Ok, we got up and ready for the day. Then unhitched the trailer and headed back west on I70 to see the part we missed driving through the previous evening in the dark. Here are some pictures. (On a side note, I woke up with some weird apparent bug bites. If you’re inclined, you can read a little more description at the very end.)

We. had read an article or post by Copper Mountain that the mountain was doing free chair lift rides from 10AM to 2PM. Since we were going to be returning from our little drive after 10AM, we figured we would see if we could grab a ride. We drove in, drove around a little bit, but didn’t see a single chairlift moving and so we decided to press on. We considered stopping at a place to go ziplining but they didn’t have any trips at the right time so we skipped that.

We picked up the trailer from the hotel in Silverthorne then hopped back on I-70 East. We had another mountain pass above Silverthorne to ascend which got us to an elevation of a bit over 11,000-feet above sea level. Then, we descended for miles and miles; all the way into Denver. There were signs for the truckers to the effect of “We’re not down yet but almost; we’re getting there.”

After you get out of Denver, there is seriously not much to see…. AT ALL. Dad had driven through Kansas on a road trip 30 years before (BC = before children) and he kept saying “there is nothing to see in Kansas.” In my mind I kept thinking that there’s got to be something! There can’t just be nothing to see. Well, there wasn’t much at all. Some farms now and then, very very few trees, and flat dry vegetated land.

Have I told you before that I’m vegetarian? I don’t think that I have. I was born and raised vegetarian. I’ve tried a couple of meats but found them to be something that I’ve never desired to ever continue eating. We also had a lot of pets growing up and so have an appreciation for raising happy animals. I don’t have any digital pictures of our pets but I could do a post sometime showing pictures of pictures (i.e. pictures of pictures that we took with a camera that used a roll of film that had to subsequently be developed). Anyway, I hate seeing and hearing about huge factory farm-raised animals that have no quality of life and their health suffers because of it. As a result, they’re treated with antibiotics (to keep them from getting sick from being in high density situation with other animals), they’re treated with hormones to make them grow larger faster… and on and on. Some things I see nowadays makes me so thankful that I am a vegetarian. If you don’t want to give up meat, that is your choice; maybe just consider getting your meat from a more local, small-scale farm that cares a bit more for their animals, that don’t give them hormones and antibiotics. Isn’t it worth it in the long run; maintaining your health by considering the health and wholeness of the food you eat? Ok, enough on that subject.

One thing we noticed with Google Maps on this long stretch between Denver and Topeka: it did not quite estimate the time to get there correctly. We looked on Maps how long it would take us to get to Topeka and (closer to Denver) it told us about 5 hours or something. Then a couple of hours and many miles later, it would tell us about the same amount of time to get the rest of the way. WTH Google Maps?!?! What else is kinda funny… you know how on Google you can now say “Ok Google” to trigger it to do a search for you? Well, after about the second time it told us the same amount of time to get somewhere we were closer to at that point, he said “Google is lying to us” and google responded “Why would I lie to you?” :-O I was driving and dad was doing this with the phone so I don’t know if he sort of “asked” google if/why it was lying but I don’t think so.

We finally made it to Topeka and our hotel at about 11:00pm. We had planned to stop at 8 or 9 I think. Thanks a lot google! 😀 We stayed at the Hampton Inn Topeka… very nice place. We slept so well there after the last couple of nights at slightly iffy accommodations.

September 11

Today we drove from Topeka, Kansas to New Paris, Ohio where we stayed at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Richmond. Another lovely place. We drove from approximately 8am to 7pm. Spent some time soaking in the hot tub. That’s always really nice after a day of driving.

September 12th

From New Paris, OH, it was about a 4 hour drive to my cousins’ house in Pittsburgh, PA. Drove from about 10am to 2pm.

My cousins in Pittsburgh are the BEST massage therapists around. If you’re ever in Pittsburgh and want a massage, get in touch and I’ll give you their contact info. Anyway, we sat and talked for some time. Dad had to check the bearings on the trailer because something had developed a noise between New Paris OH and Pittsburgh. I guess he applied some grease and a prayer that nothing serious happened when we were so close but yet still so far from home.

We then headed out for dinner at one of my cousins favorite joints somewhere near/outside Downtown. This place is called B52 Cafe; a “chic all-day vegan eatery for Mediterranean-American fusion dishes served in a cool, modern space” per google maps. Let me tell you – this place is absolutely INCREDIBLE! Super delicious. Highly recommend this place. We were so stuffed when we left.

Back to my cousins, we sat on their porch from about 8 or 9 when we got back from dinner until 12:30-1am the morning of the 13th. They have a super awesome propane fireplace that we turned on. It was so good to catch up with them. I’ve never been to their place in Pitts before; hoped to go many times while living in NJ but it never happened. Wished I could have spent more time there… but until next time girls: THANKS A MILLION!

 

Ok – back to this morning and my super itchy bug bites – proceed ONLY IF INTERESTED.  🙂  😛

I woke up sometime during the night with some super itchy spots. Initially I thought maybe I was having a mild hives reaction. But later that morning when I looked at it, it definitely looked like bug bites. I’ve had this happen before. Once when I lived in Denville, NJ I had some really large bug bites on the back of my neck that took two or three days to go away. Then, one day I got some sort of bug bite on my left forearm which swelled up to be about 2-3 inches in diameter, red and raised, focused around the bug bite. It was like an allergic reaction to the bug bite or something. I still don’t know really. I took an anti-inflammatory or other something to treat a little allergic reaction and it went away. This time there were a couple of spots on both wrists, one near my arm pit and ankle, and they all had about 1-inch diameter red and raised area around them. SUPER ITCHY! I’m weird.

TMI (To much information)?  Well… I don’t know what to tell ya.  I developed my tiny-biting-bugs phobia when I was in India for a short-term study abroad (4.5 weeks).  I’ve never been the same.  Just ask my mom.  Hahaha.