Teacher Road Trip 4 Final Numbers

So folks, we completed Teacher Road 4: Southwest Edition and here are the final numbers!

Miles driven (in a Jucy Van, no less): 3171 miles

Number of States: 10

Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah 

Capitals visited: 4 

Santa Fe, NM; Denver, CO; Cheyenne, WY; Salt Lake City, UT

National Parks Visited: 4 + 1 state park

Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion

Miles Hiked: 16.6 miles

Grand Canyon: South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point

Arches National Park: Delicate Arch

Dead Horse Point State Park: East and West Rim Trail

Bryce Canyon: Navejo Trail/Queens Garden Loop

Zion National Park: The Narrows (4 miles of it), Lower Emerald Pools

Musicals listened to: 5 

Newsies (for Santa Fe and New Mexico), Wicked (for Kansas), Hamilton, Les Miserable, The Last 5 Years

That brings out total states to 34 and leaves mostly states that start with I and M. Look for us next year when we try to cross some of the last 16 states off our list!

-TechTalkin’ and Walkin’

Day 17: This is How We Vegas

There’s not much to report about this day because we woke up, got coffee, and proceeded to sit at the Aria pool for 5 hours. I guess we were tired? Things got dicey for a minute when it appeared we were being surrounded by small, thrashing children in the pool, but we made it out and back to our chairs to indulge in some adult beverages. Sometime in the afternoon, I went back up to shower while Suavest of the Seas and Tech Talkin and Walkin checked out the Aria Cafe where they discovered this slogan (and today’s blog post title):

Apparently we Vegas like a bunch of geriatrics, but we’re cool with that. Sleeping (literally) in a van can be draining. We cleaned up and embarked on a hunt for some good quality sushi; fresh fish isn’t exactly on every menu in small southwest towns. We decided to walk through the hotels on the south side of the strip checking out the new Cosmopolitan, and the infamous Bellagio and Caesar Palace. We decided that the Cosmopolitan isn’t really that great and the latter two casinos are looking a little dated. But- we found some bomb sushi at Caesar’s!! Our server at Sushi Roku was seriously excited about the fish, which only heightened our experience. 

Over dinner we received alerts on our phone that our blog (yes, this blog) was receiving unusually high traffic. Wondering what was going on, we searched on Google to find that someone had snapped our picture in Denver last week and tweeted it!

So that was cool! Thanks @salesmillennial for the publicity. We also got a comment from Jucy World on Instagram for our farewell picture of the turtle. We decided to walk home outside, which proved to be very difficult since we are fast paced New Yorkers and Vegas tourists are just…slow. But, the snail pace worked out so that we were in front of the Bellagio for the light show!

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We dipped back into the Cosmopoltan to have a celebratory drink at the Chandelier Bar and attempted to capture the magic on camera but, you had to be there #htbt. 

Feeling tired, full, and sleepy, we returned to our room and hopped into the plush beds for sleep. We’re not ashamed…this is how we Vegas!

The Gringo Gaucho

#teacherroadtrip #southwest 

Day 16: Hiking and Highrolling

Ahhhh… Our last night in the Jucy van… It was a fairly typical night in the Cedar City KOA although we did have to set an alarm so we could beat the crowds at Zion. 

We pulled into the visitor center parking lot around 9:15 and jumped in line to take the Zion Shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava. We decided to take the Riverside Walk to the Narrows and walk a little ways up the Virgin River. This part of Zion was beautiful as the river creates a “swamp” in the middle of the Utah Desert. We got to use different muscles as we walked upriver over rocks and through currents, testing our balance and ankle strength (#functionalfitness).

On our way back to the visitor center we tried a shorter and more traditional hike to the lower Emerald Pools and discovered that although the pools were brown, they were named for the green algae that grew on the walls due to the water that ran down the walls.

Views from the trail:

We stopped at the Whiptail Cafe for some delicious salads and tacos (and water!) before returning to Vegas to conclude our road trip. As we drove across the windy plain (Suavest of the Seas and the Gringo Gaucho worked out their forearms trying to keep our Jucyvan from being blown all over the road) we experienced the huge change in temperature and prepared to say goodbye to our trusty Jucy van (#byejucy).

