My parents are moving to Colorado so Brandon and I flew to St. Louis to pick up cars and drop them off at my parent's new place, me in one car and him in the other. It was strange saying goodbye to a house and town I grew up in. We went for a run on my favorite loop and passed my high school where I could almost smell the fresh cut grass of field hockey two-a-days. I opened closets in my house that I haven't opened for years, they still smell the same as they did when I used to hide in them. The back door still shuts with the same creeky slam and the mudroom still has the faint echo that never went away no matter how full of kids stuff it got. Most of the decor has changed, thankfully, but the pea green shag is still in all the old photos with the bright gold chest that held all the toys (seriously gold. it looked like the
ark of the covenant from
Raiders of the Lost Ark...minus the winged ladies on top). Lots of memories and only 24 hours to enjoy Fall in the midwest. We hit some of my hometown favorites, finally buried my cats' ashes under the crabapple tree to be with my dog's ashes, and then set out to Colorado. I loved sharing home with Brandon once more before I can no longer call it home. Thanks Mom and Dad for such a great childhood!
We drove to Denver the first day where we got separated on the way in. If you ever want to see me go from happy to volatile in seconds, throw me into traffic in an unknown city and separate me from my husband after 13 hours of driving, little food, and a 5 hour energy drink that shot my nerves. The honda's navigating system could learn a thing or two from Garmin and it's not wise to try to listen to it's British accent commands while "talking" to your husband on the phone at the same time (he'd say I was yelling, sorry babe). I did make it to the hotel after 25 minutes of wrong turns, one way streets, dead stop traffic, construction, some cursing and a dead end. And it only took me about that long to come out of my mood and enjoy Denver...eating helped. The next day we went to Aspen via Leadville and Independence Pass. Then on to my parents new house and Salt Lake the third day.
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| St. Louis Bread Company - known as Panera in other states. Puts Paradise Bakery to shame. Delicious! And my sister, Baylee, who's also delicious and puts most things to shame |
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| Custard stand. Famous for concretes so thick you can turn them upside down and they stay in the cup. As shown here. |
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| But apparently there is a time limit and I exceeded it while posing with Bay. Notice my shock, her knee jerk reaction, and the blob of deliciousness now melting on the pavement instead of in my mouth |
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| Check out our killer shirts, and the ice cream on the ground that contradicts everything the shirt is saying |
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| Toasted Ravioli - St. Louis classic |
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| Stake 'n Shake: a family favorite that is now home to the Wisconsin Buttery (seriously!? sounds more dirty than appetizing) |
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| Burying the kitties next to Lady |
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| Ash dust billowed up into my face. Kitty in the lungs. Gross |
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| Bye-bye kitties...and beautiful house :( |
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| Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City, Missouri side |
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| Welcome to Kansas |
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| The only exciting thing between KC and Colorado was this |
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| Denver was pretty sweet. 16th Street |
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| First snow of the season - don't worry dad, it was just a few flurries over the pass |
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| Colorado has the coolest little mountain/mining towns (Leadville here). |
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| Headed into Independence Pass. It was cold |
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| Our caravan. Brandon drove the Jeep ("it's more manly") and I took the Honda. Our walkie-talkie radios didn't make it the whole trip. Thank you C.S. Lewis and whoever invented books on CD |
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| the summit |
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| much better scenery our second day |
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| There's a house to the left behind the trees. We'd take it |
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| Night riding in Aspen |
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| Maroon Bells. This canyon parallels the one we got engaged in (Ashcroft). Turns out Lance tweeted he rode Ashcroft that day (of course Brandon follows Lance's Twitter). Maybe we would have seen him if we had gone up it. |
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| Never a smooth body of water goes by where Brandon doesn't stop to skip rocks in it |
3 comments:
It was LIME green not pea green!! What is Wisconsin Buttery? AND Leadville is the home of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Have you seen that movie. You need to rent it. You will laugh and laugh although I cried like a baby at the canyon scene where he is singing and then yelling "Damn you Molly Brown!" I think that is what he said. Great post. Thanks so much
What a fun, eventful, and beautiful trip. I laughed so hard about the ice cream that I actually snorted :) I'm so glad you started a blog. Love your guts!
Wow, the view is great. The air seems so fresh. Never seen such color in here.
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