Scrambled eggs, Tea Bag heaven, and some Sweet mountains

So it is extremely weird to be at the end of my day, be in a tent and be typing away about the adventures we had but Laura is journaling right next to me so it all works out.

We started off today around 7AM which was really like 8 am our time so we viewed it as a great sleep in. Showered and had had great breakfast and visit with Aunt Amy and Grandmom penny. Really good visit, good hostesses and for some reason extremely fun to talk politics with.

We then headed out but found a great farmers market and stocked up on some fresh fruit, veggies as well as some gourmet homemade pasta blends. A good find for someone who likes to camp in style.

Then we went to a Mecca of sorts for Laura. We went to the Celestial Seasonings Factory and took a fun tour.

This is an awesome dress made out of tea bags

We also of course bought some fun tea. They had a special storage shed for the peppermint and spearmint and it was spectacular as it instantly clears out your sinuses and smells absolutely delicious.

We then tracked down bakery/café recommended in one of my guide books. I love guide books probably too much. We had a delightful lunch and then geared up for big doings. Laura had Chicken Lips for lunch. We are big fans of this place , The Notchtop Bakery Café and they could see us make a reappearance tomorrow.

Oh yeah that’s right folks the third national passport stamp.
And we also discovered a new childhood classic book.

Boy who could ask for much more. We were efficient camp setter uppers.
We then set out for some hiking we first trekked around Bear Lake and saw some great views. Any time you see a 14 000 foot mountain set on a lake it is not something you usually complain about.

We then set out on a 3 mile hike up to a waterfall called Alberta falls and could actually feel our lungs burn. The whole lack of oxygen was true but boy was it worth it. Everybody would deal with some dizziness for a view like we had.

When we got back to camp we had received a citation for handi-wipes being left out with the possibility of attracting bears. I think bears must like to be really clean.

Attended a brief ranger program telling great stories of Rocky mountain national park
And then enjoyed a great meal cooked in the dark with our gourmet past and some gourmet Portabella and Swiss brats and Mexican Squash.

We also saw a spectacular full moon while sipping some new tea. I am not sure if you can say you have lived until you have seen a full moon in mountains. If you can’t tell I love vacation.

CornFields, No Stamps, Family Visit and Coors Field

I can’t believe we keep getting up at 5 am. It’s ridiculous. Isn’t this vacation? Again we got on the road by 6 am . Butt hey when you are bringing Absolute Dosch Road Domination to I 70 then you got to bring it hard core. When showed up to our car we discovered that we had not picked the greatest parking spot and ended up with yellow leaves covering our windshield and hood.

Laura took her first driving West leg of a road trip and did great. She definitely has lessened her grip on the steering wheel compared to our first road trip she helped driving on.

A little bit of disappointment as there were no stamps to be had. After two great passport stamps it was a little disappointing. Brown versus Board of Education in Topeka, KS was closed and the other two options were about 90 miles off the beaten path. Not really an option when you are trekking to see grandmom Penny.

There is absolutely nothing in the Big state of Kansas. In fact a highlight was buying a magnet that said Kansas Blows with a Man being blown by a tornado.

The other stop we debated was these hand painted signs advertising the world’s largest prairie dog( 8, 000pounds), rattlesnakes, elk, pigs, Russian Boars and 36 inch donkeys.
When we actually got to the stop the sight looked like rusted cages and extremely creepy , way too much for us too handle, a place straight out of a horror film.

The highlight of the day was definitely getting to Denver in time to visit with Laura’s Grandmom Penny and Aunt Amy which was awesome.

We then drove in to downtown Denver and went to baseball game at Coors field.
First we ate at a creepy Mexican place which claims to have the best jazz in Denver the El Chalupatec and had the special smothered burrito which had a very unique sauce on it. It was the kind of place that even though we were recommended it in our baseball road trip guide book it was extremely creepy and warm with no AC.

The actual park experience was great. We passed on Rocky Mountain Oysters. No fried bull testicles for me. They had a cool Place called “the Sandlot Brewery “ with excellent beers and has been rated of the best small breweries in America. Kind of cool to see the mountains while at a baseball game. Can’t beat 4 dollars for a ticket to a baseball game which really creates a unique family viewing experience.

Our GPS is amazing. We are loving life, I’m getting to bed earlier and that is a wrap especially since I have no clue when this will actually get posted.

Presidential Houses, Cornfields and a Royals Baseball Game

So it was on around 5 in the morning today July 27 we wrestled ourselves out of bed, got ready and were on the road by 6:10Am.

Total Driving today 525 miles. Not too bad. I did the driving while Laura held down the DJing.

We stopped at the world's largest truck stop and just ate what we packed for lunch for breakfast since we couldn't find anything we wanted to eat in Iowa.

We did randomly get our first passport stamp. The passport is the guide to the national parks. Any national park, historic Site, Monument has a stamp with the date you visited which you can stamp your passport with. We checked out this little town in Iowa to get our first stamp. Here is a picture of Laura who has completely embraced her passport.

We stopped at this interesting gas station. I am not sure if I really need to comment on this.

Then we were so incredibly lucky that we got to get another passport stamp. As you can see I am beyond ecstatic with joy and finding The Harry S. Truman National Historic site.

We then went to the baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. Great Tim. nice park with a cool fountain, good barbecue, beer vendor wearing his merchandise, random cute baby just wearing a diaper, and a weenie race. hope you get the gist from all these pictures.

As I said lots of cornfields today. My first night as a travel blogger has went way too long as my wife is fast asleep. Tadahito Iguchi was traded but at least I hear Devin looks great in camp. Off to bed to Colorado we go tomorrow.

It's time to start writing again

As some of you may know I used to be all about writing long random ramblings while in college. i thoroughly enjoyed rapping about my theories of life and musings that entered my mind. Well I missed it. It's been years since I have been in this habit and I am about to go on a near 4 week vacation with my beautiful wife so I figured why not dominate your time with some long drawn out ramblings about our trip. If anything it will give me something to do on this trip when my wife is lost in the world of Nintendo DS and keep me away from exploring the horrendous season that is the 2007 season of the White Sox. Well I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to stay tuned in for whatever floats my fancy. And July 27th the true adventure begins