We ubered to our last stop on this trip, the Aria (#highrollers #wemadeit) 

and waited for 2 hours as the maintenance man installed a door lock on our bathroom door (we didn’t even get upgraded to the Presidential Suite!). However, once that was taken care of, we found our way to the Bardot Brasserie for a four-course meal (so delicious!).

Although we had been put on a list for the hottest nightclub in Vegas (at least in the Aria) we decided that with our early day, hiking, time change, and delicious meal, it was time for bed (#thisis30). Stay tuned for our final tallies and last day in Vegas!

-TechTalkin’ and Walkin’

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers

Day 15: The Worlds of the West

You already know we’re all teachers. Well collectively we have taught 38 different courses, led 5 departments and 2 grade level teams, mentored 13 new teachers, acted as dean, Coordinator of Student Affairs, Commom Core Liason, and Literacy Coach. There’s this expression our administrators love to use when talking to us about our various roles. They say, “put on your teacher hat!” Or, “put on your team leader hat!” We sort of hate that because if you’re a teacher it’s damn near impossible to forget it at any given moment. And your priority as a teacher is always (or should be) what’s best for the kids. But anyway, I share this with you because today we wore many hats. 

👒 Hat #1: Suburban Woman

We had some time to kill this morning as we wanted to hike Bryce Canyon in the late afternoon once it had cooled off. So we sought out the downtown area of Cedar City for coffee at Starbucks (a suburban woman staple) and some shopping. Now, the shopping isn’t as glorious as it sounds. Suavest of the Seas and Tech Talkin and Walkin needed water shoes for the hike we’ve chosen for Zion tomorrow. We figured Walmart would have some hideous $5 water shoes. We figured wrong. So we tried Payless, and Walgreens, and Christensen’s Department Store, and CAL Ranch Shop, and EVENTUALLY we found some pretty hideous strappy, Velcro things that were far beyond the desired price limit at Famous Footwear. Whatever, now we’re all equipped for next year in Yellowstone. We continued our suburban woman morning by catching a matinee of The Legend of Tarzan for HALF the price of a movie ticket in NYC. We have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed it (and not just because Alexander Skarsgard was looking fine) and rate it much higher than Independence Day: Resurrection. Margot Robbie was a spicy Jane, the visuals were beautiful, and the story line was much more comprehensible than ID:R. Our only  comment is that we wish the real history were as rosy because in reality Tarzan did not stop King Leopold of Belgium from enslaving a country and exploiting their natural resources for profit. Our very own history teacher tells us that the Belgians would send the Congolese into the jungle to find rubber and if they did not return with enough, the soldiers would cut off the hands of the slaves’ children. Strangely, that didn’t make it into the film. 

👒👒 Hat #2: Outdoorsey Woman

 Next we jumped back into the #jucyvan (or the turtle as we’ve been affectionately calling it because it’s green, our home, and moves with us when we travel) and drove East to Bryce Canyon. We purchased stickers for our matching water bottles as evidence of our presence in yet another national park and put on our reasonable footwear, unlike the many Europeans we saw “hiking” in flip flops. We started on the Navajo Loop, since it’s our third High Five trail of the trip and walked down “Wall Street.”

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At the bottom we realized that we had more in us, so we determined to take the Queens Garden trail to Sunrise Peak. It added about a mile and a half to our hike, which felt good at the time but we will probably regret in Zion next. The views from the top were gorgeous, of course we could have just driven along the rim like many other tourists. 

👒👒👒 Hat #3: Cowgirl

We finished our hike with an appetite for dinner, definitely against the norm as we’ve been eating dinner st 9:30 every night like the New Yorkers we are. We drove into town to Ruby’s Restaurant and opted out of the cowboy buffet for some straightforward entrees while Tech Talkin and Walkin read all about Ruby in the local gazette. After a brief walk through of the General Store, we crossed the road to see a Rodeo. We wish it was Frontier Days, but sadly we were too far from Cheyenne. Instead we got the B-List Rodeo celebs and some audience participation from the kids. Suavest of the Seas realized her disdain for rodeos based on the treatment of animals. I quote, “Hey little boy! Let’s tie a ribbon to your ass and have a herd of cows chase you and see how you feel!” We did find some humor though in the “horn hats” they put on the calves for the lasso event. 

After a stressful drive home through the dark mountains we returned to our KOA for our final night in the turtle. It’s coming to an end, but (to quote our favorite July 4 movie) it ain’t over till the fat lady sings! 

