Day 1: Friday, November 21st.
We got a late start, we wanted to be out the door by noon, but left around 2pm. We loaded up the car with both mountain bikes, Heather's guitar, my mandolin and all the necessary road trip ingredients. We didn't have much food for the drive, so we decided to drop in at the Whole Foods in Cottonwood Heights. Heather bought a salad, and I got a sandwich. On our way out of the store, we ran into our good friend Gardner. We went to a concert with Gardner just a few days before at The Depot where we saw a bluegrass group called Old Crow Medicine Show. After a few minutes of catching up, we exchanged CD's. Gardner gave us a CD full of his favorite OCMS songs, and we gave him one of our favorite CDs ofold timey bluegrass songs. We ended up listening to his music hours upon end while driving east.
We met up with my brother Greg and his wife Cathrine for dinner in Fruita Colorado. They showed us there house and bought us some pizza at the Hot Tomato. We had to head out rather quickly due to our late start. We had made reservations at the Hostel in Glenwood Springs, and would be locked out if we arrived later then 10pm.
The drive from Fruita to Glenwood Springs was shorter then expected. We made the same drive last year for my birthday. Last year, we went all out and splurged for a hotel room with a jetted tub in the bedroom. This year, we splurged for a private room at the Hostel. The place was busy, loud, the bed was uncomfortable, Heather didn't sleep much, but I slept like a baby. I would have no problem staying at the Hostel in the future, not sure if its Heathers cup of tea.
Day 2: Saturday, November 22nd.
We awoke at an early hour and made a quick exit from the Hostel. The car has a thin layer of ice over everything, temps were in the high teens. We ended up finding a place to eat just a block or two down the road. Much coffee was had along with my eggs and toast and Heather's oatmeal. Before we knew it, we were back on I-70 heading east.
The drive was pleasant, the sun brought out warmer temperatures. We stopped for fuel in a ski resort town, the name of which, I don't remember. I do remember it being close to 42 degrees outside. There were plenty of skiers, but not much snow on the ground. We got some weird looks from the ski crowd. On our car was two mountain bikes, everyone else had there winter gear strapped on.
A few miles later and we found ourself in the Eisenhower Tunnel, and from there, it was all down hill to Denver. We gave our friend Steve a call, you may remember him from the wedding. He was the one who read the poems during the ceremony. As soon as Steve heard that we were headed his way he insisted that we stay at his place. We simply could not turn down his generous offer, so we headed directly to his place.
Steve has a beautiful family and house. He insisted that we stay in his master bedroom, and he sleep on the bunk bed with his youngest son. I'm not sure he was aware that we were staying 3 days! We slept like babies in his bed that night.
For dinner, Heather and I were told to check out the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. The Mall is really just a few blocks of historic Pearl Street that have been converted into a pedestrian only area. There are dozens of places to eat and shop. We picked a sushi place and had the most amazing spicy tuna-cado rolls ever. The sushi chef even made them with brown rice upon Heathers request. After eating we walked over to Mountain Sun Brewery to meet up with a few of our friends from BikeForums.net. The beer and nachos hit the spot and after a few hours of hanging out, we split directions.
Day 3: Sunday, November 23nd.
We woke up early on Sunday, and hung around the house for breakfast. After getting some home made food in our bellies we got dressed for the weather, and headed up Boulder Canyon to go find some mountain bikhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifing trails. We ended up following the road up to a small little ski resort. We took a few pictures and retreated a few miles back down the canyon for lunch at a Mexican food joint. By the time lunch was done, it was snowing outside, so we decided to retreat even further down the canyon before jumping on our mountain bikes. Soon, we found ourselves back at the mouth of Boulder Canyon, warm and in the sun. We ended up riding up the canyon for a mile or so, then heading into town where we road for another three hours.
We made it back to Steve's place just an hour or so before some more friends where due to arrive for a little get together in our honor. We were able to spend a few good hours talking and hacky sacking with our good friends Jan and Mo. Jan and Mo moved to Denver earlier in the year to get away from Utah and take over a small concessions business in downtown Denver. Oddly enough, we met our friend Gardner when hanging out with Jan and Mo at the Meadow Hot Springs last year.
After extended goodbyes, the party wound down, the guests left, and Heather and I went to bed.
Day 4: Monday, November 24th.
Today, we decided to check out Denver. Denver is HUGE. The sprawl goes on forever and ever it seems. Driving takes time, but traffic flows well. Our first stop, was to locate the theater Calexico was playing in. We found it with ease, just 15 minutes south of downtown. We soon were hungry and found ourselves walking up 16th street looking for food.
After eating, we met up with Steve at the REI store. And what an REI store it is! Its HUGE! 4 floors in an old train warehouse next to the river. Heather quickly got separated and within minutes, I was paged over the intercom to go meet her in the travel section.
The doors at the Gothic Theater opened at 8, but we found ourselves back at the theater a few minutes after 7. With temps in the low 30's, we decided to just hang out in our car and play music while the time past. We kept getting distracted by all the people walking in and out of the back stage door. We saw all the members of the opening band, as well as a few members of Calexico enter and exit. Heather got REALLY excited when Paul, the slide guitarist, walked a few dozen feet in front of our car.
The venue itself was small, but not too small. We were close to the front of the line, and quickly found seats on the 2nd floor, 1st row, right above the sound guys. The service there was vastly different then the service we had to deal with at The Depot. Our waitress kept the beer and water flowing through out the show. The opening band was amazing, and Calexico played some old favorites as well as a few from their new album. We ended up leaving a few minutes early and I'm bummed we missed a song or two, but we wanted to get out before the rest of the traffic did.
Heather was craving Mexican food, so we found a 24hr joint on the iphone, and slowly navigated our way there. Heather had two fish tacos, I had two chicken tacos. We ended the night in Steve's jetted tub, relaxing and talking about the concert. I don't think we got into bed until well after 3am.
Day 5: Tuesday, November 25th.
Today was uneventful, we slept in, packed up, jumped in the car and headed north to Wyoming, then east to Utah. The drive took close to 8 hours on the road, we made it home just in time for dinner. The trip was a success, we met with both new and old friends, much fun was had.
There are dozens upon dozens of pictures of this road trip at our smugmug photo gallery: http://joe-and-heather.smugmug.com/gallery/6711274_uPy5T
