PeaceLoveSnowflakes : Day 4

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Day 4

We were on the road by 6:30 this morning since we've slept in almost every day of the trip so far. It was only a matter of minutes from leaving Denver that we were in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. We are SO glad we decided to go that route instead of heading north out of Denver. That mountain range is so freakin' beautiful! Those mountains were massive too. We even saw some snow capped mountains as well as a few ski resorts from the interstate. The first one we passed was Loveland, then Copper, then Vail. They seem so huge compared to Beech... little tiny Beech lol. We passed signs for Steamboat, Breck, and Keystone but we wanted to stay on course so we could make it to Salt Lake City before dark. We had breakfast at a little cafe in Vail. We were expecting it to be super expensive, since most everything is super ritzy in Vail, but it was pretty reasonable for the amount of food we got (minus the fact that a glass of orange juice was almost 4 bucks!)

It wasn't long before those beautiful mountains turned into desert looking hills... then we went through Glenwood Canyon, which reminded me of what the Grand Canyon's little cousin might look like. It was pretty cool to drive through. I think we zig-zagged over the Colorado River about 20 times since it paralleled the interstate the majority of the way. By the time we got to the Utah border, it was straight up desert. And it seemed like it went on foreverrrrr. It felt like it was never going to end. Sandy, dirt covered hills as far as the eye could see. I wouldn't have been surprised if some tumbleweed rolled along the highway. Then those hills started getting bigger with more and more trees appearing.

As soon as we got near Salt Lake City, the mountains were HUGE... they looked way bigger than the mountains in Colorado. It blew my mind how massive everything was! Dustin and I were so happy to see mountains again rather than desert. Then came In-N-Out Burger. It was definitely worth it. I am still kicking myself in the ass for not getting everything 'animal' style. After we grubbed out on the only fast food we plan on eating on the trip, we found a hotel room in SLC, got Winter settled for the night, and then headed out to Antelope Island which is a Utah State Park in the middle of the Great Salt Lake that you can drive out to, camp, and check out the wildlife. We saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset and got up close and personal with a bison, which strolled out in front of us on our drive back out. That thing was MASSIVE. Then we realized they were everywhere... black dots were all over the hills, and several were standing beside the roads. Borderline scary if you think about it... I mean, what if they all decided to stampede? My lil Subaru wouldn't stand a chance! Haha.

Here's the best photos of the day (we had a LOT of pics today)...

Oh, and these are totally out of order... but it's late and I'm tired and you can figure it out :) Just remember Utah comes after Colorado! haha.