Denver and Home Again (Days 9 and 10)

 Okay, so spoiler alert. I didn't take that many pictures these last few days. Eventually, I can spruce them up, because my nephew took tons of animal pics! 

We started our day at Four Friends Kitchen for breakfast. This is ironic because my brother thought he found some cool new place to eat. But, if you were paying attention, my mom and I ate there last road trip. So I knew it was good. 

We got a Denver pass and we went to three different places, sorta. The Aquarium, the Zoo, and the Museum of Nature of Science.

 

The Aquarium was cool. I did see it some 20 years ago and I feel like it was cooler then than it was this time. Maybe it was the 5 or 6 school busses worth of kids all over the aquarium. 

Then we went to the zoo. I have always meant to visit the zoo when I've gone to Denver. The giraffes were super cool, but I was too distracted to take pictures. Yeah, that's it. Distracted. But you know.... animals. Zoo,. 

And then the museum. It was well intended but we were all toast. So we saw maybe one section and went back to the hotel and relaxed.

As a bonus, we did get to see another Denver friend, so it wasn't all a loss. 

Okay, and that last day, let me summarize. 

We woke up. Went back to Four Friends. Chilled a bit but then returned the car. Went to the airport. Flew to Boston. Took a bus to Concord and then drove home. 

Adventure completed. 

Moab to Denver - I-70 Fail

Okay, I am super behind - but I'm always more tired at the end of a 10 day trip. 

So, day 8 - our plan was solid. We were going to check out Canyonlands real quick, and then drive to Denver from Moab. 5 hours. It was gonna work. AND, I was going to see my friend Emily. BUT, Day 8 had other plans.

Let's start with Canyonlands. We did a super quick... ahhhhhh what can we see in an hour? We went to Grand View Point Overlook. 

Okay as you look at these pictures, just realize that it used to not be a canyon. And that ... wow. The earth is pretty awesome and powerful to carve out all these crazy deep canyons from what was really a lot of flat land. This place is a geologist's dream. And no, I am not a geologist. 

 

My nephew was not supposed to be this close to the edge, but there was actually a lot of buffer - it was not a straight drop into the canyon. 

Okay, so after this epic tour of Canyonlands, we punched Denver into the GPS and it said 7 hours. This was not what our driver, my brother, was expecting. He had anticipated a 5 hour drive. Apparently, a commercial truck hauling cattle had an accident and closed the I-70. You can read about the crash here. 

Update: I-70 eastbound reopens at Glenwood Springs exit following cattle truck crash

So, here's a little visual. We were going to take that straight blue route. But we ended up going north. It sorta worked out because my brother had a friend near Steamboat Springs, so we got to see her - for literally 10 minutes maybe. Maybe 30. It was really short and sweet. 

I knew we were in for a long drive, so I honestly didn't take a ton of pictures. We did max out elevation at 11,112 feet in the Eisenhower Tunnel. But here are a few window pics to make you feel good. 

In the end, I didn't get to see my friend. We arrived at the hotel late - like 7 pm maybe. We were all toast! 

Arches and Big Iron Tour

Ugh I've started this several times and Blogger keeps messing me up.

So Arches. We had times entry for fairly early - like 8 am. It was smart because Moab gets hot and you don't want to be there and all dehydrated.

This is what's they think an arch existed and then fell. 

i mostly enjoyed the different rock formations.  

We stopped at balanced rock. Very cool.

Then there were rock arches at Arches. Which is also cool. 

Then we drive to the top of the park for pics.  We did not do the 8 mile hike. 

That was all just the morning.  Just the morning. Then we had a break where I got some sun and pool action. No pics of that.  But.... we did book a tour through Big Iron Tours. It's a veteran run business where he takes people out in the Moab desert in outfitted military trucks. We were in the 1993 AM General M35A2 - Dreadnought. We were out on some of the public lands on Moab climbing rocks and checking out dinosaur footprints.

So yeah.  That was a day!