Update from the Road: Days 2 and 3

The road trip continues and we are preparing to tour Arches National Park in eastern Utah. Over the past two days, we have traveled about 800 miles beginning in the waterless wasteland of Grand Island, Nebraska and ending here in the red rock skyscape of Moab, Utah.

Nebraska's scenery may leave something to be desired, but the state's truck stops were top notch. We stopped in Ogallala for gas and vittles and discovered a bit of the wild west here at Front Street.

If you go, be sure to check out the petrified rock museum and the fabulous wild west history museum, all free of charge. You'll learn about the elusive jackalope and so much more, it'll blow your mind.

After our meal, we hit the road again making the decision to drive through Cheyenne, Wyoming instead of cutting diagonally through the boring part of Colorado. The west half of Nebraska was surprisingly interesting. We saw oil derricks, small canyons, several plateaus, and best of all, the border! Excitement mounted as we approached Cheyenne but it was all for naught. Cheyenne was possibly the most unexciting and stinky city of the entire journey.

After a quick tour of Cheyenne, we made a determined push for suburban Denver where we would be staying with Chad's friends, Holly and Jim. Denver is a fascinating city from the road -- everywhere you look you see something else you want to do and see. It was so intriguing, in fact, that we decided we'd return downtown in the morning. We spent a nice evening testing out the state beer -- Coors -- and learning about all the fun things to do in Moab, Utah. In fact, we were thoroughly convinced that Moab would be cool, that we decided to stop there the next night, which was maybe not the smartest idea in hindsight. Anyway...


As promised, we drove back up to Denver in the morning to see the Denver Public Library, the Denver Art Museum, and the 16th Street Mall. The Library looked a bit Vegas-like outside but very old-fashioned and elegant inside. The Museum was newly renovated and was amazing outside, but we weren't as excited about the works on display inside. The 16th Street Mall was an excellent pedestrian mall for the downtown crowd complete with free bus service, lots of shops, and nice public spaces. But the overall experience really made me nostalgic for Minneapolis' Nicollet Mall, the Walker, and the amazing Central Library.

So we thought it best to hit the road and try to at least get through the mountains of Colorado before dark. I noticed that very few Minis resided in Colorado; I only saw 1 Mini over the course of our trip. It seems that the Mini isn't an ideal mountain vehicle -- it doesn't like climbing much and it doesn't really like going downhill either. We only drove a few miles before stopping again in Idaho Springs for a panic attack and a Colorado style pizza at Beau Jo's.

By the time we hit the road again, it was nearly 4:30 pm and we had about 200 miles of up and down mountain driving and tunnel traveling before we made it to Moab. The next 5.5 hours were gorgeous and blissfully uneventful. It was the hour after we reached Moab that was kind of rocky. This is apparently tourist season here in red rock country and we discovered quickly that we had few hotel options. After an hour of no vacancy disappointment, we settled on the $120/night Rodeway Inn.

This inn ain't worth the outrageous price (to compare, we are staying in the 4 star Luxor in Vegas for only $100 tonight) and we went to bed mad at the entire state of Utah. But the evil seems less pronounced this morning. We can now see the red rocks from the hotel window and everything is sunny and bright right now. We're off to Arches, then Vegas, and it should be a good day.