-The Gringo Guacho

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers

Day 14: #Hallelujah

It seems like every night we spend in a KOA, we spend the next night catching up on our sleep in a hotel. This morning was no exception as we slept in so late that we missed the complimentary breakfast and had to satisfy ourselves with Starbucks and some delicious protein shakes from Protein Foundary. Then we drove down to the center of Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. It was there that we saw how hip the Church of LDS is with their hashtag #hallelujah.

Pretty much every recommended thing to see in Salt Lake City is around Temple Square. We began by entering near the Tabernacle and stopping by the visitor’s kiosk to get a map. We walked around the beautiful grounds (Temple Square encompasses 35 acres) and started our tour with the Assembly Hall, where the Tabernacle choir normally practices and holds free recitals for the public (unfortunately, the Taberbacle Choir was on tour this week, as is every performer in the Southwest!). 

We walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, where a very nice and informative volunteer told us all of the sites to see in the memorial building, in Temple Square, and gave a glowing endorsement of the film, Meet the Mormons, which was unfortunately not playing currently due to renovations. She did recommend the lobby, which had been restored to its former Hotel Utah glory and included a pianist playing classics such as “Bring in the Clowns” and “Close to You.” We also took a quick ride up to the 10th floor to check out a closer view of the Temple, which was very impressive but not open to visitors.

Then, we wandered over to Lion House and Beehive House, Brigham Young’s residence and office. We decided to take the free tour where 2 young volunteers led us through the house and offices and gave us a lesson on the history of Utah, as well as a basic understanding of the beliefs of the church. Among some of the interesting facts were that Utah, which is called the Beehive state, was given the name not because of its many bees, but because Brigham Young wanted the people to be industrious and “busy as bees.” The house and offices were beautifully maintained and our tour guides gave us an excellent tour. 


Courtesy of google images 

We were told that top of the Church Offices building offered one of the best views of Salt Lake City so we signed in to get a guided tour to the 26th floor, which afforded views of the Capitol (an exact replica of our nation’s Capitol) and the Great Salt Lake (a little harder to see).

We also learned why the sea gull is the state bird of Utah. Apparently, very soon after the Mormons settled into the valley that would become Salt Lake City, huge desert crickets invaded the settlement. They were eating all the crops and becoming such a nuisance that they were going to cause a big problem, especially because more pioneers were expected to arrive soon. One day, the Mormons, after praying, looked up to see a sky full of seagulls. The birds swooped down and ate the crickets, then flew to drink some fresh water and regurgitate them up, before returning to the settlement to fill their bellies again. This happened for 3 weeks before the crickets were eliminated and the pioneers were so thankful that they made the seagull the state bird. 

We were so impressed with how much each volunteer tour guide knew and how friendly they were (my cheeks hurt from smiling all afternoon). We could have spent more time learning about the history (and checking our family trees in the Church History Libaray) but our parking time was up and it was time to make it towards our almost-last stop of the road trip.

However, before we left SLC for good, we stopped by the Gringo Gaucho’s brother’s place of employment to check out the new gym. Let’s just say that if I lived in Utah, I would never leave #vasafitness because they have a workout room where they play movies (meaning, you can run on a treadmill while you watch a movie in a darkened theater… I would be running marathons without realizing it!). 

We finally got on the road and drove our last long drive to Cedar City. We checked into our KOA and ate dinner at the cutest pizza place anywhere (and tagged a wall as per our tradition). 

Tomorrow is hiking (and hopefully rodeoing) in Bryce Canyon so check in again as we finish with not one, but two, national parks (and we can vote for our favorite for the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service).

Goodnight!

-TechTalkin’ and Walkin’

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers

Day 12: We Hiked it and We Liked it!

Today started with a small party of socializing chipmunks who woke the birds who woke the sunrise backpackers who woke us. We considered filing a noise complaint (we are jaded New Yorkers after all) but realized we should probably just join the fun and hit the trails before the midday sun. That led us to Dead Horse Point National Park (a suggestion we received from a parking lot friend in Steamboat) where we abided by the honor system and paid our $10 by envelope to Utah. Note to future hikers: Dead Horse is not a national park and your annual pass will not work here. 

After filling our water bottles with stickers and H2O, we hit the trail. We chose the East Rim to the point of dead horses. “According to one legend, around the turn of the century the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below” (Moab Adventure Center).  

