The Long Trip Home... And Back!

Last last Sunday, my wife Laura and I went on a grand road trip across the United States to visit my family in Southern California for Christmas... we just arrived home tonight!  It was a pretty great trip, filled with a lot of very memorable moments, both good and bad.  I thought you might enjoy a timeline of the trip.



Saturday, Dec 18th - Go to the doctor, find out I have strep.  Great.

Sunday, Dec 19th - Despite the strep, we leave on time.  We take I-64 through Louisville, Indiana, and Illinois, then head through the great city of St. Louis.  We drive all the way through Missouri, and stop at the Holiday Inn in Overland Park, Kansas for the night (it is a suburb of Kansas City).  We meet up with an college friend of ours and we go out to dinner at some well thought-of Chinese restaurant.  It was quite good, but the portions were ridiculous; seriously, the chicken pieces in the Orange Chicken that my friend Gabe had were the size of tennis balls.  I have never seen anything like that.  After a fun night with Gabe and his girlfriend, we head our respective ways to rest up for the next day of trekking.

Monday, Dec 20th - No complimentary breakfast, Holiday Inn?  Anyway, we hit the road early and spend most of the day driving through Kansas on I-70... it's one of those big square states that seem to never end.  Eventually, we get to the Colorado border, and we finally arrive at Denver in the early evening.  We stay with another college friend, Brendan, who lives in an apartment downtown on the 31st floor... needless to say, the view of the Rockies is incredible (but I said it anyway).  We enjoy Denver's best Mexican food, and spend the night catching up with each other.  But, unfortunately, we find out our road may get a little hairy in the morning...

Tuesday, Dec 21st - No complimentary breakfast, Brendan?  I kid.  We check the weather and decide to go for the scenic drive across the Rockies and Utah on I-70.  It was, admittedly, a nearly fatal mistake... ever hit ice patches while going down the Vail Pass at 70 mph with semi-trucks around you?  More on that later, if you are interested...