Weekly Recap: Shawn Goes MORE East (IL/IN/OH/PA/NY/VT)

This week involved a ton of driving and Walmart boondocking to get back from Chicago to our home in Boston, with Shawn handling the bulk of the trip while he was off before staring his new job. Monday morning Bryn caught an Uber into Chicago to start her business trip. After she left Shawn gassed the truck up and started a surprisingly difficult journey to get a Chicago style deep dish. After two failed attempts at places that turned out to be take-and-bake only, he managed to get one from Giordano's.

When in Chicago....

After lunch he returned to the Walmart and hitched up the camper to begin the move across the Midwest. The first leg was a relatively short drive to South Bend, Indiana. After setting up to boondock at another Walmart, Shawn unhitched and drove into town to Taphouse on the Edge to watch the Bruins playoff game (a sports bar recommended by a friend who went to Notre Dame).

90 seconds into the visit the bartender told someone she "doesn't know what a spritz is"

The next was planned to be another short drive to Toledo. However, it turned out that the Walmart that Shawn planned on staying at had stopped allowing overnight parking. He took a small break to grab lunch and workout/shower at the nearby Planet Fitness before moving on to another Walmart in the Toledo area that was supposed to allow overnight parking. However, this one had also recently stopped allowing it, so Shawn decided to bail on Toledo entirely and headed further east to Ashtabula, about twice as far as the original plan for the day. This section involved a bit of Amish country, and a few horse-drawn carriages popped up along the way.

The Walmart in Ashtabula was adjacent to a mall, which contained both a movie theater and a Planet Fitness. This was the closest we've stayed to a Planet Fitness all trip. Shawn rushed to set Percy up in the camper for the night, and managed to make it to the movie theater just in time to catch their last showing on the Super Mario Brothers movie. It wasn't high art, but was very nostalgic and funny. The mall also shared a parking lot with an Applebee's, so Shawn grabbed a late dinner there after the movie ended.

Such convenience

The next morning Shawn took advantage of the incredibly close Planet Fitness to workout and shower, then drove through Pennsylvania into New York. The stop for this evening was a Walmart in Batavia, which did have signs up saying no overnight parking but the manager confirmed it is allowed in one specific corner so Shawn didn't have to scramble for a backup location yet again. For dinner he went to the Applebee's across the street, watching another playoff game there. At this point it's more Applebee's in 24 hours than the previous 20 years.

Thursday was a fairly uneventful drive to a Walmart near Syracuse, with a stop at a Love's Truck Stop along the way to use their free wifi for a while. This Walmart was very popular with boondockers. After dinner Shawn settled in for the last night in the camper and Bryn's return. The next morning she flew in from Chicago and caught an Uber to the Walmart. We split the drive from there to Shawn's parents' house in Vermont, arriving around dinner time.

We spent the majority of Saturday cleaning out the camper and packing up the truck. It took a while, and it felt shocking how much stuff we had considering how little it felt like we had available during the trip. The plan is to sell the camper, so we also cleaned it thoroughly and got it ready for potential buyers.

Clearing out the bedroom

We finished in the early evening, ate dinner and left the camper out of the way on Shawn's parents' land until we can find a buyer. We took off for a late night drive to Boston in an incredibly stuffed Bundra because we wanted to beat some forecasted rain before it could get anything in the truck bed wet. As a bonus this would mean Shawn had a full day at home before starting his new job, instead of arriving the day before like our original plan.

Leaving our home of 8 months behind

We arrived close to midnight and quickly rushed to unpack the truck bed enough that we could cover the rest with the tonneau cover before the rain started. Percy was immediately very happy to be free in our house, with all the extra space and stability it provides over the camper.

Such an aggressive flop for him

Weekly Recap: Bryn's Great Journey East (CO/NE/IA/IL)

After arriving back at the camper late Monday night, the goal was to spend some quality time with Percy before preparing for work and packing up the next day. Tuesday was a frustrating day of IT issues. I made the best of it, then did a quick weights workout at the trailer in the heat before taking one last shower in the trailer. I didn't want to carry all the water needed for a shower while driving almost 1,000 miles to Chicago. Temps reach 88 as I broke camp to leave. It was nice to get on the road with the AC blasting, less nice that the high winds were causing AWFUL gas mileage. 

