Arches National Park, Mile High City, & Mount Rushmore

Busy, busy, busy traveling days have we endured. I shall try my best to recall our adventures while already half falling asleep. On Tuesday morning we departed Green River, Utah for Arches National Park. We knew that we were not going to be able to spend a lot of time at this particular park which very much disappointed us, but of course we made the best of our time. Yet again another confusing, mind-blowing park. The jutting rock formations arching, curving, leaning, and resting upon the earth's surface perplexed and amazed me. We took the window arches hike which was quite nice and a lovely way to start our morning and leave Utah. Southern Utah was one of the coolest places I have ever visited. I highly recommend it to anyone, especially those with a passion and appreciation for the outdoors as well as the unfathomable. Our next stop was Colorado. Along the way we stopped at Bair Ranch and ate lunch along the Colorado River. it was very nice and the pit stop allowed us to also read about the canyon road which we were driving, apparently a US marvel. Also on the way we reached over 11,000 feet which is the highest I have ever been. I definitely felt as though I was having trouble breathing. Before we arrived at our final destination, Denver, we stopped in Westminster, CO just north of Denver to rendezvous with one of Azar's buddies, Jeff. jeff took us to the city of Boulder, CO. Apparently Boulder is a very hippy town. It just so happened that we were in Boulder on 4/20 (for those of you who don't know, this is a dumb American day for druggies...April 20th is apparently the day to celebrate getting high) Anyways..it was that realization of the day that Jeff was sure hippy Boulder would be crazy..it sadly was not. haha We walked along the old square and then had a great dinner. After we parted ways with Jeff we drove down to Denver to spend a few nights with my beautiful and wonderful friend, Andrea, who I had not seen in two years. After lots of hugs and a short chat we called it a night. On Wednesday morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit and then took to the streets of Denver. Andrea lives in an area that is perfect for commuting by foot. Azar and I decided we would head downtown. We first visited the State capitol which was an impressive sight. We also observed a hearing going on which we later deduced was a hearing having to do with the tuition hike of public universities. Across from the State Capitol is City Hall. It so happened we were in Denver the week that the city was introducing hundreds of bikes into the city. On Wednesday morning the Mayor of Denver (who apparently owns a brewery) lead a bike ride througout the city. Needless to say, I was really excited about this Denver cycle movement! =) After our visits to the political hub of Colorado we continued walking downtown to Lodo (lower downtown) as well as the Theater District, Larimere Square. During our walk we started to talk to a gentleman inquiring what all the construction was across from Union Station. He said that Denver wants to make this lot of land an underground convergence point for all trains. Denver is also adding more light rail and adding more office and residential space. This gentleman was actually one of the architects for this project! After our lovely afternoon in the city we drove to a Mexican grocery to pick up the necessities for our Mexican homemade meal for the night that Andrea was cooking for us. There is a huge Mexican population and influence in Denver that surprised me. The grocery store experience was one of the best!! It was like a fiesta. Great Mexican music playing in the store surrounded by people making homemade tortillas and tostadas. It was just fabulous!! When we got back to Andrea's apartment we cooked together and it was wonderful. That night was a night of delicious food and fabulous company. We drank awesome Colorado beer (Fat Tire and Sunshine from New Belgium) and the wine from Sterling Vineyard. It was truly a magical evening and reuniting with Andrea was splendid!!! Andrea and her great roommates..thank you for having us. It was so much fun!! Thursday morning we sadly departed for South Dakota. Our day through Wyoming and SD will be continued at a later time. I need to catch some zzzzz. Tomorrow we head from Minneapolis to Chicago. One last note for the evening: I LOVE Minneapolis!! =) Another American gem.