The first cabin on the right.

In the time we've been together, we've averaged two trips to salt water each year.  Ocean, sea, gulf, bay, cove, inlet, channel--doesn't matter.  That's what we enjoy.  In fact, we've already been to the beach on three different trips in 2011.  That's not an easy task when you consider the nearest salt water body is a 12-hour drive from where we live.  It's no wonder people were surprised when we told them we were road-tripping to Colorado.  But it makes perfect sense to us.  What we're needing right now is isolation.  Time away before the next academic year begins.  Time away from cell phones and neighbor kids and work.  Notice I didn't mention the internet--it's nice to have some communication if needed.

Pikes Peak Resort (www.pikespeakresort.com) near Westcreek, Colorado in the Pike National Forest is providing the perfect backdrop for our isolation and vacation of nothingness.  PPR consists of four cabins on a mountainside and one lodge (although the lodge is nowhere to be seen from the cabin) facing Sheep Nose Summit and Thunder Butte.  The view is incredible.  As I type, I'm looking at this view and could probably be convinced that it's fake.  What I'm really looking at is a giant canvas painting.  It just doesn't look real.

The resort is located on a dirt road.  From this road, you turn into the resort on a dirt lane that winds up a mountain.  We were worried that our cabin would be "the last house on the left," but fortunately it was not.  And since we've been watching nothing but scary movies while here, it's good to not have a cabin with any connection to a horror flick.  More on this later in my blog.

Now Amanda may tell people back home we went "camping" or that we were "roughing it" on this trip, but don't let her fool you.  We have three flat screens, a fireplace, full kitchen, and a hot tub in the cabin to entertain us.  I will, however, point out that there is no air conditioning.  This is as close to "roughing it" as we get.  We've achieved our version of isolation.

We're currently on day three at the cabin.  Tomorrow is our last day.  So far, we've spent the time watching wildlife, wading in the nearby creek, soaking in the hot tub, watching scary movies, napping, and cooking.  It's been perfect.  A favorite activity has been feeding the chipmunks, of which there is no shortage near the cabin.  One of the chipmunks we named Stubby--he's chubby and missing half of his tale.  He likes popcorn and begs Amanda until she shares.  That doesn't take long as she's a sucker for all mammals.  "Just look at its little face."  I tried to feed one and it bit my finger instead of taking the popcorn.  I'm probably the first person to ever be attacked by a chipmunk.

At night the temperatures have been falling into the 40s.  I can't think of better hot tub weather.  While soaking, we watch scary movies.  Friday the 13th (original), Wrong Turn, and What Lies Beneath have all been in the lineup so far.  This led to an interesting and sleepless first night at the cabin.  I will admit it--I was scared to death.  I was convinced every sound was someone trying to get into the cabin and every shadow was someone looking down at the bed.  Flashback to our trip to Ireland in March:  We stayed in a castle with an alleged ghost named Hilga--Amanda didn't sleep a wink because I kept her up until I went to sleep.  Well, it was pretty much the same scenario here.  I've seen these movies countless times.  Why is it they scare the hell out of me when away from home?  Apparently I'm just a wussy.  Anyway, it hasn't stopped us.  On the movie lineup tonight is The Shining and Misery, both set in Colorado.  Both will probably result in another sleepless night at the cabin.  But we like it.

My first trip to the Rockies has been a good one.  These mountains have a different vibe than do the Appalachians--less Deliverance and more Jeremiah Johnson.  And I have to admit, while there will still be plenty of beaches in our future, we will probably replace some sand with rocks.

Well, our trip is coming to a close.  Tomorrow we head to Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge, and then Vail, where we will wrap up our Rocky Mountain road trip.  On the way home we're stopping in Holcomb, Kansas (to take a peek at the Clutter family farm from In Cold Blood) and to do a quick visit to Dodge City.  This will probably be my last post of the trip.  Next time you hear from me, we'll be in Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate our friend Connie's THIRTIETH birthday.  More in September...

  

Nary a mountain in sight.

Given the amount of time I spend staring at maps, I should not have been surprised to not see mountains as we crossed the Colorado state line from Kansas.  But I was.  I knew they wouldn't be there, but I still expected to see them.  Maybe it's because of the first episode of Jericho.  When the mushroom cloud appears over Denver, it and the Rockies are visible from the fictitious Kansas town.  I've let TV cloud my reality.

Shortly after entering Colorado, a message appeared on my car display stating that the oil life was low.  Amanda and I don't argue, but this led to an argument.  I'm guessing you can figure out who each line belongs to:

Why didn't you change the oil before the trip?  Because I still had a thousand miles of oil life left.  But you knew we were going to be driving to Denver.  But I didn't want to pay for an oil change that I didn't need.

I still think I made a good argument.  Nonetheless, we had to stop in Limon, Colorado for an oil change.  Fortunately, even Amanda was laughing about this while we were waiting on the nice folks at Stone's Service Station to finish the change.  A short drive later, we made it to Denver.  With fresh oil.

That first evening we went to the Columbine Memorial in Clement Park, near Littleton.  The memorial is located on Rebel Hill, behind the high school.  It is solemn, as expected, and truly captures the emotions of the survivors.