My destination was Pal Brewing Company in North Platte. This is a Harvest Host with a large, grassy area for RVs and trailers to park. It was one of the most convenient and easy set ups out of the Harvest Hosts we've used. I forgot that Nebraska is on Central time and arrived too late to eat dinner before it closed. Wednesday morning I woke up early to head to The Espresso Shop in town for breakfast. This was a solid spot with lots of sun, space, good wifi, and good coffee. I would recommend stopping by if you are ever passing by North Platte! 

After a solid morning of work, I headed back to Pals Brewing for lunch. Part of using Harvests Hosts is patronizing their business, which I was only happy to do after checking out their menu. I had a delicious lunch of Hawaiian Pizza with house BBQ sauce, accompanied by a Big Nob Hazy IPA and Sprucendipity Black IPA. It was a relaxing afternoon of work. I was sad to pack up and leave! But I had to keep moving on schedule. Wednesday night I drove to a Walmart in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just past Omaha, NE. I walked to a Dairy Queen for dinner, the first time ever deviating from my usual Reese's Blizzard order. Their cheeseburger and fries were decent. I'd certainly get them again in a pinch. 

After a restful night in the Walmart parking lot, I got dressed and headed to The Table, a café in Old Market. Their signature breakfast dish was a breakfast sandwich with waffles for bread. It was delightful! The atmosphere was great, so was the coffee. As I started to get hungry again, I reupped my parking meter and went around the corner to Blue Sushi and Sake for a light lunch. This is a medium sized chain with locations all around the US. I absolutely loved the Cucumber Sunomono, a sweet, lightly pickled cucumber dish. Their miso was also very tasty and had shitake mushrooms in it. Overall, it was a really delicious meal. I wrapped up lunch and called a brewery nearby to confirm they have wifi. They do! A flight and caramel cheesecake desert later, and I had put in a full day of work. I purchased some crowlers to go. Upstream Brewing is definitely a place I'd go back to. Honestly, I was tempted to stay an extra night and explore more of Old Market, Omaha. It seems like a great spot!

My plan after work was a Row House class, both to get a workout in and get a shower. Unfortunately, they didn't have showers! I pivoted to a Love's on my way and packed up the camper and Percy. The Love's shower experience was practically luxurious. It's a large shower space and they provide towels for you as well. Very nice! I grabbed McDonalds for dinner, filled up my water bottle and gas tank, and was on my way to a Walmart in Grinnell, IA. It was an uneventful drive and a nice, quiet parking spot for the night.

Friday was a full travel day, no work. I had breakfast and coffee in the trailer before heading to the gas station. My goal was to set up at the Walmart in Naperville, IL, as early as I could. I reached Naperville at 3 and tucked myself close to the curb in their garden section, near the delivery trucks. I put the slideout out so Percy could run around. He was pleased with this. 

After set up, I headed to 2 Fools Cider to do a little work and write more for the blog, something we're trying to keep up on now that we're getting to the end of our trip. This was a really fun spot with a spacious taproom, outdoor area, some arcade games, and rotating food truck. I got sushi at Sushi+ Rotary Sushi Bar, before heading home to binge Love is Blind and drink a crowler from Upstream to end the night.

Saturday was a more chill day with minimal travel. I went to a morning Row House workout (and called to confirm beforehand that they have showers!) so that I could get a work out in AND be clean for a night out in Chicago. It was a good class and it felt good to take a cool shower since it had been 80+ all week. When we're boondocking, we can't use the AC. Thankfully the nights are cold still.

When I got back to the trailer, I found myself blocked in by cars parked in front of the trailer. I slowly moved the truck further into the spots in front of the camper as cars left until I could hitch up. It felt like it took ages! I was finally able to leave and started making my way further towards Chicago. I ended up going to my second choice Walmart due to road closures which kept making an already difficult drive with the trailer even harder. But it worked out and I was able to get a decent spot at a Walmart in Berwyn. I bought a few things from the Walmart and chilled with Percy in the trailer while I got ready to go out. Berwyn is fairly close to River North, my destination for the night. I took an uber to Crushed by Giants, a brewery in the AMC building, for a few samples and a snack. They have a small but diverse beer selection and I enjoyed everything I tried. 

From there, I wandered over to The Berkshire Room for a few bartender's choice cocktails. One was a less bitter negroni which was delicious! I was craving the pulpo and some pisco sours from Tanta, so off I went. While I was ordering, someone next to me recommended a special--the salmon belly nigiri, which ended up being a great addition. From Tanta, I walked around the corner to Roka Akor, a high-end sushi restaurant, for a lighter dinner (since I'd already eaten quite a bit). I love this spot. They have really high quality fish and great non-fish selections.

