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day 3 was spent in Denver/Golden. quite a lazy day, i must admit.

we had breakfast at Einstein Brothers Bagels, then dealt with some paperwork for the house. then we got one of my tires balanced (that threw a wheel weight somewhere in Wyoming) and had lunch/dinner at Falling Rock Tap House. after dinner we drove around Denver a bit, stopped at Argonaut to pick up some local beer to take with us, and went back to the hotel.

today, we head east to Kansas.

day 2 started out with finding a Starbucks (in Utah? yeah, there are a couple) we found one in Riverdale. after buying our good cup of joe, and a pound of coffee to be sent to our troops, we headed out. this is the mountainey view from Riverdale:

and here’s the entomological carnage from Day 1:

we got on the road

and after a couple twisties we stopped for petrol in Morgan, UT. you can tell by the big M:

we also bought a few peaches from this nice man:

then it was eastward on I-84, to I-80 and through Wyoming. we stopped at Little America and then didn’t stop again until Laramie. Carrie took over driving there, and she drove through Cheyenne and down towards Denver. when traffic started getting thick, she handed the reins back to me. here are a few pictures from this leg:

we picked up a lot of chunked rubber crossing wyoming:

and the entomological carnage after Day 2:

our hotel is out in Golden, CO. we’ll figure out some fun things to do today, then share a few photos of that. we leave Denver tomorrow morning.

we left Everett, WA around 9am yesterday (Sept 3rd, Labor Day). a stop in Issaquah for coffee & breakfast, then we headed east across Snoqualmie Pass. at Ellensburg, we turned southeast towards Yakima, and eventually Oregon.

we finally saw hops growing in Yakima, albeit at highway speed:

carrie took over when we stopped for gas just before the Oregon border. Oregon doesn’t let you pump your own gas, which is whack. so i didn’t want to give them any tax money. and we didn’t - she drove straight through to Idaho while i napped occasionally.

Idaho had a lot of this stuff:

but at least we found Bliss there:

we decided with my catnaps that we could make it to Ogden, UT before stopping. right around 830 miles. after a good night’s sleep (starting to realy like Comfort Suites beds) today we’re headed to Denver via Wyoming. i really wanted to do the southern route through Colorado, but it adds about an hour and a half onto the trip.

Eastward to Denver - today is lighter, only about 530 miles. we’re still making up for leaving a day late — this should put us back on schedule.

these were my compatriots on the first trip back east. 3111 miles in the ranger with these two. thank goodness they slept most of the time. here’s kelly looking very well-adjusted:

and here’s nora, when she decided not to wait for kelly to move — she just plopped down on top of him and they both fell asleep.

this will all be made clearer very soon, but let me say, after returning from my “vacation”

america is vast.

we arrived back in seattle yesterday afternoon, after a just-under-1-week trip to manchester, nh and the boston area. “a good time was had by all” as the kids say (and i’ve probably said about every trip i’ve blogged about here, ever.) falcon was happy to see us, of course.

i guess, if a good time wasn’t had, why would we keep doing this? or why would i bother telling you about it?

it all started with a redeye flight to boston. who knew alaska did non-stops from seattle to boston? i sure didn’t. but now i know, and since losing weight, flights are a lot easier to deal with.

the flight out was somewhat uncomfortable, however. not sure if it was just the type of plane or seat, but i didn’t get a lot of sleep. perhaps it was the excitement of being back in new england, or just being excited about not having to go to work the next day.

DENT-all car

we arrived in boston shortly after 7. after an amusing shuttle ride to the rental car co, we saw our steed for the trip: Chevy Malibu MAXX. non-plussed. 25,000+ miles. beaten. every panel, scratched/dented. super non-plussed. the greater disappointment, however, would come later.

anyways, in car, heading out. ted williams tunnel. want 93 north. see sign: “93 South Boston” think “oh, that’s 93 South, it goes to South Boston.” nope. interpret the above to say: “93 and/or South Boston.” ugh. now we’re stuck on the mass pike, heading west out of town.

first exit: newton exit towards cambridge, able to get back on storrow heading back downtown. $1 toll for the pike. d’oh! considered alternative toll booth payment, thought against it.

find 93 north, zakim bridge!

anyway, we got to manchester okay. did a little hanging out with carrie’s folks, went to a few brewpubs. got to see one of carrie’s childhood friends/classmates be ordained. that was very interesting.

after a few short days, we were heading back to seattle.

brewpubs

i’d be remiss if i neglected to summarize our brewpub experiences, so here we go. short list:

Strange Brew Tavern, Manchester NH

one of our usual haunts in manchester. many taps, many great beers available. free popcorn. quite smokey in the bar.

The Tap, Haverhill MA

what a surprise. friday night haverhill was hopping, we eventually found parking in the historic washington street district. The Tap was awesome - very good beer, very good food, very good service, very good atmosphere. can’t say enough good things.

Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge MA

located in the one kendall square complex in cambridge, it was a nice surprise. again, great beer and great food of course. kinda noisy and they sit you within 5 inches of a table next to you (kinda weird… i don’t need to hear other conversations as if i should be part of them) but we dealt with it and eventually tuned the obnoxious guy next to us out.

oh, by the way, hopper is happy that we’re home, too.

oh! the disappointment with the rental car? we found out on friday, when the temps and humidity both rose to around 90, that the AC didn’t work. ugh.