You can see the fence and river in these shots:

A mile and a half later we made it to the point and took in the breathtaking canyon, which like everything, was formed by water and time.  Another note to hikers: the cell service at Dead Horse Point is awesome! It was so good that I was even able to FaceTime a special someone in NY who was simultaneously reading the blog 😉! It was almost as interactive as Pokemon Go!

We were feeling good. We were feeling ambitious. We were feeling cocky. So we chose the longer route home along the western rim. This wouldn’t have been so difficult had the bathrooms and water access not been closed for cleaning leaving us dehydrated in the 11 am sun. But alas, we survived (as that teen tour hopefully did last night in the dark). 

After working up a healthy appetite, we stopped in Green River for some fry bread, salads, and pie!

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving north to Salt Lake City. We listened to yet another musical soundtrack, this time The Last Five Years, and Suavest of the Seas and I napped while Tech Talkin and Walkin drove the carriage (the buggie? the phaeton? the cabriolet?) We arrived with time to take some seriously needed showers at a hotel which offers not only a free continental breakfast, but dinner too! Alas, we did not stay for dinner because we had some new friends to meet. 

Namely, Chief!! Chief is my brother and his girlfriend’s adolescence pit bull. While Chief was too excited at first, he did eventually show us his arsenal of tricks for a treat, and then tore the toy moose we brought him to pieces while politely spitting out fluff and plastic (RIP Moose). We were told he will carry the dead body around for days as a trophy. 

Chief wasn’t the only attraction though, as he belongs to some awesome humans. We got to catch up, see the Utah digs, and enjoy Utah’s finest gourmet pizza with Zach and CJ! It was a bit confusing to decide where to go to eat since Utah apparently loves to name dining establishments after lemons, but we settled on Pizza Limone and their vast selection of Pellegrinos. We took it all back to Zach and CJ’s place so that Chief could dine with us- he got so many crusts which he then thanked us for with big slobbery face kisses. We also finally saw an Alaska lisence plate, which leaves us with North Dakota and Hawaii as the sole hold outs. Fingers crossed that we’ll find them in Zion and not have to chase them down in a Chick-fil-a parking lot like last time.

After some good discussion about the past, present, future, real estate prices in Colorado, and the Real Housewives (shout out to CJ for getting Zach to watch- although remind me someday to tell you about the summer I caught him following General Hospital) we caught ourselves dozing off with Chief on the couch. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to rest our aching legs. 

The Gringo Gaucho

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers

Day 11: We survived Moab (not yet)

We woke up to the crisp autumn air of Steamboat Springs… No, seriously, it was only 38 degrees. We also slept for 10 hours because we were apparently super exhausted and knew we needed to charge up before our camping/hiking denouement to our Southwest Roadtrip.

We found some Starbucks and grabbed some kale bowls for the road and proceeded to drive 4.5 hours to Moab, Utah. 

Other than listening to yet another musical (Les Mis) the trip was mostly uneventful although the landscape changed from cool, green mountains to hot, dusty desert.

We found the Moab KOA and for the first time since Vegas we saw another Jucy Van (in fact we saw four other Jucy Vans!). #jucyfriends

Once we checked into our KOA, we decided to do a sunset hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Delicate Arch is apparently the most famous arch in the world and is featured on the Utah license plate. We hiked 1.5 miles uphill on a well populated path and arrived at the arch just as the sun dipped behind the nearby rock walls. 

We didn’t stay long because navigating a steep trail in the dark wasn’t appealing and we managed to make it back to our car just as it got dark. We saw many hikers starting their hike, including a teen group (we can’t get away!) with shirts that stated, “We survived Moab!” All we could think was maybe they should wait until after the night hike to wear the shirts. 

We felt we had earned a large, carb-filled dinner so we stopped at Pasta Jay’s (pasta!, pasta!, pasta!). Twelve hours and fifty degrees after our day started, we rolled back into the massive KOA and tried to sleep in the heat. Tune in tomorrow to see if WE survived Moab! 

-TechTalkin and Walkin

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers

Day 10: Get a Horse!

We woke this morning as the JucyVan rocked in the 35 mph wind like a cradle…a cradle that’s about to plummet from the tree and kill the baby a la sleep-a-bye baby. We now understand why the plains get tornados. Due to extreme weather conditions, we packed up quickly and high tailed it out of the campground along with the rest of the “tent site” campers. 

