Road trip take II: Colorado

When Michael and I originally envisioned this summer (back in the fall or maybe winter months), the plan was to have a low-key summer. But then we planned the trip to the Pacific Northwest.  And even before that, I signed up for Boulder 70.3 for the beginning of August.  And I also agreed to spend time with students and colleagues in Nicaragua after Boulder.  Suddenly, the idea of "low-key" summer disappeared!  It has, however, been a summer full of miles on the road, visiting family and friends and exploring new haunts and old favorites, which I love.  Our first road trip afforded us the luxury to enjoy the time on the road.  This trip has been much more about getting to one destination and then another - Breckenridge now, and soon we'll be in Boulder - but we've enjoyed it just as much as our last trip.

After what seemed to be three very brief weeks after our last road trip, we set out for Colorado on Friday.  Surprisingly, we started to organize throughout the week, so packing up proved to be an easier task than expected.  Even more shocking (to me), we/Michael fit everything in the car, and we probably had some room to spare.  This surprised me because in addition to just road trip 'stuff' that we *had* to take (beer, food, wine, food, tequila), we were also transporting two dogs, two bikes, tons of gear and enough clothes for mountains, more mountains, and then tropical Central America.

On Friday, I taught my last summer school "class", turned in student comments, we ate lunch and then left, heading east.  It was Friday afternoon-ish, so of course we hit traffic as we headed east through the Mojave.  Once clear of Vegas, we cruised along at speed limits of 70 mph and upwards.  The scenery also improved, especially as we headed into Utah and passed through the southwestern part of the state right at dusk.  Really breathtaking, even when taken in from a car window.  We finally pulled into the lovely Motel 6 in Beaver, Utah around 10:30 pm, which was great because we were tired and did not care that we had to stay at a crappy locale (in more ways than one!).

We did appreciate that we were, like the song says, further on down the road when we woke up Saturday morning and could easily push on to Colorado.  After a good stop for lunch in Glenwood Springs, we arrived in Breckenridge mid-afternoon on Saturday.  Right in time for the afternoon rain showers and for wine, cheese and crackers with my aunt and uncle!  The days here have been full of outdoor activities and the nights full of conversations over beer, wine and margaritas.  We will head to Boulder later in the week, but for now, we're enjoying our time in the mountains!