Tag Archives: road trips

Finals and PA Weekend

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Murphy had fun that weekend too.

So what if you’re taking 5 finals, and have spent all your time studying for the first (hardest one)?  Time to pack your gear (laptop, books, notes, coffee) and head to PA.  (Of course, the fact that you spent years promising to never again go to the Rectangle State doesn’t really factor in when you marry a guy who grew up there.)  Friday the 11th we drove to PA, and got to spend a Saturday studying (if you’re Louisa) or relaxing (if you’re Tony).  That night we were glad to get to visit with some good friends, and wound up staying the night at their place.  Good thing we did, because the next morning we were greeted with a freezing rain that shut down the Interstates and main roads.  Weather forecasters said the last time the roads were shut down like that was back in 1983.  Yep.  So, our friends graciously put on another pot of coffee, fed us, and let us play their video games / hijack their internet connection.  (Thanks guys!)  We eventually made it back to Tony’s parents’ house, and then down to Blacksburg.  Louisa’s pretty sure it was the most fun she’s had in a finals weekend; except for the year a guy dressed as a giant panda and went running through the library.

Drive to Virginia

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Let's see what this does to our search engine results. :-)

Let's see what this does to our search engine results. :-)

We recently finished a two-and-a-half day cross-country drive from Colorado to Virginia.  It began Thursday, October 8th, when Louisa flew from Roanoke, VA, to Dulles and then to Denver, CO.

Palm Fronds (Not to be confused with the Palm Pr?)

Palm Fronds (Not to be confused with the Palm Pre)

On Friday, we finished cleaning out the old apartment, and then went to the Triceratops Trail in Golden, CO.   We enjoyed seeing the dinosaur prints, as well as fossils of bird tracks, rain drops, leaves, and bug tracks.  We also had a great view of the Front Range.  Then, we began our drive to Kansas City, MO.

There were no errors with this BBQ.

There were no errors with this BBQ.

Saturday morning we went to L.C.’s BBQ for a lunch of burnt end sandwiches.  The sauce was excellent, and the burnt end sandwich was wonderful.  The thick cut fries were also great.  After lunch, we resumed our drive towards Bowling Green, KY.  On the drive through St. Louis we passed next to the Arch, and then over the Mississippi River.  We also saw some pretty Fall colors on the drive through KY.  For dinner we stopped at White Castle, where we enjoyed slyders and fries (we also stopped at White Castles for snacks on Sunday).

The cave was full of these gypsum formations.

The cave was full of these gypsum formations.

On Sunday we took the Grand Avenue tour in Mammoth Cave.  The tour was massive – 4.5 miles over a period of 4.5 hours.  We got to hike up and down two 90′ “mountains” inside the cave, see a lot of gypsum – both “flowers” and sparkly patterns on the walls, the Snowball dining room (so named for fist-sized gypsum snowballs) – where we stopped for some warm vegetable soup, the Frozen Niagara and the stalactite and stalagmite section.  We also saw a wild turkey and deer on the bus ride over to the man-made cave entrance.

After the tour we began our drive to Virginia.  We took a brief detour through Tennessee, and eventually made our way to Blacksburg.  All in all, we had a good drive, and got to see and do some fun things.

Arches Road trip

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Devil’s Garden Entrance

Well, this past weekend we ventured to the wild and wonderful state of Utah to visit Arches N. P. We arrived in Moab, UT late Friday night / early Saturday morning and promptly checked into the Sleep Inn and, appropriately, went to sleep.

Saturday morning we got brunch at the local diner. Their green chili, taters, egg, and bacon skillet is fantastic, by the way. Then we headed up to Arches, where we decided to hike the Devil’s Garden trailhead to Double O Arch. We had hiked the trail once before this past winter, and wanted to try the primitive loop. While the sign warned us of difficult hiking, we didn’t pay it too much attention. After all, what’s so difficult about a sandy and rocky trail? Answer: a rocky trail that climbs almost straight up a smooth rock with no hand holds and a tiny little ledge with a downward slope for your feet. Especially if your shoes don’t have good treads. However, while Louisa was clinging to the rock, Tony had no problems.

Double-O Arch

Double O Arch is a really neat arch, there are two arches on top of each other. So, that was definitely worth the hike, especially because we didn’t get that good of a view of it when we hiked the trail this past winter.

Delicate Arch

On Sunday we decided to hike up to Delicate Arch, and then head back to Denver around 1:30. The hike was very nice, much less extreme than Saturday’s hike, and the arch was as pretty as ever. We also got to listen to the Bills’ and Steelers’ games, although we decided that listening to the Steelers on the way back from Arches somehow jinxes them. Oh well, there’s always next week. On the plus side, the Bills won!

And then we got back to Denver. After realizing that drivers from UT can’t pass, and get mad when you zoom up behind them. Even if they’re going 5-10 mph under the speed limit. In the left lane. C’est le vie.