Apologies for late post #1: the last two days of this trip have been packed full so I've had no time or energy for the same-day blogging I had hoped to achieve on this trip. I hope to make up for it somehow. And if I don't, oh well.
Friday, December 3 started with a very restless sleep, and a long morning getting ready to hit the road. Maybe chilly morning air kept me from moving quickly. Maybe it was the allure of the breakfast danish and coffee conversation with the Polish immigrant woman proprietor of the Gas Lite Motel that kept me from driving out in a rush. Or maybe it was the crazy fake wildlife that had me hunkered down in my shelter-in-place mode.
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| Elk (braying) by my parking space |
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| I guess I wasn't hallucinating last night: the motel is still inexplicably spelled "Lite" (is it low calorie?) in the morning light. |
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| Hanging outside the second floor rooms. No that's not the proprietor. But if this is the saloon town I'm in, then I'm outta here! |
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| I think that's an eagle on top of a bear with a freshly caught salmon: a totem to carnivores, outside the room of a vegetarian. |
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| I credit the wolf with guarding my car and the entire parking lot last night. |
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| I can't decide if the swimming pool bear is cite or scary - votes? |
So I fueled up the car at the Laramie, WY Safeway (I skipped the very cheap gas advertised at the "Kum-N-Go" station - no commentary needed - and who knew that my grocery club card could save me $0.03 per gallon?), I took my Gas Lite Motel-recommended route to Denver, bypassing Cheyenne, WY (not to be confused with bypassing Cheyenne Jackson, which I would never do) and cutting about 45 minutes off the driving time of what would be the least amount of driving I would do in one day during this whole trip. It was the 287 South to the I-25 to the I-70. More "Strong Winds" and "Pass With Caution" signs peppered the route, along with the occasional horse ranches.
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| Cold winter clouds in the WY morning. |
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| Strong winds allowing bright winter sun to peek through. |
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| Hello, Colorado! |
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| Red Mountain Granite Canyon, CO |
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| CO landscape: lots of "Falling Rocks" signs along the route too! |
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| These twin rock formations in CO can't possibly be natural, right? |
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| Green locomotive pushing one coal car through a traffic intersection in Fort Collins, CO: definitely not the Hogwarts Express! |
Having passed signs for the Ever Open Cafe (Fort Collins, CO), a "Large Goose Contest," multiple Cracker Barrel restaurants, multiple shooting ranges and "Guns, Guns, Guns" (for sale), and assorted shrapnel on the road (tire treads, railroad ties, assorted lumber, PVC pipes - all fallen victims to the wind gusts, perhaps), it was a rather welcome experience to hit new maximum speeds of 15 MPH through road construction in the surface streets of Denver, CO. My sister, Ana-Liza, moved to the
Mile-High City of Denver with her job at Pepsi (makers of
Mountain Dew) in June so the brief visit also helped re-energize my spirit about facing changes in life with a good attitude.
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| After parking, Ana-Liza's cockapoo, Lincoln meets me at the door and here he is (between tail wags and jumps on me). |
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| Aw, cute! Lincoln and my sister. |
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| A very welcome "real meal" not eaten on the road: Denver Biscuit Company's biscuit with a fried egg and cheese, smothered in vegetarian mushroom gravy. |
After the quick lunch break, I took advantage of my sister's free and secure WiFi to get some work done on the computer, including uploading the Day 2 blog post. Sadly, there was no time for a nap, but that didn't stop Lincoln:
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| A dog's life is hard! |
Ana-Liza and I ventured over to the western side of the city, and one or two wrong turns later, we ended up at the store of our friend, Mona Lucero.
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| Mona Lucero Design Boutique (2544 15th Street; Denver, CO 80211): amazing stuff here, so go check it out and support a super-talented designer friend! |
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| Even Mona's store logo and the label tags on her designs are cool! |
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| Window displays are warm, fun, and inviting. |
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| Here's Mona at work: fitting and styling a model for an upcoming in-store fashion show event. (Yes, I felt very "Project Runway"/"America's Next Top Model" by witnessing all of this first-hand!) |
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| Mona graciously took time out from her crazy workday to hang out a bit. |
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| The kitty guardian of the store: Vincent Lucero, the cat that acts like a puppy (ah-choo!). |
After checking out the boutique and scoring a one-of-a-kind find, Ana-Liza and I headed over to Root Down, a fantastic nearby restaurant. We were about to play hosts to two consecutive "Parties of 4" and I think the house staff at the place were even impressed!
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| "Little" Brother and "Older" Sister happy at Happy Hour |
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| Root Down is an earthy and sustainable restaurant that used to be a greasy service station and approximately 70% of the entire place was built and furnished with reclaimed, reused, and recycled materials. For this business model and professional commitment to valuable philosophy, this restaurant deserves your support! (These scales decorated the restrooms.) |
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| Party #1: Arlene Rapal (Ana-Liza's friend from Michigan State), me, sis, Alvin Cruz (visiting Arlene from San Diego, CA). Yes, that's four Filipinos in one place in Denver, CO. No, lightning did not strike, the earth did not swallow us whole, and the world did not end. How about that? |
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| Party #2: Sis, Mona Lucero, me, Don Grant (Mona's buddy and hair stylist, whom I had met when they recently visited San Francisco - go support him at Hair On Earth: 2557 W 46th Ave; Denver, CO 80211) |
The short day was packed full with a lot of fun stories, good laughs, decent food and drinks, it was time to head right to bed and prepare for a long day of driving in Day 4 of the journey. Good night from one mile up in the Mountain Time Zone!
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| Bag at Mona Lucero Design Boutique |
Day 3 Fact File:
Starting Mileage: 80,109
Average Miles Per Gallon: 28.03
Visible Roadkills: 0 (maybe the cold mountain air quickly freeze dries the animals?)
Places Passed: Rawhide Road, WY; Tie Siding, WY; Red Mountain Granite Canyon, CO; Cherokee Park, CO; Owl Canyon, CO; Poudre Canyon, CO; Gateway Bridge, CO; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO.
Soundtrack: Jason Gray, “Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue” (deluxe edition); Kris Allen, "Kris Allen;" Esmee Denters, "Outta Here."
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