Day 3.15: Colorado Springs, CO to Denver, CO

We woke up – not too early – and went to The Urban Egg with Adina, which was just a short walk from her apartment. Abe ordered the cinnamon roll pancakes, Arielle got chocolate chip pancakes with a raspberry drizzle, and Adina got eggs and potatoes. Everything was delicious and it was nice to eat outside.

We returned to the apartment, where Arielle had a work call while Adina went out briefly. When she got back, we drove about twenty minutes and went adventuring in Colorado Springs. We stopped at multiple ice cream places, including one that sounded great but far too overwhelming called Frozen Gold, and ultimately Abe was the only one who got anything. We walked around downtown with Arthur, and Adina was concerned at one point that Abe was going to let him go when he offered to hold the leash (don’t worry, he didn’t). Adina got a smoothie before we left to drive back to the apartment and hang out a bit with Matt. We said goodbye to our hosts and got on the road for Denver.

Fortunately, we didn’t hit too much traffic, and made it to Pho on 6, a Vietnamese restaurant known for its vegetarian pho earlier than we expected. We met up with our friends Jeff, Talia, and Yona, and were pleased that the pho was huge and pretty tasty. Abe’s Szechuan Garlic Tofu took forever, as did the edamame, but they were both very good when they finally came out. We followed them back to their home and brought some stuff in. We hung out in their awesome basement room after Yona went to bed until the adults got tired too and we all went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 79

Day 3.14: Fort Collins, CO to Colorado Springs, CO

Arielle woke up early, packed up some of her things, and went to the front desk to ask about the late check-out. The woman she spoke to was very rude and unhelpful, putting a damper on an otherwise fantastic customer service experience at the hotel. Abe got up a bit later and took a few trips downstairs to load the car. He wasn’t sure where to park by the university, and we ended up getting a ticket that stated “violation – warning only” on it, which seemed fair enough since we hadn’t paid the meter since our car was supposed to be in the system. Abe’s presentation at the conference was slotted for right before the closing lunch, and he was fortunate enough to find the room where it was happening despite the building layouts being extremely confusing. There were about twenty-five people in attendance for his session, When Movies Won’t Let Us Die, which went very well. Only one attendee walked out when the focus turned to zombie movies, and everyone else seemed very engaged.

We were excited to learn that hamburgers and hot dogs were on the menu for lunch, and Abe got to meet a few of the people Arielle had been socializing and networking with over the past few days. We said goodbye to everyone at the conference and set out for Colorado Springs, which is about an hour south of Denver. We probably should have looked at a toll-free route, since our trip on 470 appeared to involve many tolling points that were each $4.70. We’ll see when we get the bill, but at least we made it without too much traffic down there, which we think we avoided by going around Denver. We were warmly greeted by Adina, who we last saw in Florida in February at Shosh and Eric’s wedding, and Matt, and after putting our things down, we went out to dinner. At Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, we learned about Matt’s meat-only diet while he enjoyed three orders of buffalo chicken wings. Abe got two orders of sweet chili wings, while Arielle got a salted caramel pretzel shake and fried pickles, which she found to be more than satisfactory. We looked out at a nice view of the mountains and went back to their apartment, where we got to sleep relatively early.

Approximate number of miles covered: 124

Day 3.12 and 3.13: Fort Collins, CO

Most of this Monday and Tuesday were spent at the Kavod v’Nichum conference for Arielle, while Abe was screening films playing at the JCC Manhattan’s Israel Film Center Festival on his computer. At the conference, Arielle presented on Medical Aid in Dying, and her very informative and engaging session was attended by about thirty people.

Abe joined on Monday for Arielle’s session and a few other programs, and we had the opportunity to network with some interesting people from around the country and Canada. We spent our nights hanging out in the hot tub, which was attached to the pool, meaning that Arielle could swing right over into the pool when she wanted to cool off at any point. We also met a couple from Pueblo, a few hours away in Colorado, that was attending the conference, and we were excited to learn that the husband’s brother was in the sewing machine business, running a company we later found out Arielle’s parents knew. Arielle bonded with the very friendly woman working at the front desk on Tuesday night, who we had seen numerous times throughout our stay, and she put us on a list to be considered for a late check-out the next morning. We put together some of our belongings and went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 4

Day 3.11: Custer, SD to Fort Collins, CO

We woke up in time to catch the end of breakfast, which cleverly featured yogurt parfaits and a pancake bar.

We ate outside briefly before packing up and heading about 25 minutes down the road. Wind Cave National Park was our important destination of the morning, and we arrived in time for a 10:20am Field tour. Even though we weren’t supposed to have any food or drink with us, Arielle brought some Starbursts with her in case she got weak and claustrophobic. We descended a few hundred feet over the course of the tour, which lasted about an hour and a half, and got to see some pretty incredible formations while going up and down 495 steps, learning about its mythical origins and how so much of the cave is still being excavated. This $12 per person tour was a very worthwhile stop.

We got on the road, following country roads into Wyoming. The drive south through the state wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as it was when we drove west through Wyoming back in August, but it was relatively uneventful. The apocalyptic clouds we saw above us barely materialized into any precipitation, which was a relief. Eventually, we got to a major highway and drove through Cheyenne, crossing soon after into Colorado.

Our aim was to arrive in Fort Collins by 5pm so Arielle could attend the opening dinner for the Kavod v’Nichum Jewish Funerals and Burial Conference, and we pulled into the Best Western University Inn at around 5:15pm. It’s a strange hotel that features a secret parking lot accessible only through an underpass from the main parking lot, and so we had to drive through that every time we went to our room, which was in the second tower. After checking in, we drove about five minutes to the Colorado State University campus, where it took us some time to find the dining hall where dinner was being held. We registered for the conference and Arielle remained there for dinner and some sessions. Abe drove back towards the hotel, stopping at Noodles and Company to try a modified dish with zucchini noodles, asparagus, garlic, and white wine. He ate it back at the hotel while catching up on TV and blogging, and opted not to get it again since the flavors didn’t mix all that superbly. Abe drove to pick up Arielle later that night when she was done, and we spent some time in the hot tub relaxing before heading to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 304