Day 5

As requested by Dee

It's been awhile since I posted on this trip - lot's of stuff we've done, and no time to tell everyone about it. Anyway, here is a quick rundown of what Colby and I have been up to.

Day 3: Sunday. We woke up in Colorado Springs and drove to Denver so Colby could say he's skated at the Denver Skatepark, which is somewhat more cool than the Paris one. See flickr for pics. After that, we ate lunch at Casa Bonita, which is famous for its cliff divers, live entertainment, and helium balloons. After that, we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park. That was freakin sweet. I pulled off at a scenic driveoff (ha ha, Jessica) to get pics of the mountains, but instead we saw a herd of chipmunks there. We fed them from hand - it was kewl. I have pics - here is a link to one of them, but there are plenty more. In all, I think the chipmunks were the coolest part of the trip so far. Colby agrees. Then we drove to Boulder and spent the night in a motel with bad internet, which is why I didn't post anything (also, I am lazy).

Day 4: Woke up not so early, and drove to Golden, CO, to tour the Coors Brewery. I tried Blue Moon, which wasn't that bad - pretty good actually. Then we shot off for Gillette, WO - that was a drive, but not that bad. The mexican place we ate at WAS bad, though - I ordered a bowl of queso, and the waitress looked at me like I was crazy, then asked if I wanted it 'melted'. Now, every mexican restaurant I've ever been to serves queso MELTED. I felt like telling her, "No, give it to me on the rocks." Anyway, she later brought out a plate of melted cheese - not cheese dip, but just melted cheese.We tried the chips with the salsa and melted cheese, and it kinda made me think of a mexican pizza. But not so good. Anyway, Colby's Dr. Pepper was flat. He says it tasted godawful - I tried it, and would agree. So we got a room, and it was not cheap - a single at the Budget Inn in Gillette runs $110 - and the lady told me no room in Gilette would be under $100 at all - alot of the miners there stay in motels because the housing market has'nt caught up with the booming mining business yet. And that was Day 4.

Day 5: Today. We got off to another late start, and along the way to Devil's Tower, we took a wrong turn and drove on some road that suddenly became unpaved. But we were determined and pressing forward, so we drove aways on the dirt road, and ran across a herd of antelope. Score one for the Random Cool Photo Op Guys!! Actually, this is score 2 for us, because the chipmunks were totally random. Anyway, we finally got to Devil's Tower, walked the trail for aways, got some good photos (not uploaded yet, Dee) and then took off for Mt. Rushmore. But, along the way, we stopped at Sturgis and saw alot of cool bikers getting ready for the rally next week. Then we went to Mt. Rushmore Cave, which is even more cool than Cave of the Winds. It was alot bigger - pics will be forthcoming. Oh yeah, before the cave, Colby had to stop at the Christmas Village. I don't know why, but i wasn't driving, so I had no choice. I looked for an ornament for Mom but didn't see anything but crap. So anyway, after the cave, we went and saw Mt. Rushmore. Not as impressive as I thought it would be - certainly not on the same level as the chipmunks. Chipmunks Rule!! But we did see some random goats walking around the parking lot - they almost charged me because I got a wee bit too close (I was still using the 14mm lens and was too lazy to change to the 150mm), so i had to get very close. Colby kept 'baaaa'ing and they didn't like that. And then the park ranger pulled up and said we had to get out of the way to give the goats clearance, and that the one goat that was P.O.'d and charged me was having a bad day, which is apparently why she charged me. Oh well, guess I'm not a goat person. After that, we found a room, and then I started this post. While i was doing that, Colby noticed the blood vessel on his foot was pulsing - you could see it. It is kinda weird. Oh well, now it's time to go eat, because we're hungry. So adios, and until next post... -BJ (and Colby)