I kept the night going with a fancy cocktail at Three Dots and a Dash, a basement Tiki bar. The drinks are fantastic, but I can't have too many because they are pretty sugary. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite places in River North. I fell in with some people there who were heading to The Green Door. I tagged along to end the night. It was a fun time, though I wish I had gone to the speakeasy in the basement, just to check it out. I ubered home and passed out, excited to be reuniting with Shawn the next day.

Sunday morning got a little hectic as I drove an hour closer to O'Hare and found out the Walmart I chose did not allow overnight parking or trailers/trucks. I sat for about 10 minutes in the parking lot calling around to confirm other Walmarts in the area allowed overnight parking. A few don't. Some didn't answer the phone. I took a chance and started driving out to Palatine. It ended up being a very solid spot. Much better than my original choice! I set up, including putting the slideout out, before getting lunch. Shawn landed a few hours later and I picked him up. It was a nice reunion! We went out for a cozy pho dinner as it was cold and raining. Back at the trailer, I packed for my work week in Chicago, while Shawn settled in after a weekend of partying in Cancun at our friend's bachelor party.

Weekend-ish Recap: Last few days in Denver! (CO)

We awoke Sunday morning at 6 to get ready for our ski days. We headed out at 6:45 and stopped for gas, coffee, and breakfast burritos. Breakfast burritos are super popular at Colorado gas stations. The only complaint we have is because they are wrapped in foil and kept hot, the tortilla is very soggy by the time we eat it. We both agree that it should be pressed or even air fried before getting wrapped in foil!

We arrived at the parking lot and realized we were both BEAT from drinking the night before. A mutual decision was made to nap in the car before gearing up. An hour later we were refreshed and ready to go. It was a warm, sunny day, so we barely layered up before heading straight to Peak 7 for a few warm up runs. Our plan was Peak 6 and the Imperial Bowl. We took the lift over to Peak 6 and made the mistake of not gathering enough speed coming out of Intuition to get through the Barton Breezeway catwalk. What a drag. Bryn tried to get speed by using a dip on the side of the trail but couldn't pop back up to the trail afterwards. She ended up taking off her skis, tossing them up the snowbank onto the trail, and crawling up. Shawn took off his board and walked. We were sweaty and exhausted by the end. Our next few runs were better, as we avoided the catwalk completely. 

Peak 6 Bowl

The sun and snow were great! After many more runs and lunch on some Adirondack chairs in the sun, we took a trail back over to Peak 7, heading for the Horseshoe T-Bar that would bring us to the Imperial Chair. It was good timing, as we reached the Imperial Chair 15 minutes before it closed for the day. Our eventual goal was to tackle a run called Tom's Mom in between Peaks 8 and 9, so we skied the bowl all the way down to E Chair, which would take us to Tom's Mom. It was a great run!

As we ended the day, we decided to ski all the way down to the parking lot. The snow was wet and heavy by this time. Coupled with this run being dominated by beginners and children, it was slow going and a woman learning to ski cut both of us off, causing us to turn into each other. It's very fortunate we are skilled, otherwise that could have been a disaster! We headed to our hotel in Silverthorne to relax. Shawn put on the Bruins game and we scoped out dinner places. We settled on American Chinese, which also happened to be next to a Subway, and headed out to get dinner and the next day's lunch. After dinner, we played a scenario of Gloomhaven, which we thought would be  our second to last. Turns out, we miscalculated! We have 2-3 more scenarios to go.

We took advantage of our shorter drive Monday morning to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. They had waffle makers! Bryn had made an appointment at Vail to demo Apex Ski Boot, a new-ish brand that sells a high end, double boa snowboard boot which clips into a ski boot chassis. It's an incredibly cool concept, because you can leave the ski boot part clipped into the bindings and walk around in comfortable boots during lunch and après. Truly revolutionary! The reviews for the boots are 1 or 5 stars, no in-between. They are extremely polarizing, which is why they offer a great demo experience to customers. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for Bryn. While she LOVED the non-skiing features, they were painful while skiing, which is where it really counts. One hard glade run left her almost crying in pain! It was a rough day. The sticky, warm snow and the uncomfortable boots made for a hard day of skiing. Bryn took an extra long lunch break to sit in the sun and sip the aptly named "Loose Boots" session IPA from Roadhouse Brewing while Shawn gave the Apex boots a try (just the snowboard boot part!). He liked the double boa and how stiff they are compared to his current boots. 

