Oh- Pits

Finally reached deciduous forest and humidity which signals the end of our journey.

Cedar Point has taunted me for some time as the roller coaster capital of the world, so we went. At first, it seemed a glorified Six Flags with 90 minute waits...

After the first ride, the Gatekeeper, however, I realized the truth in its legacy. What a ride! We went on 7 out of 15 coasters and each fun in its own way.

Even if I had to ride solo on the big drop rides.

Today, Pittsburgh.

A little history, Desquene Incline, a passenger trolley used in the past to get commuters down the hill into the city.

A little science. I mean submarines and robots from the 60s.

Then a great ball park, home of the Pirates!

A Breeze through the Windy City

Sadly, we left Tony and Jeri this morning after a yummy breakfast at one of their favorite spots. It was awesome staying in a house after all out motel/ camping experiences and it was even better with friends like family and a four legged friend, Jonesy! 

Chicago was a three hour trip north and we had a couple hours to explore Millenium park before the Cubs game. This city is definitely cleaner and actually more stunning than NY. 

I mean the water looks like the Gulf of Mexico and the architecture can definitely be appreciated by anybody.

Biggest fountain ever!

And loved this bean!

Even Wrigley is nestled in a quaint, clean brownstone neighborhood. I have never been to a stadium that was neither in an industrial park nor the sketchy part of town. Also, the stands on top of all the surrounding buildings were neato!

The inside of the park is all brick work, most of the music was provided by a live organist and no giant screen, all positve attributes taking you back to old time baseball. Mark's favorite so far!

Ate like a local after the game, deep dish pizza.

More Mid-Western Fun

Last stop in St. Louis, the City Museum! Not what it sounds like, it was an indoor and outdoor playground for the all ages that tantilizes the imagination! Made with recycled materials from metal to rubber in formations from whales to caves! 

There is no map through this maze that takes up an old shoe factory. 

Through metal tunnels...

You can find slides of all sizes around any corner...some we walked up ten stories of random stairways for.

Crawling through spaces that you can barely fit ...

Spaces shaped like turtles and monsters..

We worked up a sweat from all the climbing and laughter this amazing place brought us.

Then to Indiana for a special visit of our missed friends!

You may notice the men dressed in drag behind us, yes in Zionsville Indiana! It was for an Alzheimer's fundraiser, but surprisingly kooky for Hoosiers!

Enjoyed a delicious dinner and ice cream in this quaint town sitting amongst green fields of corn. Thanks Tony and Jeri!

Rainy, but a Goody

One of the stops in Missouri I had been anticipating for a while was the home of the Clydesdales. To my dismay they sold out of tours online and when we called they said don't bother showing up because you can't get through the gates without a reservation. I however remained determined that we could at least see it from the field and maybe catch a glimpse of the beauties, so we got up early and made our way. I decided to pull into the driveway and just see, maybe there would be a way to get in and sure enough a friendly worked invited us to join the tour! Wooohoooo! I was super excited and probably more so since I didn't think we could actually make it.

What a treat! I may support Budweiser after our encounter with the gorgeous mares, stunning stallions and their fuzzy foals at Warm Springs Ranch the breeding facility of Anheuser- Busch.

This sight alone was worth it, just precious.

The foals are born at 150 pounds after 11 months! They will be weaned at 6 months and then either be chosen for the hitch to tour the US, commercials or to be a breeding mare.

Here is the famous horse, Andrew, from the puppy love super owl commercial. Just enormous!

Duke is in the spa, they spend 5 hours prepping the hitch horses before a parade.

There is even a maximum 500 mile per day driving time these fellas can be on the road. Living the life!

We even learned that the Clydesdales were first used after prohibition was repealed to deliver the beers, including to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House!

Visited Schlafly's brewery for an all-time fall-time pumpkin brew!

And then to the Arch, a commemoration of St. Louis being the gateway to the west. Now, I had no idea you could go inside this thing! Actually I didn't know it was made from steel either, it always looked like stone to me.

It was pretty exciting to find out how a "tram" was going to take you to the top.

So here is what we saw while anticipating our ride. Kinda looks like a Disney ride.

Then the doors opened...

What is it a space pod??? 

And up 630 feet we rose for a very strange feeling and tiny view.

It was quite thrilling! Could have been the not knowing, sorry if I spoiled it for anyone!

From the view you can see Busch Stadium and that's exactly where we headed next!

As you can see there was much rain, but luckily only an hour delay!

In summary, we like Missouri, we really do.

World's Largest Prairie Dog

Denver-

Perhaps we are jaded from all our city experiences, but there was nothing too special here other than all the breweries, so we kept it short with the priority being the Rockies!

Special food- chocolate covered bacon, served chilled.

Free giveaway- hat!

The most exciting part for me was the black tailed prairie dog community outside our hotel! Yip, yip!

Getting through Kansas- 8 hours of grasslands! As expected!

We did make a special roadside stop at Prairie Dog Town, home to the world's largest prairie dog and the five legged cow. I did not have the heart to photograph the five legged cow, thought it was insensitive. Do not be alarmed it, was a rescue from a local cattle farm.

We talked to the owners who have been there 74 years and apparently this "zoo" was more profitable than the grocery they used to own. The enclosures were questionable for things like coyotes, buffalo and rattlesnakes, but we were ensured that this is more pristine than the Denver Zoo. I don't want to see the Denver zoo.

Had a lovely lunch in Hayes, Kansas, a college town, of course at a local brewery! Sunflower pesto dip for a local treat, fried bread called grebbles.

Landed in Kansas City, pretty tuckered out, had some Chinese and then said goodbye to the epic road trip beard! Mark said that he needed to get rid of the beard because he kept getting food stuck in it, ie. marshmallow from s'mores.

Before-

The set up-

50 minutes later-

Colorful Colorado

After a nine hour drive through the desolate Wyoming, where it took 25 minutes for an order of chicken nuggets, we were rewarded by the Eco- friendly town of Fort Collins. The clean streets are lined with popular bike paths and breweries filled with pooches! Bea would have loved it!

The New Belgium Brewery looked and felt like a lodge and boy was it packed. Just down the road we passed another brewery and chose the third, one of my favorites, Fort Collins Brewing. Had delightful samples, bacon covered pretzels and corn waffles with pulled pork, yum!

I did notice however that the friendliness of the Coloradians is not up to snuff with the warm, chatty people we have encountered so far though the USA.

On our ride to Rocky Mountain Nat. Park we drive along a cabin lined river. It has been the most inhabited wilderness encountered so far. Made a coffee stop in Estes Park, another adorable park town, to find out the back of the shop a scenic river. Love!

Had our first wait to enter a park, oh the popular Rocky Mount. The landscape is strewn with granite boulders, living up to its name.

Hiked to Alberta Falls and Bear Lake.

Enjoyed some BBQ chicken and corn in the cob by fire.

This morning we headed to yet another biome, the tundra! It required a lot of uphill, 12,000 feet elevation, and some scary view points.

Took another ranger walk to appreciate the diversity in the plant life. In one square foot there can be up to 27 different plants!

We got lucky and saw a tamingran, looks like a pigeon, but well adapted to the windy and snowy conditions of the Never Summer Mountains. 

Even these Kromholt pines get wind burn (the dried part on the top).

We continued on a couple hikes on the mission to find a moose.

Unfortunately this is the only one we found.