Southwest Trip 2010 - Sunday, March 21

Last night ranked among our worst in a hotel, ever.  They had given us a room that had a window overlooking a courtyard.  The hotel was full of kids in town for tournaments or something.  Kids were still screaming in the pool at 12:15. I called the desk because the pool was supposed to close at 11.  They said they would "try" to do something.  The air conditioning unit in our room didn't work so we had no white noise to block the screaming kids.  The desk did not have a fan, but they did kindly offer to send maintenance up to our room at 12:30 a.m.  It took forever to get to sleep.  When I got up in the morning and took a shower, it turned out the drain was clogged in the tub and I had to stand in 5 inches of water.  That is disgusting.

The desk clerk, upon hearing about all of the problems, offered us a 30% discount on our room.  I gladly accepted.  I rarely complain but the clogged drain and gross water were the last straw. 

We were still on the road by 7 and were treated to the sight of thousands - and I mean thousands - of migrating snow geese and cranes (mostly Sandhills, I think) who migrate along the Platte River corridor.  There were swirling clouds of them in the sky and large flocks of them on the ground.


One of Many Huge Flocks of Sandhill Cranes

 We stopped in West Des Moines to meet my brother's family for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack...it was cold and there was snow but that didn't stop them from utizling the outdoor playground!



From L:  Rosie, Thor, Jack, Gunnar, Logan

 and then headed home to see our very happy dogs.  It was a really great trip!

Spring Break Trip 2010 -Saturday, March 20

It was a beautiful morning in Colorado.  We decided to visit Colorado National Monument which is just on the outskirts of town. 

We drove the Rim Rock drive which had fabulous views for many miles.  We searched in vain for the Bighorns that are supposed to be in the park.

Jack found a caterpillar at the visitor center

Balanced Rock

We stopped to make sandwiches before the freeway starts to climb into the mountains.  It was a spectacular day to drive I-70 through Colorado...the blue sky and the fresh snow on the mountains made a stunning vista for many miles. 

Driving through Denver called for Rubberneckers, our favorite car travel game.  One card requires you to wave your foot at someone and get them to wave or acknowledge you. 

We decided to try and make it as far as Kearney, NE tonight.  We stopped for dinner at Whiskey Creek Steakhouse in North Platte (it was a Whiskey Creek Steakhouse in Nebraska last summer where Jack misunderstood that peanut bars were where you threw peanuts at other people in the restaurant, not the floor - and started whipping them around the restaurant), where we've stopped before, and finally reached Kearney at 10 pm.