Vail Back Bowls

We ended our ski day drenched in sweat from the high heat and intense sun, and looking forward to a chill Hot Pot dinner in Denver with our friends. We went to Bronze Empire and had a fantastic meal! So delicious and filling. A bit ~hot~ considering the temperature outside, but comforting. Shawn was staying with these friends Monday and Tuesday night. Our friend was throwing his bachelor party in Cancun Wednesday-Sunday, and it made sense for Shawn to fly out with him from Denver.

Accidental sunburn

Weekly Recap: Fort Morgan Week 4 (CO)

We spent a lot of this week working long hours and trying to eat everything we could from our pantry, as the end of the trip was fast approaching. Monday night we did go to the Mav for dinner and to watch the NCAA men's basketball championship game, though it wasn't a particularly exciting one (boooo UConn!). The food there was still great! We also wound down most nights with some Star Trek, finally entering the Dominion War arc of DS9, which is Shawn's favorite arc from any Star Trek show. Bryn's a BIG fan as well.

The week was quiet, with a lot of hodgepodge pantry meals and gearing up for skiing and going our separate ways for a bit.

Bryn had a work visit in Pueblo on Friday, so we drove to Denver early that morning, getting some McD's breaky courtesy of Bryn's company card, and Shawn dropped her off to get her rental car. This was supposed to be a day off for Bryn, but given that Shawn had to work and she would otherwise be doing nothing, she traded her Friday off for Monday off. While she went on her work trip, Shawn stopped by our friends' townhouse to work from there... but only in the morning as it was his last day at that job and he had already banked hours earlier in the week while rushing to finish documenting his tasks before leaving. Once he wrapped up his work around midday, he did some errands around Denver (plugging the spare camper tire, shipping his work equipment back, buying a couple of replacement parts for the camper, and free laundry thanks to our friends) while waiting for Bryn to get back. These are the same friends who recently moved to Denver, one of whom was celebrating a birthday that week. They had plans with their fiancée Friday night, but we were all going out Saturday to celebrate.

Bryn's survey and drive back to Denver went quickly and smoothly. Shawn picked her up from Enterprise and headed to our friends' house to drop off the car and change. We chatted a bit, had a few drinks, then headed out to meet another friend at the Santa Fe Drive Art Walk First Friday. Every first Friday of the month, the street fills with food trucks and people. The galleries offer wine and beer while you peruse the exhibits. We had a great time! After gallery hopping, we headed to River North to wrap up the night. We got beer, meatballs, and pizza at Redeemer Pizza before going across the street to American Bonded, intending to drink on their rooftop bar. Unfortunately for us, they were closing down the rooftop. However, we had a few shots and drinks before our friend, who live in Boulder, needed to catch the bus back home. Shawn and Bryn ended the night at Ratio Beerworks, which had a great variety of beers.

Saturday morning was a struggle. After going to bed at 2 am, we were wickedly hungover. Our friend drove us to Stanley Marketplace Saturday morning for breakfast. It ended up being packed with children as there were Easter Egg hunts, pictures with the Easter Bunny and his Carrot Friend, and the usual weekend traffic. Denver Biscuit Company was delicious, coming in hot with a HUGE, buttery, flaky biscuit. Then the egg and potato breakfast empanada from Maria Empanada with green onion sour cream really hit the spot. Bryn ordered more food from Chi Lin Asian Eatery because she was craving dim sum, but it fell flat. After sampling everything and drinking 1/4 of her coffee, she was worse than before. We all headed back to our friends' house to regroup with his fiancée for the day, and Bryn was suffering. Everyone headed out to Tap 14 to begin birthday celebrations while she slept off her woes. An hour later, she gathered herself and headed out to bar hop. From Tap 14 we all went to Milk Market for food or drinks, or both! It's a very cool space located down a brick alleyway. There are multiple beer, wine, and cocktail vendors as well as a hotel with a high end food court inside. It's an incredibly fun place for a large group because everyone can get whatever they want!

Milk Market

For dinner we met up with our friend's sister and her husband at Fortune Wok to Table. The menu is incredibly limited, but absolutely delicious. Shawn and I split beef and pork pan fried dumplings and each got our own shanghai noodle dishes, Shawn's with pork and Bryn's with shrimp. We ended the night watching some Star Trek before heading to bed, patting ourselves on the back for going to sleep much earlier than the night before.

