Day 4 of GGW Adventure of a Lifetime

June 30, 2014-  Denver, Colorado to Rawlins, Wyoming

Day 4 of GGW Adventure of a Lifetime-

Mileage:  1,782.4 miles from Knoxville

Points:  Christopher won today for suggesting we take a side trip to the amphitheater.

Favorite Sayings of the Day: As we got in the elevator, a gentleman commented on Joe-Nicholas’s heavy load saying, “That’s bigger than you are!” and JN replied, “Tell me about it!”

Weird things we saw along the way: SNOW!!!  THE MOUNTAINS WERE COVERED IN SNOW!!! As soon as we saw them, Joe-Nicholas starting in on Deck the Halls and proceeded to sing Christmas carols throughout the morning.

Favorite Building:  The tallest building in the state of Wyoming

Christopher: to be added

Kayden:

Benjamin: I loved Dinosaur Ridge because you could even lick the bones.

Joe-Nicholas: I liked the amphitheater because bands played there...even the BEATLES!

Jennifer:  Captain’s log-The Atkins Clan continued on their “Grizzwald’s-Go-West-trip-of-2014” from Denver, CO to Rawlins, WY today.  We woke up at the Denver Double Tree and took a quick dip in their pool and hot tub, well, the little boys did…the water was FREEZING in the pool. 

We loaded our gear (which we are getting really good at doing!)  and headed to our surprise location located 30 minutes west of our hotel.  As we drove through town, we could see the downtown parts of Denver and spied what we believe was Mile-High Stadium!  Go Broncos, or at least, Go Peyton!  We stopped at an exit just outside of town that was like a Turkey Creek on steroids.  It was so nice that the Chick-fil-a resembled a high-end, stone lake house, and they had the most delicious Chicken Minis with extra honey butter on top.  Delicious!  After breakfast, we got back onto the interstate and headed west.  We finally got to our first secret event today…Dinosaur Ridge!  

Dinosaur Ridge (http://www.dinoridge.org/dinotrail.html) is an outdoor location where scientists have discovered very impressive dinosaur activity.  We paid for the guided tour because A) the free tour includes hiking one to two miles along a hillside that to me resembled Mt. Everest and B) it was super hot in Denver already!  We boarded the van-a-saurus as our enthusiastic guide kept calling her and headed on our adventure with several other excited families.  As he drove up the much smaller looking mountain now that we were in a van, Our guide, Dan-a-saurs, gave us interesting details and humorous tidbits along the way.  We got to stop and see brontosaurus footprints, fossils, and other interesting items of interest.  One hillside has over 300 dinosaur tracks imprinted in the rock that has been lightly shaded so that the lay people can make the out easier.  Scientist believe that this was an important migration area.  We all got to touch dinosaur fossils still embedded in the side of the mountain and were even invited to lick the butt bone of a stegosaurus.  I have to admit that I was surprisingly tempted to lick the iron ore filled fossil just for the heck of it, but I don’t know who else had licked the dino-butt that day.  I’m just gonna have to let that experience go.  We returned back to the headquarters and discovered a single prairie dog standing by the road.  Dan pointed out an adjoining field that was filled with dozens of adorable prairie dogs that we thoroughly enjoyed watching! The kids and I explored the little exhibition center/museum and took some fun pictures.  This stop was an inexpensive, yet very interesting stop on our adventure. 

We went off schedule and decided to make an impromptu side trip to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheater that Dan-a-saurus had pointed out to us on our tour.  I thought the scenes were beautiful, but the music-loving teenagers were super excited to visit this location for a very different reason:  The Beatles were the first rock and roll concert to ever play in this venue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKse_-fE2JQ).  Countless other musical performers including Hendrix have played here since 1906.  This place was insane!  The red rocks jut out from the side of the mountain hundreds of feet and the amphitheater is built down in-between them.  There is a large stage area and countless semi-circled rows of benches all the way up to the rocks.  On this day, the place was packed with tourists, singing and dancing children, a drum performance, and dozens of crazy, I mean healthy people working out in the stadium by running the bleachers.  Christopher mentioned that Birdman, an NBA player for the Heat, use to workout here to prep for his seasons.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u06GE2xrURk).  This was not a planned stop, but it became a favorite for all of us.  Amazing views and amazing history.

Our next planned surprise stop was to visit the Dinosaur museum that is located on the campus of University of Wyoming’s campus in Laramie.  The museum closed at 4:00 and with our added adventure and stops along the way including getting lost on the tiny Laramie campus, we never got to explore this museum.  We did, however, get to view the very tallest building in all of Wyoming…an 11-story dorm/office building on the campus.  Christopher has been keeping us abreast of any interesting facts along our way (we may start calling him Chris-o-saurus).  By this time of day, the kids were zonked anyway so we continued on our way without regret.

We headed northwest towards Rawlings, WY over the mountains.  As we were on our way, we drove through the cutest towns including the town where Colorado State is.  It was a traditional town with a square and restaurants and shops lining the streets.  The scenery on this drive were some of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.  It is rare that I find myself speechless, but I really can’t put into words how beautiful this country is.  We would see rolling green hills, sharp jagged rock formations, red canyons, the High desert with small bushes with tiny yellow flowers, and the constant snow covered mountains far in the distance.  There are no houses, NO HOUSES, along the way. We could go 50 miles without signs of civilization.  It was just breathtaking.

This is where our Grizzwald Adventure got more challenging, or interesting depending on your perspective (I choose interesting!).  After smooth sailing across the country in our trusty minivan, she just had had enough after climbing to elevations of over 7,000.  We went up one long, stretch of rising road and at the top, she slipped out of gear…not good.  We coasted to the bottom of the hill and onto the shoulder of this beautiful place in the middle of nowhere!  Now what?  I called Chris, who was in Knoxville to let him know that I was on the side of an isolated road in the middle of Wyoming and that the car would not go into gear.  I know he felt helpless at that point, but I just needed his opinion on the situation.  After turning the car on and off and trying it in reverse, she slowly but surely engaged and began to drive.  We were about an hour from our hotel reservations in Rawlins, WY so we decided to continue as far as we could go.  Chirs researched mechanics for us that were in Rawlins, but of course in small town USA, everything closes at 5:00.  

After two more shifting ,or more accurately, non-shifting incidents, we finally made it to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express in Rawlins-very nice!).  We checked in and asked about places in town to eat dinner.  The front desk clerk gave me a list of family-friendly restaurants and we decided to go to Bucks (http://buckssportsgrill.com/).  It was a bar and grill with a fun menu and downhome western atmosphere.  They served our meals on frontier metal plates and served large portions.  This seems like such a friendly town.  After dinner, we crossed the street for a quick photo op with a covered wagon backdrop.  So funny!   

 The kids were WILD by this point and ready for the pool.  We headed back to the hotel without car issues and let the kids swim for a while before bed!  Good Night, Rawlins…hope your mechanic can get us on our way in a hurry tomorrow!