An Excellent Road Trip (Part 1)

 I've had the pleasure of driving across the country on numerous occasions, especially in the early years of working public lands when I was going back and forth between jobs and school or my parents' home in Michigan. Very often I would find myself worn down by the beauty, disinterested in the stops, as my tank of experiences to share filled up and there was no one to share it with. But this month I got to take a road trip with someone so that I could share it along the way. It was a road trip that was truly excellent, and it was with my mother-in-law. 

Kathy, my mother-in-law, at the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen, CO

My mother-in-law is the best road trip buddy. She doesn't want to drive too many hours in a day, she laughs it off if we take a wrong turn, she's not a backseat driver, she let's me put on whatever I want on the radio (as long as it doesn't interrupt her reading), and she's always willing to stop and look at something interesting (but doesn't feel the need to stop and look at everything - a difficult balance to strike!). We made it across the country in 5 days and 4 nights, making at least one lovely tourist stop each day (and sometimes more).

Somewhere in the Utah desert...

Day 1 was Cali to Zion - it was a bit of a flat and drab desert drive until we got across Nevada into the tiny piece of Arizona before Utah, when things suddenly started getting colorful and textured out there. Our visit to Zion was a bit of a tourist faux pas - we basically arrived, went to the gift shop (we'd both been to the park before, but she had missed the gift shop on her last visit), went to get on a shuttle - and then discovered that due to c19 regulations that was not going to be available to us! No worries - we had gotten a later start than anticipated so this just meant that we would get to turn in at a reasonable time. Another hour on the road to our hotel and a good night's sleep.

Kathy and I in front of the "Painted Wall" at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - we have beautiful smiles!

 Day 2 was Zion to Black Canyon of the Gunnison - one of my favorite National Parks. We realized that Arches was just off the 70 and, since neither of us had been there before really we thought we'd boogie down there and do the tourist drive - but 45 minutes south of the 70 we discovered that the park was "full" and a sign told us to come back in 3-4 hours... we decided this was a sign that we need to plan a Utah-only trip to hit up all the National Parks sites we haven't seen yet in that amazing state. Crossing into Colorado we hit some rainy weather, but by the time we got to Gunnison things had cleared up pretty well. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park holds a special place in my life. Back in the summer of 2009, my family took our last all-family trip to several Colorado National Parks. It was while walking around the campground loop with my dad in the morning at Black Canyon that I decided that what I wanted to do with my life was work for public lands. That was a decision that led me on the path for the next decade of my life (and then some, so far). This trip's brief visit was my first since that one back in 2009, and I enjoyed soaking in the magic a little more - it was still there. :)

Outside the east end of the Eisenhower Tunnel - look at the snow!

 The day that gave us the most trepidation was Day 3 - Black Canyon to the northeast Denver suburbs. This was the day that we would be traversing the Rockies and - unlucky coincidence - the day that we were expecting the worst weather. Fortunately, the storm predictions had lessened a little bit each day as we approached, and it was much better than what we had expected - instead of snow it was moderately heavy rain and a patch of hail, nothing the sedan couldn't handle. We drove over the 70, detoured briefly to visit the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen, drove through one of the highest-elevation vehicular tunnels in the world, and used my 11th night free on Hotels.com to treat us to a two queen suite, with plenty of time to relax and enjoy it! (In case you haven't already heard, I've recently become a HUGE fan of the hotel suite, when reasonable for the situation, as the most comfortable way to stay.)

Kathy hitches her horse outside the Perkins General Store at Hastings Museum

 Day 4 was Nebraska - we tried to get across the whole thing, we made it as far as Lincoln. Along the way we stopped at the Hastings Museum (home of Kool-Aid), by recommendation of a friend, and were wowed by the vast number of taxidermied animals from around the world for a small city museum. Unfortunately, we arrived close to closing and neglected to visit the gift store, which meant that I failed in my wifely duties of bringing my partner a Kool-Aid sticker... sorry, Babe!

Posing with the Kool-Aid Man... or... Men... I guess :)

 You may have noticed that in all the photos from the trip, we're wearing the same shirt. Jack designed us road trip shirts to wear - "Dil-Mil" (daughter-in-law, mother-in-law) Cali to Chi-town - but we were told that it was our job to wear them EVERY day. Luckily there were two apiece. But the photos are proof that we kept up our end of the bargain!

 Day 5 was Iowa and Illinois - I'll post on that later. As it is, this is a rather delayed post and I'm only just now home and going through photographs. I was scared to start this en route, lest I accidentally publish and give it all away! Now that the trip is over, I am eager to catch this blog up on the big events of May so I can start musing on the natural world waking up around me in June!