Although we both felt it was important to see the memorial, we were on vacation after all and needed to go somewhere a little more uplifting afterwards.  Where to go in Denver to be uplifted?  Casa Bonita.  My sole reason in making the pilgrimage to Casa Bonita--the Dinseyland of Mexican restaurants--was because of South Park.  Eric Cartman was right:  it's totally worth it.  This place is cheesy to say the least, but good fun.  From the unusual way you are served and seated to the cliff divers and gun shows to the Mexican village decor, this place is just very random.  And as if the Casa Bonita experience wasn't enough, we will now be making one of their signature drinks at home--the Sangria/Margarita Swirl.

Day two in Denver.  On the recommendation of our friend Becky, we traveled the short distance to Boulder to take a tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory.  The tour is short and sweet and full of good smells.  Perfect.  We've decided to open our own tea company now.  We think we have an idea that will make us unique and fill an untapped niche, but I'm not sharing that idea on this blog in case one of the three followers (at time of posting) tries to steal the idea.  We'll see if this dream still exists when we return to Illinois.  By the way, we survived the mint room.

After Boulder we traveled to Golden and up a mountain road to Central City.  The drive is incredible; however, Central City, advertised as a "ghost town," is nothing more than a series of casinos.  Disappointing.  We don't recommend, other than for the drive.

In the afternoon, we drove to Lookout Mountain and visited the Buffalo Bill gravesite and cafe.  I ate Buffalo.  It tastes like beef.  Amanda did not participate.  The views of Denver and Golden are incredible from Lookout Mountain.  The trip is well worth it, but be careful of the bicyclists.  They're everywhere!

In the evening, we went to the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall and ate at the Yard House.  It's not a Denver original, but we did enjoy the food.

Last day in Denver.  We toured the Coors Brewery in Golden, which opened at noon.  The process to get on the brewery tour is jank.  One gate of the parking doesn't open until about 11:50, but the other was open the entire time, yet was not supposed to be accessible.  Despite this, the tour was enjoyable and included three sample beers and a pre-sample.  I thought the factory tour was more enjoyable than the Anheiser-Busch tour, but Amanda quickly pointed out that Coors lacked the Clydesdale horses.  Of course she noticed the lack of animals.  The tour ended in the gift shop where we managed to purchase more things that we really don't need.

The time came to leave Denver and head for the cabin where our goal was to do... absolutely nothing.  One problem--flat tire.  We managed to fill the tire and will be closely monitoring it before we leave colorful Colorado.  On the way to the cabin we stopped in Evergreen at Creekside Cellars, a winery and cafe.  The food was good, the wine was good, and the views were good.  A nice stop before entering the land where civilization ceases to exists and our cell phones don't work.  Ahhhh... just what we need!

Kansas called... They want their topsoil back.

One time playing golf I completely missed the ball and, instead, sent an exceptionally large divot soaring down the fairway.  Before I had time to react, Amanda responded with, "Kansas called.  They'd like to have their topsoil back."  She's mastered the art of sarcasm.

I know a little more about Kansas now.  We spent hours driving across it to get to Colorado.  People warned me that the trip would be brutal.  I laughed at them.  "They don't understand.  I won't mind it.  I like to drive.  I've been to the KCK suburbs several times... Kansas is nice."  Being from the level plains of central Illinois, I really didn't expect Kansas to be much different.  It's not, except the speed limit is 75.  Thank God.

I left work a little early on Thursday so that we could make it to Topeka to spend the night.  Breaking up this trip is a good thing.  We had a late check-in at the Courtyard Topeka about 11:30 p.m.  They actually had a sign welcoming "Mr. Brent T." as a silver elite member.  I thought Amanda was joking when she pointed this out.  But it's a true true story.  Only in Kansas are we treated like royalty.  A reason to like the state.

We started day two of the journey by cruising by the Westboro Baptist "church" - those sociopaths that picket the funerals of military personnel and spew anti-American messages at the mourners and list the dates people "entered hell" on their website.  We despise them.  The building is located in a residential area.  A large sign stating "God hates America" is pasted on the side.  I'm sure that has done wonders for real estate values of their neighbors.  Anyway, we didn't picket, but we did give them the bird on the way by - a slightly immature, but gratifying experience.

Back on I-70.  We broke up the trip across Kansas by stopping at the Oz Winery in downtown Wamego (www.ozwinerykansas.com).  It was about 10:00 a.m., so we didn't try the wine, but their labels were worthy of an eight-bottle purchase.  My favorite label was the Angry Trees.  Amanda's was The Squished Witch.  The winery is in a downtown row building and full of, not only wine, but other Wizard souvenirs as well.  Wamego is also home to the Oz museum, but we didn't attend.  The town is what I picture the Midwest to look like 40 years ago, which was a refreshing change to what we see today in our small towns.  Being only an 18 mile round-trip detour from I-70, we recommend a trip to Wamego when you're soaring across the Kansas plains.

The last of entertaining sights in Kansas was a large, to say the least, windmill farm.  Each of the three blades per windmill is about the size of a semi and trailer.  It's pretty impressive to see them whirling and generating energy.  For several miles, windmills are all that's on the horizon to the north of the interstate.  I'm sure more farms of this magnitude will be popping up across the country to provide us with clean electricity.  But for now... "Thanks Kansas!"

A state that gave us its namesake musical group, Oz, and Kathleen Sebelius has to have some good qualities.  And it does.  To everyone who told me the drive would be brutal, well, you just need to be a little more appreciative of what Kansas has to offer.  And while I am glad that I made the drive, next time I come to Colorado, I'm flying.