I just got back Wednesday night from my roadtrip to Denver to see my friend Juliana, her husband and their new baby. It was such a wonderful trip!
The drive was fantastic, although I’ll admit it’s really only something I’d like to do once. We also had planned to come back a different way to mix it up (go down through the mountain area near salt lake and then cut back up to Wyoming), but the day before we left it suddenly went from upper 70s, sunny, and gorgeous to cold, dark, and snowy/rainy! So we figured for safety sake we should go back the way we came. Also, we had contemplated going up on a more northern route through Wyoming and stopping by Yosemite but we ran out of time. We probably should have left Denver a day sooner so we could do the Yosemite thing, but I just didn’t want to leave!
Anyway, so the point is that we drove the exact same way there and back. But all was not lost (in terms of any possibility of being bored just seeing the same things again) because on the way back it was light in areas that had been dark on the way there, and in Wyoming there was snow which was BEAUTIFUL! Becky (my roadtrip partner) and I were both taking pictures the whole time, even whichever one of us was driving 😉 So, almost all of my shots were taken while in motion, and most of the time through the windshield or side window glass. I’m amazed some of them turned out as well as they did given the circumstances!
On the way there, we drove Portland to Nampa, Idaho (about 6 hours) and then stayed the night there before continuing on to Denver (about 13 hours) the next day. On the way back, we did the same thing (stopped in Nampa). We also stopped in Hood River where Becky is from (about an hour before getting back to Portland) for a late lunch and a little shopping 🙂
All in all, the road trip part of the experience was awesome! People had told me Wyoming would be boring (scenery-wise) but we LOVED Wyoming! I have a huge album up on facebook for those of you that are my facebook friends, but for those who are just happening upon my blog, here are a few of the pics from the roadtrip:
Driving in Northern Utah
One of many types of varied terrain in Wyoming
More Wyoming 🙂
A little Colorado on the way back...
(Admittedly, I didn’t get a lot of Colorado scenery because it was dark on our way there, and then it was just getting light on our way out.. but it looked a lot like the pics from my last trip to Colorado with rolling hills and mountains off in the distance :))
Colorado has some red rocks too 🙂 (w/ Becky's hand)
Snow in Wyoming 🙂
Me using my Giant-Skills to touch the Utah sign 🙂
More Utah... I was a big fan 🙂
Southern Idaho was mostly brown, flatness.. but also some very lush green crops
The Columbia Gorge (back in Oregon)
I’ll update more later on our time actually in Denver, but for now, I hope you enjoyed the pics I posted from my pictures while flying by at 80MPH skills 😉
The Daily Chelle 