We made it to Denver!

After a too brief stop in Grand Junction, CO last night, we made our way to Denver today, right through the heart of the Rockies, via Interstate 70. Once again, I've been tickled that everything went as planned. Once again, I've been blown away by the scenery.

The landscape transitions from buttes and mesas to mountains about 45 minutes east of Grand Junction. After that, you pretty much make your way up and up and up the Rockies until you're about 45 mins or so outside of Denver; then you go down---fast.

The Rockies are pretty ridiculous: even the rest stops are beautiful.

There were a few hairy moments, I'm not going to lie. I learned to drive in Philly and subsequently spent 11 years driving in flatter than flat, Wilmington, NC, so driving up some of those mountains was interesting with my stickshift. I kept putting the car into third gear, thinking I was going to blow up the engine! There's a particularly steep incline immediately before you go through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel...I would just like to take a moment to say sorry to that gentleman driving the Jeep that I cut off. Oops!

More on the Denver area late tomorrow...we are all going to take a well deserved break from driving and stay in one place for a day! My goal is to sleep in, be lazy at the pool, and roam the city a bit.