a long drive tomorrow. The destination: Kansas City, Missouri. 

Day 33: Extreme Moab!

Moab is the most extreme place we have ever been.  Extreme sports are everywhere...  desert hiking, whitewater rafting, ATV's, rock climbing, mountain biking, and even canyoneering (whatever that is) are everywhere.  All of the old people at the hotel were wearing action outfits made of quick dry materials, outdoorsy action shoes, and funny hats.  It was a little much for us.

I had heard that there was good fishing in the mountain lakes around Moab, so I decided to check it out.  Kate laid low and went for a run.  

The place I was going was pretty remote.  The scenery on the way was stunning, even when I was lost--maybe especially when I was lost.  The GPS kept trying to take me onto road that didn't exist.  I think it wanted to get into the 'offroading' action that is so popular in Moab...

Desert view on the way out of Moab

View of the previous, from above

Road winding through the mountains

This is not the right road, but gorgeous anyway.

Note the 13000ft snow capped peak poking out behind the nearer mountains.
I think it is La Sal Peak.

 After about 2 hours, I found Hidden Lake.  It was more like a pond, but the fish were clearly hungry.  They were rising regularly, popping their little heads out of the water of jumping fully out to snack on bugs on the surface.

Hidden Lake--elevation 8800ft

12" Rainbow Trout.  I caught his 10" buddy,
but missed one that bit off my fly.

I caught 2 nice trout in less than an hour, which for me is really good fishing. The only downside was that it was 48 degrees, and I actually had to get in the pond up to my waist to land the fish.  After 2, I wasn't sure I wanted to catch the 3rd.

I made it back to Moab for lunch, and we headed out to the Moab Diner.

Hmmm... that Moab Melt looks good...

This was an open faced roast beef sandwich with cheese
and the Diners specialty "Green Chile", called the Moab Melt.
It was awesome (we split one).

We took the rest of the afternoon off, booking a hotel for the next town, answering emails,and the like.  We decided to hit Moab's best rated restaurant for dinner...

Bison tenderloin wrapped in bacon with garlic
mashed potatoes and shallots.  Yummm.

Kate got this chicken dish, which she wasn't as impressed with.

We also shared this Chipotle Caesar salad
with cornbread croutons, which was good.
See, we are eating healthy.

And that was it for day 33.  Tomorrow: the long road to Boulder.

Day 34: Absolutely Nothing Happened

Mile 5826: Leave Moab

We went to the gym in our hotel before heading out of town. Then we enjoyed the continental breakfast at the hotel and we were on our way. We were the only people there under 70.

The drive to Boulder is about 6 hours. In less than an hour, we crossed the Colorado border.

Great welcome sign

Hours later we stop for lunch in Glenwood Springs, CO. James' fishing magazine said it was "the most fun place in the world". I think it was because of all of the fishing streams we drove by. The Mexican food was fantastic.

Yum

The drive continues and the scenery changes to what I would think of as 'classic Colorado'

Check out the snow covered mountains in the background

Mile 6165: Arrive in Boulder

We were in Boulder just before dinner. (There was a stop or 2 at the outlet mall and a search for fly fishing stores). We received a recommendation for the restaurant 'Salt' in downtown Boulder.

This is the super-fancy drink menu at Salt. We didn't take advantage. 

Pork shoulder with brussel sprouts (they are underneath, I promise!) James and I shared the dish

We went back to the hotel to relax after dinner... not the best hotel room we have had, but not the worst.

Tomorrow: Checking out the benefits of Boulder

Day 32: James, Me and Retirees

This is a team post, so you will have to infer who is speaking in first person. It's not that hard, but I thought I should warn you.

Day 32 had to start fairly early.  I wanted to hike into the canyon a bit, and we had a 7 hour drive to Moab.  We opted for a short hike on the Kaibab Trail, 1.7 miles basically straight down then that same 1.7 back up.   Harry, the hotel guy, said we should allow 2.5 times the amount of time for that uphill portion, so 1 hour out would mean 2.5 hours back.

Trailhead.  The trail name sounds like 'kebab',
and we tried to come up with a joke around that.
No luck. Feel free give it a stab and add to comments below.

View from near the top

Looking down

Further down

Scenic overlook on the hike

Sunrise over the mountain

Kate hiking

James hiking in what I call his "girls gone wild hat". Please note he is smiling... this is still on the way down. 

The elevation gain was about 1500ft in that 1.7 miles back up.  At some points, I thought Kate was trying to collect on that life insurance policy with the pace she was keeping.

What James did not mention above is that we were smoked by a woman in her late 60's on her way back up the hill. The pace was not crazy. This trip has mostly been James, me and baby boomers. Since kids are back in school, there are no young road warriors out there. The slow campers are everywhere and the early bird specials are packed. We start to wonder what we will do in our retirement if we are taking this trip now....

Once back up, we were eager to get on the road.  The road into and out of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 40 miles long (which is part of the reason it only gets 10% of the Canyon's annual visitors), but exceedingly beautiful.  We spotted this Discovery Channel scene on the way out:

Coyote snacking on something dead

It's a good thing we exercised this morning because the rest of the day will be in the car.  The mountain forest soon gave way to a glimpse of the red cliffs.

Cliffs looming in the distance.  A hint of
what's to come.

Not too long after leaving the Canyon, we hit Utah.

Mile 5407:  Utah!  Land of beautiful high mountain deserts
and bizarre alcohol regulations.

Beautiful red rocks... oh wait, that's an ice cream store. They almost had us...

Dining options were sparse, but we stumbled upon Henrie's Drive Inn in Panguitch, UT (Mile 5480).  These little roadside spots can be hit or miss, but we've had far more hits than misses using Yelp!.  Henrie's was no exception.

Cheeseburger and onion rings really hit the spot.

Pretty soon, we left our 2 lane road for the interstate.  Usually that is not a good thing in terms of roadside aesthetics, but the southwest Utah high desert we drove into blew us away.

Desert

Approaching the distant cliffs

We enter the mountains

Yup... still on the road. It's all about the freakin journey

An overlook

Crazy hobbit-hole looking rocks

The sun is setting behind us, and it is raining
in front of us.  The lighting was kinda freakish.

We stopped at a couple of the scenic points. James showed you a picture of a good one... there were others that were just strange. We stopped at a place called 'ghost rock'. It was a rock that looked nothing like a ghost, but back in the day some cowboy got scared. So, I decided to name a rock.

Christmas Rock- it is red and green. I am great at naming things.

Mile 5731:  Moab, UT

If you have a chance, you should read this. It was too confusing to have a drink

By the time we arrived, it was all we could do to go have dinner and crawl into bed.

Tomorrow:  Extreme Moab