Starting home

Day 21

We left the next morning after breakfast. We won't soon forget the meals at Eileen's house. Sean and Jonathan exchanged email addresses and then we headed off to Denver.

The day was largely uneventful. We drove by the Appel ranch as we headed south from Gillette. We played state trivia in the new game Sean had received and MarKay read from the Lewis and Clark book. We marvelled out the huge coal cars heading out of town on multiple tracks. Ironically, some of them appear to head toward a town called Newcastle.

Eastern Wyoming is very green this year. Usually the semi-arid rolling prairie is a brown color. There's enough moisture here for scrub grass to grow and feed cattle. You couldn't grow a crop successfully without lots of irrigation. Unless rhubarb becomes the latest health fad.

We got caught in road construction in Cheyenne while trying to grab dinner. It took forever to reach the local Perkins. We had a relaxing dinner, surrounded by James Bama and Bev Doolittle prints on the walls. We saw the capitol building. On the road again...

Or path through Colorado doesn't take us through the mountains, so we have to content ourselves with a distant view this trip. Boulder has been highly praised by Brett and Kristine. Maybe next time.

For time and weariness sake, we are just grabbing hotels on Priceline on the way back. Each city we'll stop in has an airport, so you can negotiate a good deal in that part of town. We're heading through town to the Hyatt (and a pretty town it is.)

I wish the Pig 'N' Whistle was still here to show Sean. Eddie Bohn, my dad's maternal first cousin, was a local prize fighter back in the Jack Dempsey era. He retired and opened a restaraunt, bar and motor lodge called the Pig 'N' Whistle on Colfax which was a stopping point for celebs and boxing fans until the highway passed by the old main drag downtown. Both Edie and the motel are gone now, but I remember visiting as a kid and seeing all the boxing photos on the wall. Cousin Eddie gave me a piggy bank I kept for quite some time, but it's gone now, too.

The Hyatt is fantastic. We got in early enough to swim. The room is really nice, with a big screen TV and a pull out bed for Sean.

We'll rest well tonight.