krista@Travelintoxication.com
Day 8 of our road trip…first day we encountered a storm.
Woke up bright and early and loaded everything, including us, into Ron Burgandy…heading for Colorado. It was a six hour drive and we wanted to drive straight through. Beth took the morning shift, and I took the afternoon shift of driving. It took us longer then six hours due to traffic and the beautiful thunder and lightening storm happening around us. Brutal driving that long with very little breaks.
The rain and cold weather was actually welcoming to us, it felt so good. We were listening to the local radio station and the National Weather Service kept cutting into the program letting everyone know there was a thunder and lightening storm alert in certain areas and what they advised people to do. The storm was 16 miles long with winds of up to 60 miles per hour. Luckily we weren’t close enough to have to take cover inside, nor did we have golf ball size hail. Ron Burgandy would probably not fair well with large ice balls slamming into him…but we would have had some good pictures and a better story to tell.
Colorado only has liquor sales, including beer, in liquor stores only. So as the boys went into the closest liquor store, us girls started calling around for rooms near Denver, Colorado. We got a cheap room at the Courtyard by Marriot next to the airport.
Travel tip: Since at least one of us works for the government, and we brought our government ID’s, we have been asking for the hotel price, then asking if they give a government rate. They either say yes and knock some money off, or they say no. We’ve saved quite a bit of money this trip just by asking and having the ID to prove it.
Took many wrong turns due to the map app on Dana’s phone telling us to go to abandoned parking lots in not so good places in downtown Denver…probably so we could get car jacked. But we prevailed and made it safe and sound to the right hotel…we accidently went to the wrong one first. Ooops.
Once we arrived at the correct hotel we unloaded the burgundy in pouring down rain, got settled into our room then we walked to the lobby bar/restaurant. It had some pretty good food, and drinks. In each booth they had TV’s. It was odd to me, but I did get to watch one of my favorite movies, “He’s just not that into you,” story of my life.
I was alone at the bar after everyone ate, had their drinks and went back to the room. It was nice to just sit and be. Plus, I got to talk to the amazing bartender and to hear about her life’s experiences. She was very sweet. At some point a frustrated mom came downstairs for a coffee as she left her ‘unable to sleep’ child with her father in their room. It was nice for two moms to talk about kids, a little debriefing on the road. Once the bar closed I said my goodbyes and wandered to the room…happy.
This is what traveling is about…connecting and learning about people in other parts of the country.
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