Suavest of the Seas got pretty excited about a Perkins advertised from the highway, so we headed over for biscuits. We were delighted to find the substitute fruit bowl filled with fresh berries instead of the tasteless, white melon we’ve been served everywhere else this trip. 

At this point we figured, we’re in Cheyenne, let’s check it out. Sadly, we were a week early for Frontier Days Rodeo (we’re seriously thinking of coming back next year though because…Cowboys) so instead we checked out the Frontier Days Old West Museum- and we were NOT disappointed. We first checked out the wagons of western times and dressed respectively as the Cowboy and the School Marm and I was pushed to the side because, “Ladies don’t drive, Cowboys do!” while posing in this carriage. 

We saw many other carriages, including this one that rode to Deadwood (requisite shout out to Pete who loves that show):

We also decided that Volkswagon uses ancient carriage names for their models since we saw a Bug(gie), a Phaeton, and a Cabroliolet, although that’s “Randi Logic” ™ (a.k.a. Something that makes sense to the speaker but isn’t confirmed by any actual research). We learned that when the automobile was first invented, hecklers would stand on be streets and yell, “Get a horse!” at the passerbys, which we found hysterical, hence the title of this post. 

Since the museum was such a hit, we thought we’d check out Historic Cheyenne. Let’s just say that wasn’t a hit, so we headed for the highway and the mountains. We passed some beautiful scenery (unfortunately, we didn’t have the correct camera equipment to capture its majesty) as we climbed to almost 7,000 feet. It’s a good thing Casually Kissing Cowboys returned to sea level or she would have felt truly ill. 

We made it to Steamboat and awkwardly tossed our JucyVan keys to the valet of the prestigious Steamboat Sheraton Resort 😳. After a quick change, we picked up smoothies and found our way to the hot springs, which were hot! Luckily, we asked our hotel for the “adult” hot springs and not the water park, kid-friendly hot springs, and made it in and out before the clothing optional night time hours. 

After returning all “healed” from the springs, we walked around the base of the mountain and marveled at the resting ski lifts while imagining the bustle of the winter months. We had dinner at The Tasty Pig where we delightfully consumed corn bread while checking out the view:

We were so tired from our adventures that we then put ourselves to bed for 10 straight hours. It’s good we rested though because some strenuous hikes were ahead of us…

Until then,

The Gringo Gaucho

Day 9: That Time We Went to Nebraska

There’s nothing like waking up in a super luxerious hotel in a beautiful mountain city. We enjoyed the amenities as long as we could before meeting The Gringo Gaucho’s friend Shira at Brasserie 1010 for brunch (I had crepes filled with shaved brussel sprouts and brie). We then headed to the University of Colorado campus to reminisce about the Gringo Gaucho’s college days and share our own stories of visiting our alma maters (Vassar for Suavest of the Seas and Clemson- go Tigers!-for me). 

After the Gringo Gaucho paid a quick visit to a local CU store and displayed her school spirit, 
we headed north to do our annual factory tour.

We took Sleepytime Drive (past Zinger Drive) to…(drumroll, please)… The Celestial Seasonings Factory. We were handed our tickets for the free tour:

and got to do some tea tasting while we waited.

There were lots of reasons why this tour was phenomenal, including walking on the actual factory floor (we had to wear hairnets), standing in the mint room where the peppermint oil was stored before processing, and the explanation of how tea and herbal infusions are made. It was very cool to walk past the bags of ingredients on the factory floor and smell chamomile, hibiscus, cinnamon, and all the other things that go into Celestial Seasonings Tea. There was also an amazing gift shop that included everything that tea-drinkers love (think mugs, journals, and cute shirts- Suavest of the Seas even bought one).
Then, we continued north toward Wyoming, land of rolling hills and bison. We briefly passed Cheyenne on our way to our KOA to check in and then decided to take a quick trip to the border so we could “hit” Nebraska. See, we’ve been there, here’s the proof!

We actually beat our previous time in a state (previously held by Oklahoma) as we went one exit in and turned around to head back to Cheyenne. Maybe we’ll make it back to Nebraska at another time but we were ready to explore Cheyenne. 

We were ready to find some bison burgers so we headed to the Terry Bison Ranch which included a restaurant, a western town, and views of the camels and bison on the ranch. They also offer ATV and horse rides but alas, we did not have time so maybe next time! 

