Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park June 2, 2008

To drive to Estes Park, we had to past through Loveland, which is the last large city on the map before the more rural and nature-centric areas. Here is the closest Target and Wellsfargo for me. The road in is kinda like California’s equivalent to El Camino. I had Jason drive this stretch into Estes Park because I really wanted to enjoy my first time seeing it. After all, this place will be my home for the next four months. After we got through the stoplights in Loveland, we headed into a beautiful canyon, featured below.

The day was Tuesday, and I didn’t need to report for work until Wednesday. I just wanted to know where the YMCA of the Rockies was so that I could navigate myself there without Jason (he is the one with the sense of direction after all). It was only noon by the time we found the YMCA, so Jason and I decided to hit the neighboring Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather was nice inside the lower elevation areas of the park, but the higher we drove, the more snow we came across.

We did stop at one lookout for a picture where the fog wasn’t obstructing our view. We had to walk downhill from the parking lot to this spot and took some nice pictures. On the walk back up to the car, probably only 50 yards or so, we started panting and panting and couldn’t catch our breath. The elevation really takes some getting used to up here.

This National Park actually borders YMCA of the Rockies on three sides, and many of the trails at the Y go into the National Park.

The rest of the drive June 2, 2008

After a LOVELY night stay in Winnemucca, Jason and I hit the road again. We drove for about 10 hours on day two, and it must have been the most boring day. The Nevada and Utah deserts were uneventful, except for the rain we experienced on and off through out the day. We hauled it all the way to Rawlings Wyoming where we spent the night at the local Super 8 Motel, which was a step up in quality from the Motel 6 in Winnemucca. Posted below is a video of us leaving the small town of Rawlins the next morning.

On the last day of driving, I got my first view of the Rockies. Below is a video of my first reaction to the Rockies. When I saw that first snow covered peak, I felt truly excited, and I hadn’t felt that way since the day I learned I landed the internship. I had just been so occupied with moving from my apartment, graduating, packing, and the drive that I didn’t have time to process how life changing this experience would be. I have always dreamed of visiting the Rockies. Now I’m working and living in them.

After driving over 1,100 miles on interstate 80, we turned south once we hit Cheyenne. It was here in Cheyenne that we found the cheapest gas on the entire trip–just $3.71. I couldn’t remember the last time paying this “little” for gas, so I snapped a picture of it

After the gas stop, we drove south into Colorado. We actually passed by the towns where the tornado hit just last week, but it seemed mostly cleaned up.

The road so far May 27, 2008

Jason and I departed from San Carlos around 3 on Sunday, May 25. I started driving the first leg since Jason had to wake up early for work that morning. Since is is May and all, we weren’t expecting it to be snowing in Reno, but it was. We were making good time so we decided to try and make it to Winnemucca, NV for the night. Through out the drive to the desert it was raining on and off. My car, as many of you know, doesn’t have air conditioning and I was worried that I would need it sometime during this trip. So far I haven’t needed it.

Winnemucca was LAME but heavily populated due to the holiday weekend. The only vacancy was at the Motel 6 (try to avoid this place if you’re ever in Winnemucca). Jason joked with his mom on the phone, “This place isn’t so bad. There are only two bugs on the bed.”