trip across us part two

So here is Part One from a month ago. Sorry it took so long to finish this story. And even with this, it's not done!

After Colby, Kansas, it was more of the same -- nothing. I thought that when we would cross into Colorado, it would magically change and be awesome. Yeah, that didn't happen, although we did see the magical sign that told us the speed limit there was 75 mph. Yeah, no joke. Finally, though, we could see something on the horizon. The Denver Airport! Yeah! People! The drive through Denver wasn't too bad, but once we got into the mountains, things were a little hairy. It's definitely not easy driving in the mountains and if you don't get a good run up a hill, you're screwed for about a mile as you try to get up to speed. On the other hand, if you're going down a hill, you just have to ride it out so you don't burn out your brakes or get hit by the truck behind you who is also riding it out. Our Garmin keeps track of several things, including our fastest speed, and I think I hit our high speed of 85 while going down a mountain.

We finally made it to Vail and met my parents at the condo. It was the first time Aaron had been out there so it was good to finally have him along for a trip. My sister and her boyfriend had arrived a few days earlier so the six of us – parents, Aaron and me, sister and boyfriend – headed out to dinner that night at our favorite restaurant in town. My dad is turning 60 in August so we decided to do an early dinner with all of us in celebration. Lots of fun and totally yummy as always!

The next morning, Alix left bright and early at 5 a.m. Blech. But being the good sister that I am, I woke up to send her off…then promptly headed back to bed. After getting the whole gang up and ready – again – we headed for the mountain. Vail has a gondola that runs up the mountain in the winter for all the skiers, but in the summer, you can also ride it up and either hike around the top of the mountain or hike down. We decided to just stick to the top, forgetting that there were some uphill climbs that were not fun. Mom and I gave up early and headed back to relax in the shade and take in the view. Aaron and my dad kept chugging along and even got as far as the Game Creek Bowl chairlift, which not only was quite an impressive hike, but is also the chairlift we favor when we hit the slopes. Apparently, Aaron does, too. Here’s proof.That night, we had dinner in nearby Avon and then waited for the fireworks…and waited…and waited. Aaron got pretty bored, I got yelled at by “security” for breaking into a roped-off area to use the Porti-Potty [it wasn’t roped off when I went in], and I was denied cotton candy by my dad…well, and the long lines. At least the fireworks rocked!

The next day we headed out to Vail for the cheesy Fourth of July parade, which was a bit of fun but also a bit of a walk. We ended seeing some very old neighbors from way back when I was a kid and laughed at the pageant mom who was chiding Ms. Little Vail Valley [estimated age: five] on how to properly way to the crowd. I was laughing, yes, but it was quite disturbing. Then Aaron and I decided to go on a date and headed to the Transformers movie in nearby Edwards. I actually enjoyed the movie, but we got there an hour early to buy tickets and no one was there. I mean, biggest movie of the summer, lines out the door in NYC, and we had no problem buying tickets at the only movie theater in a ten-mile radius showing the flick. How embarassing. After that, it was dinner with the parents and home. And then instead of the ordeal we had in Avon, we watched the fireworks from the condo. Much better.

Bright and early the next morning, we drove to Piney Lake, a 15-mile drive on a dirt road. It was totally worth it. Look at this scenery!
We did some hiking and Aaron ran ahead because there were too many bugs. He was trying to swat them away and kept losing the battle. It was so cute. After that, we had lunch and then the two of us rented a canoe to take around. We actually did a great job with the canoe – never tipped it – and made it back just in time to miss the rain.
By then, we were all a bit beat so we headed home. On the way back, the car in front of us slammed on its brakes and we couldn’t figure out why. Turns out there was a moose with a baby on the side of the road. We’ve never seen moose back there before so it was a great treat.
We saw another one a little later as it bounded across the road in front of us. The thing was as big as a horse, but really agile and just seemed to hop on by. Crazy.

But back home we had to go to pack for our drive the next day. We had a lot of road ahead of us and many, many hours before we got to Vegas. As we pulled out of Vail, Alice chimed “Stay on I-70 for 212 miles.” Ugh. Thanks, Alice, you stupid GPS lady.