Road Trip ... one week in

A picture's worth a thousand words. Here's a link to My Flickr Pics, and Chad's Flickr Pics. They probably say more than my feeble attempt to put the last week into words, but here's my take on a quicky rundown what we've done, where we've been and what we've seen.

Day 1 (Monday):

We packed up the car and headed east. We jumped through Yosemite and viewed Half Dome from a new angle. (in early September we conquered it) Ending up at a small motel in Lone Pine, CA. we crashed for the night.


Day 2 (Tuesday):

We made our way through Death Valley National Park. So much sky and open road. It wasn't too hot. Perfect Weather. My favorite site was Badwater basin. At 282 feet below sea level, it's the lowest point in the continental US. We spent the night in a cheap ass sleazy Casino on the NV/AZ border. It smelled like cheap perfume.


Day 3 (Wednesday):
We cut through a corner of Arizona on our way to Zion National Park in Utah. On our way we came across the Virgin River trading post, petting zoo and cheesy tourist photo-op. It had a fake old west town that looked like a real life cartoon. We dutifully stopped, fed carrots to the animals and took pictures of the Ishes in the fake cartoon world.
(Ishes explanation: our personal mascots. They're coming with us on the trip)


It was raining when we first got to Zion, but soon cleared up; blue skies and perfect fall weather. The leaves were spectacular. We set up camp and hiked up Angel's Landing trail. At 5 miles round trip, it wasn't nearly as intense as Half Dome, but equally as beautiful and frighteningly treacherous. That night we hung out by the camp fire and slept under the stars.


Day 4 (Thursday):
It was a cold start to the morning and we took some time drinking coffee and packing up the campsite. We strolled along Riverside Walk to the temple of Senawa. We hiked to see Weeping Rock and then up through Hidden Canyon trail. Hidden Canyon was probably my favorite part of the day. We climbed along the side of steep red cliffs into a cool and shaded rock area. It was rad! At the end of the day we headed south into Arizona.



Day 5 (Friday):

We journeyed into Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. We drove along on the 17 mile loop through the park, viewing the strange rock formations: buttes, spires and messas. Afterwards we ate Indian Tacos (like the ones they sell on fry bread on the way back from Burning Man) and then continued on through Four Corners (total rip-off and anti-climactic) to Durango, CO. We checked into a cheap cheap cheap budget motel and headed towards the down town area. The Diamond Belle Saloon was pretty cool and then we headed to another local bar with a large number of beer selections. The scene was pretty small-town, frat-boy, but we drank our beer and enjoyed ourselves.


Day 6 (Saturday):

We backtracked slightly to Mesa Verde National Park and learned about the Ancestral Pueblo Native Americans. It was super fascinating, but I wasn't feeling very well, most likely due to heavy drinking the night before. After which we headed North through the Rockies. We were trying to make it to Leadville CO before crashing, but we ended up in Buena Vista, CO.



Day 7 (Sunday):
We drove through Rocky Mountains on the way to Boulder CO. It was beautiful, and cold and although there was a ton of snow on the ground, the roads were completely clear.
The weather in Boulder was perfectly amazing in the mid-60s with a crisp fall breeze. We had only planned for a quick stop over in Boulder, but when we saw that Cut Chemist and Lyrics Born were playing that night at the Fox Theater we decided to stay for the show. After lunch (burgers and beer, mmmm) we walked along the creek and then climbed around Red Rock trail in Settler's park.
The show was awesome. Cut Chemist and Lyrics Born threw down and RAWKed as always, but I have to say I was little disappointed with the Boulder crowd. There was a lot of head-bobbing and not a whole lot of dancing. But it was good to show a little Bay Area looove.


Day 8 (Monday) TODAY:
We were both hung over, tired and a little grumpy. We drove north as the temperature steadily dropped. There was so much sky and brown rolling hills, it was amazing. There was actualy tumble weed blowing across the road! We also encountered tons of road kill (gross). The sunset was incredible. By the time we reached Moorcroft, WY it was 18 degrees outside. (EIGHTEEN DEGREES... for all you west coast people) Apparently the temperature just dropped today so all the locals are complaining.


tomorrow we're heading to see Devil's tower (recognizable from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and through the Black Hills and Bad Lands of South Dakota, on our way to visit Carrie and Becky in Minneapolis, MN. .. . Hopefully we won't freeze to death before we get there.