Lows and highs

We would have liked to stay longer in Rapid, and we will visit again. It's a nice town, and Dan and Karen (and Morgan, who was out-of-town while we were there) have a nice house and a great life in the West. We were missing our own critters and enjoyed paying attention to the three personalities running their household, Glowie, Flash, and Alex. I'm a real sucker for Alex - when he stayed at Mom's house until they found a house in Rapid, I fed him from the table. He's just a little thing, very light, and he looks you right in the eyes and holds your gaze until you pick him up.

Our last night there we ate way too much, including some amazing food from the Indian restaurant Morgan works at. We sat on the deck watching stars and eating Coldstone Creamery ice cream until bedtime. Nice life.

After goodbyes the next morning, Drew and I headed into Wyoming and Nebraska on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We'd been told many times about how boring the drive through the prairie was, but we enjoyed it. There was a subtle variety to the topography - some flat, some hills, some trees. And lots of grass. Besides, you can drive past it really fast (first time I'd driven 90mph. Eeek!)

It wasn't long before we started seeing the mountains in the distance, and they came up fast. It was a round-about drive up the winding roads, and we oohed and aahed at every turn and every scenic view parking lot. Our favorite spot was above the tree line, the highest point in the park, 12,210 feet above sea level. At this point, there's an Alpine tundra. There were many signs of life, from wildflowers to Alpine "groundhogs" with heavy coats (marmots) to elk.

And yes, my dear scleroderma buds, it was colder than you-know-what. I'd bought a fleece sweatshirt at Rushmore, and had gloves with me but still froze. It must have been in the 40's at the highest parts. We could see snow on nearby peaks, so you can imagine...

I pondered the large sticks along the roads for awhile until it dawned on me (duh) they were markers for the snow plows to locate the road. The stunning realization was that they were 10' tall - so the snow must get pretty damn deep up there.

We drove through and out the other side of the park, eventually linking up with Route 40. Quite amusing, since our honeymoon trip was on the part of 40 east of Newark, OH. Here we were 20 years later on the western side of the route. Drew had located a ski lodge in Winter Park, CO that was cheap during the off season. It was at the base of a mountain full of ski lifts and slopes, and had some great views of the mountain. However, we quickly came to the conclusion that skiers must have low expectations. The place was old, stinky, with crummy service and expensive, lame food. And no internet access - Aaaack! We were tired and headed to bed early since there was no other choice!

We were up early to find an internet cafe and a reasonably inexpensive breakfast. Boy did we ever stumble on perfection in Idaho Springs, CO, at 2 Brothers Cafe! Free internet, giving us the chance to catch up on email (I had about 250 after 2 days of no email - about 4 of them weren't spam) and have a really good and unique homemade breakfast. I had the "Just a Wrap" - a spinach tortilla stuffed with a complete breakfast including potatoes and eggs, along with a homemade salsa, and toasted in a pannini press. Drew had a gigantic fritatta and toast, and lots of fresh coffee. We tried to convince the owner to move to Ohio, but she didn't think moving the whole building would be feasable.

Since we hung out at 2 Brothers for longer than expected, we decided to stop in Topeka instead of Kansas City. It was easy to get a room at a Hampton Inn, now appearing along the I-70/Route 40 roadside often. This one had been something else before Hampton - room entrances on the outside like a motel - but had our ever-favorite free internet access and free breakfast. Hampton is also trying really hard to make you feel "at home," with nicer bedding and little touches like a lap desk for use in bed.

The AAA guidebook gave us two "drive-by" sights in Topeka - the state capital, a stunning building currently under some renovation, and the elementary school at the center of the Brown vs the Board of Education case. It's interesting to see the place that had only been a name and idea to us before, and it got us thinking about how we'd missed some of the color and culture in the West that we're used to seeing in Ohio. Odd to think that Columbus is such a melting pot, but compared to the prairies, it is.

Next stop is St Louis, then home.