The first day...

I'm going to fore warn everyone that the pics on this post are not ones that I would pee my pants over.  Don't get me wrong.  I love traveling across our country, but after seeing basically the same scene for the majority of the day, it bites.

We left very early in the morning from Idaho because we wanted to be out of Salt Lake City before the morning rush hour.  It's horrible.  Plain and simple.

So by the time the sun was peeking over the mountains we were almost in Wyoming.  There was snow every where and it was chilly.  No pictures through the east part of Utah because of the bad lighting.  It was gorgeous though, from what we could see at that point.  By 9ish we were in Wyoming and ready for breakfast.  So a quick stop for gas and a stop at McD's was welcome by all.  Someone even had to go back out to the truck to get their Ipad because McD's had free WiFi.  Can you guess who?  I was seriously rolling my eyes.  Did not see the need in it.  But apparently it is important to see what was going on with the NHL at the moment.  The girls just thought it was cool that there was a real cowboy saddle set up for them to sit on and try.  Only in Wyoming I guess.

Well, back in the truck and down the road again.  The snow had come through just 2 days before and everything was still a blinding white.  Even with my sunglasses on, I got a mild headache.  It's just the place to go snow blind you know.  Could you imagine looking at all that white with the sun beating down on it the majority of winter?  I'm not sure I could.  At least the interstate was clear.  Awesome job Wyoming Highway Dept.!  We were amazed at how many snow break fences there were all along the interstate for the majority of the state.  Apparently they work well.  And let's not mention all of the gates along side the highway that come down and close things off when the snow blows so much to cause blizzard conditions.  Apparently that happens quite often also.  At least you get a warning with lights, signs, etc. a mile before so you can turn around and go back to the last town behind you.

The Green River that flows through Green River really is green.  Weird.  Not sure if I would want to dip the toes in there though.  Lots of railroads and mining there.  Kind of a neat old west looking town though.  We passed the Continental Divide twice and only saw a glimpse of the Great Basin.  It's mostly hidden by the hills that surround it on all sides.  Only a couple of breaks from the highway to see a very quick glimpse.  This is truly the Old West, open range, cowboy area.

It was only until we got near Laramie that the snow began to break, passed the Medicine Bow Mtns, that we began to see the more hilly terrain and more traffic.  I must apologize for not taking pictures during the last leg of the first day's trip.  We got into Colorado and down into Denver around rush hour and it was not possible to snap pics while helping with the navigating.  It was gorgeous though to see the mountains of Rocky Mountain Nat. Park.  It brought back memories of our one and only camping trip there with Brendon in the fall of '92.  Let's just say even though we planned our trip out well (we thought), we were not prepared to freeze our tails off the first night at 9pm.  We broke camp and headed out for warmer accommodations.

Anyhoo, it also brought back memories of Glenn and I getting married in the Denver area and our time at tech school in the AF.  Things surely have changed there.  Everything is much more spread out, people every where, traffic everywhere, etc.  Denver has really grown.  Still gorgeous with the hills behind it though.

After Denver we traveled through the SE corner of Colorado so that we could cut down to Amarillo.  Let's just say nothing prepared me for the "nothingness" that is there.  I always thought that North Dakota was boring in the western part of the state, then the part of Wyoming we had just been through.  But SE Colorado has them beat.  Flat.  That's it except for a few cows and ranch gates you see every once in awhile.  And then to go through that at the end of the day kills you.  Especially when you have been on the road, in a car for 18hrs that day.  I'll save you the expletives.  Getting to the hotel finally was so freakin' awesome.  We checked in, got something to eat, showered and hit the sack.  Couldn't tell you about anything else other than we got up the next morning and left at 5:30 so that we could get to Amarillo in 3hrs.

So, totally bored you yet?  Wow, you're tough.  Well, we will see about tomorrow's post.  Until then...