Day 6 - Destination: Boulder, CO

OK, now I'm as big of a fan of the midwest as the next person (really, I actually enjoyed driving across Illinois on 70 - although that could have been just the memory of Katrusi's song for the state: I'm Just a Boy from Illinois), but Kansas was just boring. Seriously. The highlight of driving through Kansas was when Susi missed snapping the picture of the Welcome to Colorado sign and made me turn around (I insisted on waiting until the next exit, which was about 3 years - or 15 miles - down the road) so she could try again. So once again, here we are driving the right road, the wrong direction, proclaiming our craziness (or stupidity, depending on your point of view) to the world with the sign on our back windshield. So treasure this picture, because it was hard won.

A close second place is the few minutes when it was 70 degrees, and we were driving 70 miles per hour on route 70. Yes, it's that boring. On the other hand, my cousin Joe had warned us to expect a $25 toll (what IS it with the most lame states charging you the most money for the "privilege" of driving through them?) and it was only $2 to stay on 70 the whole way.


The east side of the Rocky Mountains is funny, because you actually wind up climbing up to Denver (above 5000 feet) without noticing it at all. After you get to the west side of Denver, it starts to look a lot more interesting. We stayed with Susi's Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Dave in the outskirts of Boulder, at the foot of the Flatiron Mountains, so named because of the flat face that looks like an iron standing up straight. Uncle Dave told us about some climbing places, and Susi and I agreed that we should make time for that next year. At this point, I've started to think about this trip as our "Introduction to the Great American Road Trip". We're not staying nearly long enough anywhere to see everything we want to see. So, Lord willing, we'll try again next year, and stay in Boulder long enough to go hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, get to know a cool college town, with all of it's assorted coffee shops (yet, as Aunt Bobbie reminded us, no Dunkin' Donuts) and not get eaten by a mountain lion (which have, apparently, been around).

Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Dave were incredibly kind to us: taking us out to dinner (the Cheesecake Factory - yum!) and Starbucks, caring for everything we could need at their place (Uncle Dave even brought me towels to cover the lights from some of the machines in the room I was sleeping in), going over our maps with us and suggesting things we needed to see (more of that on Day 8 and 26!), making yummy toffee chip scones for us to take with us, giving us clothes (Susi got this cool, colored layered skirt that is totally her style, a shirt and some earrings, I got a pair of yellow crocs - gardening clogs), taking us out to Starbucks again, cutting my hair (Aunt Bobbie works at Bellissimo, a hip salon in Boulder) and even filling up our gas tank on our way out of town. It was totally fun for me to get to know them too. This was our first stop that Susi had arranged instead of me, so it was a bit different to be an unknown guest. Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Dave were fabulous. Of course, being related to Susi, how could they help it, eh?

And with the sun setting over the mountains in the horizon, thus begins my love affair with Colorado. More tomorrow. Perhaps an ode to Colorado. Where have you been all my life?

Love,
susi&sara