Luna, Juan and Hanna's cat

Weekly Recap: Fort Morgan Week 3 (CO)

We checked out of our hotel early and headed up to Vail. We spent most of the day skiing in the back bowls. It was one of our best days on a mountain ever, with great powder, good visibility, and no lines. In retrospect, it might not have been the brightest idea to do leg focused lifts the day before, but we made it through and ended the day exhausted. Our only complaint for the day was the difficulty of getting to the Mongolia bowl, particularly for Shawn who discovered that they've found a way to make T-bars even worse for snowboarders: the paddle lift.

Vail Back Bowls

After we finished we headed back to Denver and spent the night at a hotel close to the airport. First thing in the morning Shawn caught an Uber to the airport to head to Seattle for a work trip. Meanwhile, Bryn worked in Denver for the day before meeting up with our recently-moved friends for a Row House class.

It was a quite week of work at the trailer for Bryn. Grocery shopping was the only outing until Friday, when she left for Denver.

Shawn returned from his work trip Friday afternoon, and Bryn came into Denver to work for the day and pick him up. We had planned to work at a library for the afternoon, but it turned out to be completely full so we instead went to the nearby Black Sky Brewery to finish off the workday. Then we headed over to our friends' townhouse and spent the evening with them. We all went out to dinner at Culinary Dropout before heading back to their place to sleep and try to beat the Saturday mountain traffic.

We left the townhouse in Denver before 7, but a crash on the interstate diverted us through Golden instead. While we were working our way through that pass, traffic built up to extreme levels. Eventually our ETA to Frisco (not even the mountain) reached 10:30 and we decided to just head to the campground instead, as we wouldn't even make it onto the mountain much before noon by the time we made it there, ate an early lunch, and suited up. Our friends had warned us about this kind of traffic, but we had fortunately missed it on all of our previous trips up.

The 80 miles back to the campground took us less time than the estimate to do the last 30 to Frisco. When we got home we took a nap, as Shawn was exhausted from his busy work trip and waking up early to try to beat the traffic. We spent the afternoon catching up on the mail, which our neighbor in Boston sent along to our friends in Denver. We had a chill night in playing a Jaws of the Lion scenario. It was supposed to be our second to last mission in the campaign, but we luckily pulled another random event side quest to give us one additional session before we finish.

Weekly Recap: Fort Morgan Week 2 (CO)

After a pretty miserable night, Bryn's lungs started recovering from the high-altitude exertion. Over the next couple of days they returned to normal. We took Sunday easy, hanging around the campground. While Bryn recovered, Shawn tried out the disc golf course next door, named Pessimist. It was only a 90 second walk to the course, which was very fun but difficult and the longest course he has ever played. On hole 18 he threw 3 of his best throws ever back-to-back-to-back and still bogeyed the par 4.

A well-named course

We took Monday and Tuesday off from work to get in some skiing while the slopes were empty. We woke up very early Monday and drove to Breckenridge, about a 3 hour drive since the campsite is east of Denver. We spent most of the day skiing on Peak 10, but did do a few runs working our way over there and back. The open blacks were a little icy, but the glades had great powder and we had a blast in the trees. It was our first ski day in about 3 months (since Nevada!), so we ended up tiring out a bit early. We had a little après ski at the base, then picked up some pizza and headed to our hotel near Keystone. We spent the evening relaxing in the hot tub with wine and pizza.

Bryn at Breck

The next day we went to Keystone, which was only 1 minute away from our hotel. We immediately headed to the Outback, getting in some great runs there before the snow was touched by others. We worked our way back towards the front side of the mountain over the course of the day, and the crowds picked up the closer we got to the base. We ended the day a bit early again, as two days in a row after months off was really catching up to us. Plus, we had avoided almost any lift lines and really packed in the runs. Additionally, there was a storm rolling through the area in the early evening so we wanted to make sure we got through the pass back down to Denver before it hit.

We stopped in Denver for dinner with a pair of friends who moved to Denver from Boston last year. Bryn visited them briefly in October, but Shawn hadn't seen them at all since the summer. It was great to catch up and we all had so much to share with our various moves. We ate at Colorado Sake Company before heading back to the campground.

We spent the rest of the week working from the camper and recovering our legs. Friday night we did some laundry, Shawn tried to go to the Optimist disc golf course but had forgotten his discs in the camper, and then we watched basketball and had dinner at the Mav.

