Day 8

Day 8

Dan here…

Kari and I woke up this morning from our hotel in Colorado Springs and had to make the journey up to Denver. We had a few stops to make first in Colorado Springs. We couldn’t help be a bit anxious this morning because we were “supposed” to get the car back today. Fingers were crossed.

Our first stop of the day was The Garden of the Gods, at the base of Pike’s Peak. It consisted of a scenic drive through a relatively small park that had very cool rock formations. The rocks reminded me of Sedona because they were incredibly red. The formations started out small, but as the drive continued, the formations became huge. As in, 10 story building, huge. We got out of the car multiple times to take in the view and grab some photos. We didn’t have a lot of time in the morning though, so we didn’t hike.

After leaving The Garden of the Gods, we continued on the interstate towards Denver. We had one more stop to make in Colorado Springs before leaving. I couldn’t visit Colorado Springs without stopping into the Air Force Academy. We could see the stadium with “Air Force” written in the stands from the interstate. I started to get excited. We got off the exit and proceeded to the gate of the Academy. A very nice soldier met us at the gate to check IDs and inspected the car, before telling us to have a good time. We drove around the facility and passed the practice fields for their athletics. They were pristine.

We pulled into the visitor center and got out to take a look around. For me, this was an awesome feeling. The Air Force was always the coolest branch of the military growing up thanks to Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards. Top Gun was… IS one of the greatest movies EVER! I guess that flying planes always seemed so cool as a kid. Then, after moving to San Francisco for graduate school and watching the planes fly over head during fleet week, it just seemed that much cooler. The Academy was a great visit. Kari and I bought a tshirt from their gift shop and I couldn’t help but grab a beer glass that said Air Force Academy on the side. We continued to drive around the campus and passed the stadium up close. As we left the campus, we passed a B52 bomber that was mounted on the side of the road. It was huge and brought back memories of the toys when I was a kid.

Next we headed north to Denver. We decided to stop in a couple concentrated shopping areas. First was the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. It was essentially a mall, but it had some really nice stores in it. Kari and I both got a new pair of Puma shoes and because of a free promotion that day, also got a free Puma backpack. Winning!

After grabbing some delicious Asian food for lunch we walked into Hugo Boss. I picked up a really nice sweater and turned to ask Kari what she thought. She really liked it. Then she pulled the tag out of the sweater, saw the price, and then rolled her eyes and said “let’s go”. I don’t think I can take her shopping with me anymore if I plan on buying Hugo Boss.

Next, we left the mall and headed downtown to the 16^th St. promenade. It was about 12 blocks of road that are blocked from cars. Lots of bars, shops, and restaurants. I was able to buy a few pieces of camera equipment I needed and we both stopped to get a cold drink at Starbucks. I think it was in the high 90s. At least it wasn’t humid though.

Now came the time that we dreaded. We had to go find out whether the car was ready to go. We headed to the Nissan dealership and talked to the mechanic. He assured us that everything was a good to go and they had already test driven the car since the new transmission was installed. Kari and I had a moment of silence. We both just needed to let out a little tension from the past few days. There’s nothing like car trouble to ruin any day, let alone 2000 miles from home. We gave each other a huge smile and felt like we could finally continue the trip. So we returned the rental SUV and moved luggage into the Nissan and off we went.

We headed west along I-70 through the Rocky Mountains… destination Grand Junction, CO. We only had a few hours of light left during this trip and unfortunately it rained about half the time. But, luckily the I-70 is a huge interstate and it never felt like a treacherous drive. Kari was at the helm while I tried to keep up with this blog. Blogging is time consuming. We passed through Vail, CO before it got dark and we were both really impressed. It looked like a great town in the summer, let alone the winter. We both commented that we’d like to come back to ski one day. Anybody want to join us?!? We talked to a few people one the phone while we drove. We’d like to give a shout out to Bob and Barb as well as Gayle and Frank. We loved the conversation and really appreciate all the suggestions. We passed through Glen Canyon with just enough light left to know we were missing something pretty spectacular. But, with the car getting to us so late, we had no choice. We’ll see Glen Canyon in the light, next time. We stopped in Glenwood Springs, CO to grab a quick bite to eat. Actually, this looked like a really cool town as well. It was very quaint and had that resort feeling as well. It was a decent size place with plenty of options to eat. We got out and walked around for 15 minutes to stretch our legs. We saw a swimming pool attached to a hotel that was HUGE. It was the biggest hotel pool I have ever seen.

Back in the car and heading west. We eventually came out of the mountains and into Grand Junction. We stopped into a store to grab a bottle of wine and headed to the hotel. We stayed in a Holiday Inn, and it was by far the best hotel we’ve stayed in on the trip. It was twice as much room as we needed. It felt nice to crash though. We had to go to bed at a decent time, because we had a long day at Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park in the morning. Heading to bed. Goodnight!