Colby

After a good night's rest at the Wingate by Wyndham in Moab, we were all feeling better. A quick aside on the hotel -- it was fine and largely fit the profile we established for the trip: clean, well-located, and reasonably priced. This one was clean and well-priced, but was pretty far out in Moab. We hadn't been to Moab in many years, and like most places it's grown in the meantime. If you're coming from the north you pass by Arches NP on your way into town. The best locations are further north, near Arches. The Wingate was pretty far down, near the far side of town. There was really nowhere to walk to from it, so you're going to drive, which was kind of a negative.

Back to our day...the plan was to get to Colby, Kansas, for our next stop, but along the way we wanted to pop into Arches to show DJ some of the sights. It was another pretty long day of driving, so we didn't have much time. It was a beautiful morning and we were up early enough to beat the crowds into the park. We leveraged our brand-new senior lifetime pass for the park (age has some benefits!) and drove in. We decided to just drive out to Delicate Arch, which is probably the most iconic sight in the park. It's kind of on the other side from the Moab entrance, but that was OK as it gave us a chance to do some sightseeing from the car. We got out there and did the short hike to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. It was a nice walk and we got good views. Also picked up some desert birds like Sage Thrasher.

With time ticking, we headed out of Arches and struck out for Kansas. It was I-70 all the way, which is a pretty drive through Colorado. We stopped at the "Trail Through Time" to see dinosaur footprints along the way. Had we had more time we could have done more of the trail, but we did get to see a bit of it. Further along we climbed up and over the Vail Pass, which takes you up to nearly 11,000 feet. We hit the rest stop at the top and got a quick blast of very cool air and some good views of the snow (what there was of it this year, anyway).

We stopped in Denver for "linner" -- we wound up doing two meals a day on many of our driving days. Breakfast and then a late lunch/early dinner, or "linner." This worked out well. In Denver we went to Oblio's, a pizza place in the Park Hill neighborhood. We sat outside and enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon with some excellent pizza and a very good salad.

After "linner" we headed out on to the plains. We spotted some pronghorn (fastest land animal in the Americas!) along the way. It was getting late by the time we crossed into Kansas, but before dark we had to make time to swing by the world's largest easel in Goodland, KS. Stopping for goofy roadside attractions is something we enjoy and it helps add some interest to long days of driving. Devin and Liz conspired to get a perfect picture of him touching up the painting on the easel.

We arrived at the Sleep Inn & Suites in Colby a little after 9:00. This hotel was pretty bad...it seemed pretty new, but almost like it hadn't been finished. The "ice and vending" area on the 2nd floor, for example, had neither ice nor vending, just a crib sitting there. The receptionist greeted us not with a "good evening" or "how can I help you?" but with a monotone "you have a reservation?" The next morning the reception desk was vacant. I saw a couple guests hunting around for someone to help them. My bar for roadside hotel in small town off the interstate is pretty low, but this one didn't clear it. But we got a decent night's sleep anyway and were off to our next stop.Weiterlesen