You Are Now Leaving Colorful Colorado

You know it was a super good night when your husband wakes up and says "Oh no."
You should always start drinking at 2 PM. 

Our last morning in Colorado was pretty cozy. We woke up to Denver friends camped on the living room couches- one with a really cool monster truck tattoo glommed on to his face, and our roomie Steveo making good coffee. We all sat in the living room recounting all the exciting things that happened the night before like ditching bikes at the bars, ordering XL Cosmos pizzas and watching Mystery Science Theater on the couch while already blacked out.  We're all over 30 so evening like this don't happen as often. As Sean has explained to too many doctors, "controlled binge drinking" is an option and a great lifestyle choice.

We eventually had to grab our Chrysler Pacifica from the Avis and start packing up. We had a brilliant plan of having 6 bags to check in. We had two 90L REI duffels, one 120 L duffel, two backpacking packs and a hockey bag complete with stick bag not to mention Ruby's ginormous kennel. This doesn't even include our two carry-ons. Anyways, all the baggage in the world and one very ornery dog got packed up in a mini-van for a three-day journey and we had to say goodbye to our wonderful roommates. 

Leaving Boulder is heart-aching. I moved to Boulder a very immature, insecure 22-year old without too much attachment to the idea of staying. I left as an immature, insecure 35 year old with so many good memories and the feeling like the place is literally part of my being. I really wish it had worked out. 

Passing through I-70 was also a bit of a trip down memory lane. It's a little sad we didn't really drive through most of summer, a testament of how overwhelming Colorado traffic has gotten. I do remember all my CDOT road trips with so much fondness though. I always got to drive on weekdays and there was a time driving to Craig or Grand Junction was nothing to me. After Vail Pass, you were basically home free. It was hundreds of hours of podcasts and Taylor Swift and coworkers with car-mouth (i.e. telling everyone your life story because of highway hypnosis or absolute boredom, IDK). 

A Wyoming-ite once told me at a conference that Wyoming was so much smarter about their roads because they didn't display all of the beautiful stuff their state has to offer so people weren't swarming in from all ends of the earth. Absolutely true but it was a great view for saying goodbye. 

I forgot to mention I spent most of my time sobbing. Crossing into Utah was very emotional. 






 


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