We caught a beautiful sunset and then returned to our KOA campsite where we turned in early (and woke frequently because of huge gusts of winds). But that’s a story for the next day 🙂

Next up is cutting back down through Colorado on our way to Utah and the national parks. Till next time!

-TechTalkin and Walkin

Day 8: Boulder my Heart

Today’s the day I got to return to my love, Boulder, CO! We woke up a bit dehydrated in Denver and very sad to be starting our first day in the absence of our dear Casually Kissing Cowboys (pour one out). Tech Talkin and Walkin headed to the gym while Suavest of the Seas and I played with my cousin’s new puppy all morning- Shout to Harley, cutest lil’ mutt at a mile high! We all reconvened at a delicious French bakery that defied Casually Kissing Cowboy’s belief that all French people are rude for delicious savory pastries and pain au chocolat. 

We then hijacked my cousin Naomi and headed to the mountains! I vaguely remember a Sports Illustrated article about CU Boulder that came out a decade ago referencing heaven. Yet (and this is difficult for me to admit, being a teacher of English), nothing could ever capture the moment driving along US 36 over the crest of the final hill before Boulder Valley when the red rooftops of CU Campus emerge pressed against the backdrop of the mammoth flat irons. I get chills every time I return.

We headed straight to my dear friend Daniela’s house and, on account of what I refer to as the Boulder Baby Boom, embarked on an epic play date in North Boulder with 9 adults and 5 babes- we had them out numbered! We pushed strollers along the sidewalk and marveled at the obscene spike in real estate (seriously people, legalization of marijuana is cool and all but is that really what it took for you to realize how absolutely perfect this town is?) and made our way to Mo’s Broadway Bagels. They’re not New York bagels, but they’re the closest thing this side of the Mississippi. 

Afterwards, we made our way to a park where we saw some referees setting up this game:

which clearly we wanted to partake in, however were told it was set up for some corporate event. We would like to comment that those corporate brats never showed up and a missed opportunity was had by all. Instead, we blew up our Woo Hoo inflatable couch, only to have it burst open at the seams 2 minutes later after an overexcited Avayah jumped on it. Note, don’t believe Amazon reviews. The Woo Hoo is a piece of plastic crap. If you want one of these things, go with the European original. 

https://www.fatboy.com/lamzac

Avayah was pretty upset over the incident but we kissed and made up. 

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After some refreshing 75 cent lemonades from some enthusiastic entrepreneurs, we kissed the babes goodbye and headed to our hotel. 

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My friend Jon said it perfectly when I met him at the bar for a pre dinner drink. “Look at you staying at the St Julien. We only ever got to come here when our parents were visiting!” Oh, how far we’ve come. Actually, it didn’t feel far when we rolled up to the valet next to the Audis and Mercedes in our Dodge Caravan JucyVan with 117,000 miles and 3 inches of dust caked on. Even more embarrassing was handing the keys over and explaining how the key fab was busted and you have to use the jenky toothpick key to lock and unlock one door at a time. On the plus side, our JucyVan was too tall for the parking garage so we got some free advertising when they parked it in the driveway on Walnut with our hashtags covering the windows. 

Jon and I headed across the street to the Attic to reminisce while Tech Talkin and Walkin and Suavest of the Seas enjoyed the luxuries of our hotel room (and that bathtub!) We met back up for dinner at Oak (another place we never could have afforded in college) and opted for fancy Cabernet over the Coors Light we once enjoyed on Pearl Street. My college and post-college worlds collided as Jon shared some questionable stories about our past choices and the debauchery that was our college experience. 

Sadly, Jon had to drive back to Denver so we parted, but were joined by Daniela (minus her two squeezable kids). We went to kiss the Buffalo at the Pub and then immediately left when approached by some 23 year old gentlemen. We chose the slightly more mature West End Tavern roof top garden to sip bubbly and discuss current events while inhaling the potent campfire smell rolling down the canyon from the forest fires blazing above us (not as terrifying as it sounds).

We rolled back into our swanky digs for the night and nestled ourselves into the white down of our hotel beds for our last goodnight of sleep for awhile. 

More Boulder coming at you tomorrow!

The Gringo Gaucho

#teacherroadtrip #jucyworld #southwest #roadtrip #teachers