Saturday we headed back into Denver. We worked out at Planet Fitness then checked into a hotel, which ended up being a lengthy process. Fortunately, we still had time to sneak in an afternoon snack at Fire on the Mountain, a shockingly good chicken place. Then we met up with some friends, one of whom just happened to be in Denver that day on the way home from a work trip. We started by watching the 45 minute long light show at the International Church of Cannabis, while sober. This is a mistake.

Afterwards we bar hopped along South Broadway, including a stop at a barcade. We ended the night with a late dinner at Chubby Cattle Denver for all you can eat hot pot. Our friends headed out to continue the party in River North, but we went back to our hotel to rest up for another ski day.

Skeeball!

Weekly Recap: Fort Morgan Week 1 (CO)

Sunday morning we woke up energized. After a great day in Albuquerque, we were ready to begin our drive up to our Fort Morgan campground. We packed up, dumped our tanks, and headed north. We took a winding route for a bit, but it paid off with great views and a deer sighting. Our destination was a Love's in Walsenburg, CO. We arrived without issue and parked the camper in one of their RV spots. We were leaving it for a bit to go see Great Sand Dunes National Park, just a short drive away. 

We unhitched and set off for the park. It's a pretty surreal sight, as the brown sand is piled high among these larger mountains. It seems to come from nowhere! We wandered for a bit, enjoying the sand and watching people snowboard down the dune. It was cold and we were hungry so we headed back to the Love's for dinner. 

When we arrived at Love's, we saw that one of the camper tires was flat. No big deal, we have a compressor! Bryn went to get sandwiches and refill the water bottles. Shawn took care of the tire and discovered the problem was much worse than we thought. There was a nail in the tire rapidly deflating it. We ended up putting our spare on the camper in the dark. Lucky for us, a man named AJ was getting gas and took pity on us. We have a small jack for this very reason, but it's so small it only just lifted the tire off the ground. AJ to the rescue, with his power tools and big jack. He had us back on the road in no time and gave us a tool to boot. Thanks, AJ!

After all the excitement, we drove to our sleeping spot: a Walmart in Falcon. It was bedtime by the time we arrived and set up. We were exhausted.

Monday morning we both woke up around 6:45 and got on the road. We drove to our Fort Morgan campground and set up for a whole MONTH stay. We are sad to be so far outside of Denver, but the prospect of staying in one place for 4 weeks is appealing. Percy especially is thrilled he won't have to go in his carrier for such a long time. After set up, we worked. For dinner we decided to go to a restaurant called The Mav next door. This is a hotel restaurant, but some of the best food in town. We had a delicious dinner and were happy to have such a good spot close to 'home'.

For the rest of the week, we took advantage of being settled to have a few quiet days to ourselves. We ate homecooked meals, got lots of sleep, cleaned and organized the trailer, and worked. 

A fresh, clean truck bed

Friday night we were super productive! We decided to do laundry and accomplish a few things. While our clothes were washing, we refilled our propane tanks and got groceries. We ate dinner at the adjacent Thai restaurant while our clothes were drying. Then we decided to check out some of the local bars. We went to Queen Lounge, a lively hotel bar that quickly filled up as we sat enjoying our drinks and watching the women's wrestling on the bar TVs. We switched to Club Tap for one last drink before heading home and had some... colorful interactions with the locals there. What an interesting experience.

Dream Lake

Saturday was an early morning! We were headed to Rock Mountain National Park to go hiking. It's about 3 hrs. away, so we needed to get going early. When we arrived, our intended trailhead parking lot was already full, so we pivoted to a lower lot that still had access to the trail we wanted. The trail was snow-packed, so we used our spikes. As we got hiking, Bryn quickly realized she was beginning to have an asthma episode--probably a combination of elevation, cold air, and 'working out' (hiking). We took it slow and enjoyed the winter scenery. We hiked from Glacier Gorge to Bear, Nymph, and Dream Lakes, all of which were frozen over. The views were spectacular! We were sad to miss the blue alpine water but still thought it was a beautiful hike. Bryn ended up with a disgusting sounding cough for the next 4 days. Worth it.

Bear Lake

After our hike, we took a scenic route out of the park, passing more gorgeous views and encountering a massive herd of deer. We went to Rock Cut Brewery to unwind and meet a friend of ours who was at the local Frozen Dead Guy Festival in Estes Park. It was fun catching up, and we made plans to meet up again while we're in Colorado.

