After an overnight camping stop in Vernal, Utah the trip continued with a drive through part of the rocky mountains with a pass over 11,000 feet on I-70. We took US-40 first however for the more scenic drive swinging over to the Interstate via Colorado Route 9. The drive featured driving through Steamboat Springs.
We checked into the hotel in Lakewood (just west of Denver) where I scored a room for $32 after taxes as I mentioned last entry. There wasn't much going on and it was after hours for some of the attractions, so we just went into downtown Denver to drive around and see the sights.
This morning started with a tour of the Coors Brewery in nearby Golden. I've done the Budweiser tour in Merrimack, NH and I must say that the Coors tour is better. I am more of a fan of the smaller brewery tours such as Sam Adams (funny calling them a smaller brewery since they are #1 in the US, but their facility is much smaller) and Red Hook, but I must say that I liked the Coors tour. It is free, so early is better. We only waited 5 minutes for a shuttle and got a short tour of Golden, which I was not expecting. They take away the personal aspect of the tour by giving you a listening device, but at least you can tour at your own pace, and there are a few people on the tour you can ask questions. Of course, you get a few samples at the end of the tour. Since I seldom drink, I managed to get a headache by having 2 samples and not drinking enough water throughout the day.
Before my cranium-related soreness, we head over to Boulder which is basically the Burlington, Vermont of Colorado. The Pearl Street Mall is exactly like walking down Church Street, and they have a Ben & Jerry's too. Bicyclists were seemingly everywhere, and I was jealous as ever seeing runners and running stores as I am recovering from a fairly nasty thigh bruise.
(Wait, how'd I end up in Burlington?)We were a bit pooped, so we head back to the hotel while a fairly big thunderstorm went through causing some bad road flooding throughout the Denver metro area. Since it was raining, we decided to actually see a movie (why not when you are on a vacation this long). Outnumbered 2-1 by the girl and Mom, I got dragged (OK, not really dragged) to a borderline chick flick in Larry Crowne. However, I did get to have something I haven't had since 2004: Wingstop! If they ever make it to the northeast, I am in trouble.
Tomorrow we head to the Denver Zoo and then travel across toward Chicago. We will make two camping stops along the way. The first is at the KOA in Grand Island, Nebraska. I'm not sure where the second will be, but it will be somewhere in Iowa. Are you ready for some corn???
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