Nailed it!
I needed to get out of Seattle, I’ve taken one too many pictures of this city and I wanted out!
I decided to just glance at what it would cost to rent a car for the weekend, it was surprisingly cheap at $150, from Friday to Monday afternoon. I watched my wanderlust type in my credit card number and let it click the purchase button, because what the heck, why not?!
Before I bolted out I asked my roommate, Justin, if he wanted to go to Denver or San Francisco for a weekend road trip. I saw excitement in his eyes but he had to mull it over while I got the car from the rental company. Either way, I was dead set going somewhere for the weekend. Somewhere far!
I got back, he was in, and we decided on Denver!
“holy sh**! This is happening! FREEDOM!” I thought to myself. We left at 7:30pm on Friday with about twenty hours of driving ahead of us.
“EEEEE-ZZZZZ!” I thought (not my first road trip ya know).
My excitement let me drive till about four-thirty in the morning, my vision started to blur and I was tired of staring at lines vanish into a black void.
Washington, Check! Oregon Check!
Justin’s turn. I couldn't sleep, I was anticipating sunrise and seeing something other than damp trees of Washington. Justin suggested I rest a little bit, so I close my eyes. It was hopeless.
The sky started to change to a Prussian blue, then dawn, we were in Idaho!
There were soft pinks, blues, and tan colors from the mountains. It looked just like a painting (a painting in a dentist office, but a painting nonetheless).
“This is just what I needed” I told Justin, how inspiring!
I remember not wanting to take a picture through the glass, but there was no time for perfectionism, JUST SHOOT!
Justin waiting for me to finish taking pictures.
As dawn turns to day, I see the sky meet the ground for miles, I begin to get tired and take a short nap.
We stretch our legs at some rest stops but keep on truckin’ through Idaho, and clip through a corner of Utah and make our way into the cowboy state, Wyoming.
Golden Fields where the sky meets the Earth
Cowboys probably live there. What a place to call home!
From Pilgrims, to cowboys, and the indigenous peoples such as myself; how many people have passed through here?
My turn! I drove through a lot of Wyoming so I didn’t get any pictures. There were some amazing rock formations and colors though. And Little America, do you know about it? They have billboards that run along every mile of the highway advertising everything you can think of...Little America, they got everything!
Clearly I was hypnotized by the road and gently brainwashed by their adverts.
Passing Laramie and getting to Cheyenne at our last rest stop before Colorado, we were so close to passing the state line. It was the afternoon and the sun was high and dry. We saw reports of fires in the area and wondered if we’ll be breathing in smoke for our entire visit.
We think the fence in the distance was to keep tumbleweeds from blowing through. It was really windy here!
Rightfully so, there were windmills there.
We turned a corner in Colorado and instantly it changed to red rocks and evergreen trees. It’s like each state has its own personal terrain unique to its borders. I could not help but think how much it looked like the game, “Firewatch” (would recommend by the way).
We did it! COLORADO! But, there was still about 2 hours before we got to Denver, I was so restless by this point. As I’m watching the miles tick away, we finally hit the last stretch on highway 87, we see the Budweiser factory. Kinda cool, I guess.
“Wait, is that it?! WHAT!? THAT’S IT! DEEEEENVER!” I yelled as I saw it rise up from the horizon. All the driving stress turned into ants in my pants!
I told Justin I wanted to listen to John Denver as we got into the city, “Take me Home, Country Roads” came on. It’s about being in West Virginia, but close enough i guess. As we get closer I hear “Rocky Mountain High” come on. I get chills because we did it!
“DEEEEEEENVER!” we both shout to Instagram!
I kept looking at all the buildings and noticed they have a lot of similar looking buildings in Seattle, it’s also not too much bigger.
“WAY COOL! Denverado!” I said. We did it, we made it to the mile high city, I’m electrified!
We check-in, i look out the window to see a huge pencil, WAY COOL!
*phone camera, Why didn’t I take a picture with my EOS RP??
We’re chock full of trail mix, granola bars, and enough “BANG!” energy drinks to fuel a rocket to the moon.
As tired as we are, real food sounds good...also drinks and a night out clubbing. Bars close at eleven sharp so we had to hurry.
This was Denver!
And we wouldn’t get back to Seattle for over a week…