It was time to begin our long drive home. We stopped at the Pourhouse in Loveland for dinner. Bryn was really struggling to breath so we didn't explore more and just went home. It was a rough night, but she was feeling much better Sunday. Time to get an inhaler again.

Weekly Recap: Albuquerque and Santa Fe (NM)

Early morning at the campground

After we settled in Sunday, we started discussing our schedule for the week. We chose our campground because they offered an extremely reasonable rate for a weeklong stay with water and electricity only. However, we were 40 minutes from Albuquerque and an hour from Santa Fe. We needed to do laundry ASAP and shower, so on Monday after work we headed to a Planet Fitness in ABQ to workout and shower. Then we headed to a laundromat, got dinner, washed the car (and vacuumed the interior), picked up some grocery essentials, and headed home.

Tuesday we worked all day and then decided to go check out Sierra Blanco Brewery nearby. We'd had their Alien Amber in Roswell, looked it up, and discovered it was very close to our campground! It's a special spot. We had a lot of fun and purchased a bunch of beer to go.

Wednesday we woke up early to head to Santa Fe. We went to a Planet Fitness to lift and shower, then got a table at Henry and the Fish. This is a popular café with breakfast sandwiches, smoothies and juices, and lunch items. They also have freshly made pastries and cookies, some gluten free! We spent the entire morning working. The staff is very friendly and the food was delicious.

For the afternoon we moved to the Santa Fe Railyard. We started at Second Street Brewery for lunch and working. Once we wrapped up work for the day we had a round of beer here and then moved to the nearby Boxcar Sports Bar for dinner, watching the Villanova basketball game, and a couple rounds of karaoke for Bryn. We ended the night at Santa Fe Brewing, which is in a funky, converted house.

After staying in the trailer all Thursday, we headed to Albuquerque Friday morning for another day of working in the city. We started off with a morning workout (saving our grey tank in the process). Here we spent most of the day at Central Grill and Coffee House, staying for both breakfast and lunch. This place had excellent food, and we loved their "waffle dogs", which are breakfast sausage links dipped in waffle batter and fried. It's like a breakfast corndog. We're going to try making these at home.

Waffle Dogs

After work we honored Shawn's parents by hitting up two breweries in a row with relevant names: Bow and Arrow Brewing Company and Tractor Brewery. We stopped at Sierra Blanco again on our way back, enjoying another round of their beer with some take out. One of the guys recognized us from earlier in the week as soon as we walked in.

Saturday we returned to Albuquerque for one final day exploring the city, but this time with no work to distract us. We hiked around the Petroglyph National Monument west of the city. This is an area with a lot of volcanic rocks, many of which were carved into hundreds of years ago by the Pueblo people. We did a short loop hike in the Rinconada Canyon Trail, seeing dozens of petroglyphs along the way. After that we circled around to the other side of the Monument and hiked out to the JA volcano (dormant) and an overlook of the valley the city sits in. We ended up skipping the remaining two volcanoes on the trail because of several trail closures and incredibly high winds.

 

We tried to take the tram to the top of the Sandia crest, but it had temporarily closed due to the high winds. We pivoted to a nearby axe-throwing place ( ABQ Ax). We spent an hour throwing axes and ninja stars (much easier). We had a lot of fun and got the hang of it pretty quickly. Also, they amazingly had the Bruins game on their one TV.

After the axe throwing, we saw that the tram had reopened as the wind died down, so we rushed over to the base of the mountains. Unfortunately it had reclosed in the 15 minutes it took us to drive over, so we had to accept we were going to miss out on this attraction. Instead we took another shower at Planet Fitness and then checked out High and Dry Brewing for some beer and a snack. 

We hopped over to Lizard Tail Brewery in Nob Hill for another flight. They had the 2014 Godzilla movie playing, so we watched while we enjoyed their funky and delicious array of beer. The bartender and a couple patrons recommended Happy Accidents, a cocktail bar, and M'tucci's, an Italian restaurant. We took their advice and had some unique cocktails at Happy then headed to M'tucci's for a hearty and absolutely amazing dinner. We had a Cacio e Pepe Arancini appetizer that we LOVED. Bryn got the Pasta Alla Gricia, a carbonara-esque dish, and Shawn ordered the Bolognese. It was a great end to a great day. 

We headed back to the camper to prepare for our Sunday drive into Colorado. We were excited to get to the Denver area, but definitely sad to leave New Mexico.