Rocky Mountain High

Day 10 – July 8, 2016

Vail, CO – Aspen, CO – Greenwood, Co

180 miles – 3 hours

Today was a good day! Oh my gosh, we had so much fun!

So we left Vail around 10:00, which had us in Aspen a little after noon, just in time for lunch. The only problem was that we couldn’t find a place to park! We weren’t staying in Aspen (way too expensive), so that left me at the mercy of the metered party and the village was packed. Seriously, it took almost a half an hour of driving around and around until we found a spot.

We had a fabulous, albeit expensive, lunch and then took the gondola up to the top of Aspen Mountain. Oh, what a few! And the weather was perfect. Sunny and in the 80s, yet we were up high (11, 200 feet), so the breeze made it perfect. The mountain top photographer took a liking to us and kind of followed us around taking pictures – Audrey was in heaven. Also, I think he may have smoked a bong before we got there – but hey, it’s Colorado. Right? Its shame you’ll never see the pictures. When I got to the bottom of the mountain to buy them, I experienced MAJOR sticker shock.

We stayed up there for about an hour, just chilling. It was heaven.

It doesn’t sound like much, but everyone was feeling good and there were no major fights and the food and scenery were perfect. We were very happy. And then we were very tired. Dinner at the hotel and then early to bed. Although – I did turn on the TV and was disheartened by all that’s going on in the world.

On our way  gorgeous drive. 

One the way up...

Up higher...

A family selfie at the top.

A kind stranger took our pic and didn't charge us $75!

Denver, Cheyenne & Boulder

Day 7 – July 5, 2013

Denver-Cheyenne-Denver

190 miles/3 hour round trip

Today we drove to Cheyenne, WY to visit the capitol (which was too far out of the way for last year’s Yellowstone trip) and so I could have lunch with an old friend of mine from Naples. I don’t know how the capitol thing started, but it has become a “thing.” Whenever we visit a state, we have to also visit the capitol building. It’s actually very interesting to see how different some of them are architecturally; and to see to what extent to which they’re still actively used by the state government; and how we’re treated by the capitol staff. In some states we’ve experienced security like the airport and some states have an open door, come-one-come-all policy. However, this is the first (yesterday in Denver) and second time we were denied entrance into the capitol building. The building was ensconced in scaffolding and the grass was all over-grown on the property. It was rather sad. Remodeling?

Cheyenne is much smaller than I’d anticipated. It’s a clean little city, but I didn’t feel the love I was expecting. It lacks the charm of other little cities we’ve visited in the past.

We had lunch downtown with my friend Jane, who I’d not seen in twenty-four years. We worked together at the Ritz Carlton in Naples. Eventually she went off and had babies and I left for grad school. We’ve kept in touch over the years with Christmas cards, phone calls and emails – but our paths had never crossed. Until today!

It was so good to see her. She seems happy. It’s funny to see her in this environment, because Jane was a total beach girl when I knew her. Now she’s embracing the small town western life. She was actually born and raised in Jackson Hole (lucky girl), but her family moved to Cheyenne when all the millionaires moved in to that area.

After lunch, the road warriors and I headed back to Denver and just hung out by the pool until I had to go to the lobby for another rondevuex. I finally got to meet my editor from The HerStories Project, Stephanie Sprenger. She is delightful! We had a really nice time getting to know each other better and I’m excited for more HerStories Projects in the future.

We drove into Boulder for dinner. Boulder is hippy central! Oh, is was comical. But I’d like to point out that it’s probably the cleanest city I have ever seen. And that ain’t no exaggeration!

Jane and Allie

Wyoming State Capitol

Meeting Stephanie, my editor at The HerStories Project

Getting the Hell out of Dodge

Day Three – July 1, 2016

Dodge City, KS – Pueblo, CO

287 miles – 4 ½ hours

It stormed last night. And there’s a railroad across the street from our hotel, with an active (and loud) train. And there’s a trailer park next to the hotel, with some late-night carousers, which caused me some anxiety. I did not sleep well and made an executive decision that it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. Sorry – I couldn’t resist.

Seriously though, we checked out a day early. There just isn’t enough to do in Dodge City. We spent the morning at the Boot Hill Museum, which is kind of cool. I enjoyed learning about the history of the town, although it’s fair to say I was the only one. Aud and Cammy had fun running around the old town. I took them to the Saloon for some cokes and Audrey and I ended up dancing on stage with some Old West show girls. No, I wasn’t drinking – it was 10:30 a.m. – just trying to get into the spirit of the Old West. Lucky for me, the boys didn’t bother to take a pictures of us. Hunter was mortified, but Barrett loved it. He was clapping and giggling as the Aud and I kicked up our heals and shimmied our skirts.

By the way, Barrett is on the mend! I’m still scarred from the infamous stomach flu outbreak during our Grand Canyon stop on the 2013 road trip. I’m saying a novena each morning to ensure no one else succumbs to whatever it was he had.

We blew out of town by noon, and found ourselves off the grid for a bit of our drive. Wide open spaces, with not another car for miles. Crazy.

We found a nice SpringHill suites in downtown Pueblo that had room for us. Thank goodness. We had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, where we (myself included) were the youngest people in the restaurant. Barrett, obviously happy to be feeling better, was rather excitable. I think I heard everyone in the restaurant sigh as we left.

Back at the hotel, I took Cam and Aud to the pool for a little bit. The night ended once again with Hunter and I watching Friends. Best show ever!