Hello Colorado

After Zion, we had intended to stop by Bryce Canyon and maybe Arches, but time ran short, what a surprise, so we had to skip them and drive straight to Denver. We drove through the entire state of Utah, pretty much, except for the big cities. Because of the landscape and possibly the insane heat, there weren't a lot of towns to drive through. We managed to find a McDonald's that was apparently the hot spot of a small town. At this point, even the kids were sick of McDonald's.

By nightfall, we had reached Colorado and were driving through the mountains near Vail and Aspen. Unfortunately, the husband finally succumbed to exhaustion from driving, so I had to take over that windy stretch of road. There is no worse driving condition for me than driving in pitch-blackness or on windy roads. Just my luck, I was stuck with both (the husband fell asleep just before we reached the first curve). So that slowed us down a lot.

On the plus side, the adrenalin coursing through my body cleared my sinuses right up. I would see a curve up ahead, and less than two seconds later, my sinuses would clear. Considering that hormones are secreted in unbelievably tiny amounts, like parts per trillions, and that it must take time for the cells to receive the hormone and react in cascade fashion, and yet my body was ready to react in 2 seconds, the human body is really an amazing thing. Even an old one that is infected with viruses.

I won't tell you what time we finally made it to Denver because then I would get lots of hate comments, mostly from my sisters and moms, about what inept parents we are for dragging our kids around at such an ungodly hour. Especially with one kid being sick. And none of the kids with a footrest, so their feet might swell. Also, with only 2 blankets, even though it was 91 degrees out. At night.The point is, we did eventually arrive in Denver and check into our hotel. The clerk must've been mad at us for waking her up, because she stuck us in a room with a broken sofa bed and only one towel. We were too tired to care, so the husband threw the sofa bed mattress on the ground and promptly fell asleep.

When we woke up, the husband had gone to his computer training, so we unpacked a bit and watched some TV, which is always a treat for the kids, because they (imagine a whiny 6 year old voice) "never get to watch TV."

Later, we moved to another room, with a functional sofa bed and more towels. After all that moving and unpacking with my fever still, I passed out on the bed. While I was asleep, my son spotted a mouse running around the room and chased it under the bed. "Squeaker" entertained them for quite awhile.

We didn't move to another room, because I figured there were probably mice running throughout the hotel. Also, I was too lazy tired to move again. So I mostly kept to the bed and had the kids stomp around the room right before I had to step foot on the floor. Worked for me.

Thus, our first day in Denver came and went, mostly in our hotel room. We didn't even go out till dinner. My first observation about Denverites was that they smoke more than Californians. The restaurants actually have a smoking section, and there are ash trays all over the place.

I would have two more days in Denver to make other such brilliant observations.