Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
So last time we were driving South in Wyoming toward Colorado. I saw what appeared from the highway to be a bison on top of a hill but as we got closer you could see that it was not an actual bison but a cut-out of the shape of one. lol
We drove some more and passed some cattle grazing. Hey there Mr. or Mrs. Cow!We passed through a small town by a bank with an interesting name....
As we pulled onto the Interstate we noticed this sign....
A sign with flashing lights(they weren't flashing then)about the Interstate being closed ahead? I suppose out here on the Prairie when they get a BIG snowstorm even Interstate's have to shut down. So what do you do if you are on the Interstate and it's closed down ahead??
Pretty soon the terrain of the surrounding land changed....
The we hit Cheyenne, Wyoming.
We passed right by the State Fairgrounds the week as they were setting up for "Frontiers Days". Seems this is a big deal in Cheyenne. It runs for about 10 days and in 2017 the headliners for entertainment were Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Jason DeRulo and Flo Rida. Not my cup of tea and we weren't hanging around Cheyenne for another week to see this as we had tracks to make to get to Idaho.
"Welcome to Wonderful Colorado" the sign says.
Then we saw a sign for our destination for the evening, Fort Collins.
We found our hotel fairly quickly once we got to town. Towns and nightly accommodations can be few and far between given the vastness of the Western states so we "had" to stop in Ft. Collins. The Cambria Suites was the least expensive place to park our bodies for the night and it was still over $200 for the night AND that didn't include any sort of breakfast in the morning! I used some hotel points I had so we didn't have to pay for the entire bill with cash/card.
I knew it was a college town(Colorado State U.)and they had over 21 Craft Breweries there. We drove right past the one for New Belgium Brewing but Hubs didn't even want to stop in for a cold one like I thought he would. So we made a quick detour to someplace I wanted to go before backtracking to the hotel.......
A Marijuana Dispensary in town.Where I picked up this......
A small container of edibles. I only ate two and brought the rest home with me. 8-)
Back at the hotel I saw these in front in the parking lot.
Electric car charging stations for guests of the Hotel. Now remember this was SIX Years ago so electric charging stations for electric cars was so not "a thing" where we lived. Again, just too "bougie".So we lugged our belongings into the hotel, checked in amidst a swanky lobby with a fake flame fireplace and seating area. We made our way up to our room(after peeking in on the indoor pool which was just as glammed up as everything else). We navigated the elevators and the labyrinth of hallways on the floor our room was on and found it.
Such extravagance after staying in a teepee the night before and a ramshackle motor inn the evening before that!
Being as we were famished as we hadn't eaten yet since breakfast back at the B&B we headed out for an early dinner. Not knowing the lay of the land if you will, and not wanting to spend a fortune on a "nice" meal as we suspected that given all we had seen there, a fortune indeed it would cost, we settled on this place.....
"Taco John's". Somewhere we'd never eaten and they don't have out on the Eastern part of the country.
Just like everything else in this town, this "fast food" place was more upscale than say a Taco Bell. I can't eat fresh Cilantro so I had to ask what was in certain dishes first so to avoid having my dinner taste like soap. lol
I'll say that for a Mexican fast food place it was quite good and more of a casual Mexican restaurant quality of food but the food was placed in paper containers and wrappers and served in a sterile, tiled fast food dining room. ;-)
These are just some photos of the landscape as we drove North out of Colorado..........
A group of children. We wondered what was this all about?
Back on I-80 and more land formations.
Later on during this stretch there was a tunnel through a mountain......
Sign for the turn off South for Lyman or NorthWest toward Fort Bridger.
A crossroads on the Interstate....Salt Lake City or Ogden?
A small farm or homestead in a valley......
And then ginormouos mountain slopes with snow still in the nooks and crannies......
36 miles to our destination for the night, Brigham City UT.
And a peek at the Great Salt Lake as we drove past.......
We were staying the night in a dingy little motel(use to be part of one of the big chains before this particular motel got too rundown and was sold off to an independent owner).
This menu was so bizarre. And NO they weren't cooking and selling Chihuahuas for $5.59. I guess this was an owners pet and they were proud of him/her so stuck their photo in the menu. lolz
The soup was rather delightful though I can't recall what kind it was but it was obviously made there and not poured out of a can. Some sort of chowder....corn, potato, who knows?
Love the detailed post, you are heading my way. You have changed so much I would not have recognized you, but for the better.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful scenery!!! Love the photos! I do love the West and Wyoming especially. Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteI would be fine with the peas in the salad, but the beets would be a deal killer.
ReplyDeleteIf I see a dog on the menu, my appetite will die! The landscape was certainly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in Utah in the late 1970's. Beautiful area back then. Sadly, it's been way over developed now...sigh. SuzinWA
ReplyDeleteWe have made that drive on I-80 from Ft. Collins across Wyoming and Utah to Idaho too many times in my lifetime. Most boring stretch of road EVER. My husband calls it “the beach” - pretty much nothing but sand and scrub.
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