A Rocky Mountain Road Trip

Alison and I road-tripped to Colorado this weekend to visit some of our good friends, Hayden and Victoria. We drove on Friday. Originally, we would work part of the day Friday and then take off in the afternoon and arrive in Colorado late, but we decided to take the entire day off and leave first thing in the morning. 

We drove I-70 which is the more scenic route. It also happened to be faster, although that ended up being debatable. Alison and I talked the whole way. Work has been really busy for both of us so having this break was good for our souls. Being in a car for 8 hours isn’t so bad since we get to spend all of that time together. 

We stopped once in Grand Junction to get food and gas. Otherwise, we drove straight through. The drive through the mountains into Denver along I-70 is beautiful. We did encounter traffic that pushed back our arrival by 30-45 minutes. Still, we left home at 9:30 am and pulled into Denver just after 6 pm. We parked our car and we were in our seats and Coors Field in time for the first pitch of the Yankees-Rockies game.

We decided to attend this game and bought tickets last minute. So we were at the very top of the stadium, but we were more behind home plate. These are my favorite cheap seats in just about any stadium because even though we were about as far as we could get from the field we had great views of the action. It was a beautiful night for baseball. 

We sat a few rows above row 20, which are the mile-high seats. This is the first game we have watched where we sat more than a mile above sea level. 

The Yankees have been struggling lately so we were excited when they came out of the gate swinging. Gleyber singled to lead off the game and then Stanton hit a mammoth 2-run home run. We were hoping it was signs of good things to come, but it was not to be after that start the offense managed a few more hits, but never really threatened again. The Rockies put together a robust 2nd inning in part because the Yankees converted left fielder (he was the shortstop last year) misplayed a key hit to the outfield and Alison’s least favorite Yankee, Higashioka couldn’t corral a few balls. It was a sorry inning and overall set the tone for a sorry game. The Yankees would lose 7-2. 

Our friend Victoria joined us midway through the game. This was a good opportunity for us to catch up. Alison even trusted me to score the last two innings for her while she talked with Victoria. 

After the game, we headed to Hayden and Victoria’s house. They were gracious enough to allow us to stay with them. We chatted and caught up late into the night. 

The next morning we slept in and woke up to fresh homemade bagels. They were amazing. Victoria got up early, despite the late night, to make sure they were ready for us. Hayden and Victoria are amazing hosts. 

After breakfast, we drove to Boulder to go hiking. We hiked in the shadow of the Flatirons. It was a hot day, but we made the best of it and it was a lovely hike. The wildflowers were blooming and looked spectacular and we had really nice mountain views. 

We headed back into Boulder and walked along Pearl Street Mall. This is a happening place in Boulder. Today there was an art festival. We checked out all of the booths. Alison bought a piece of art. It was a rock sculpture of a sunrise over a mountain range. It is really cool. 

We ended the day at Victoria's parent's house. They have a beautiful home on Boyd Lake in Loveland, Colorado. Victoria's mother, Stephanie, has a PhD in design and her house was amazing. They gave us the grand tour. Then they took us out on their boat. It was lovely to boat while the sun was setting. Hayden even took a turn driving the boat. He dubbed himself the captain and has so much fun chasing geese. When we were done I flew my drone and we made dinner. We talked late into the night about our lives and design and so many things. We were sad to end this lovely day and head to bed. 

On Sunday we woke up and headed back to Denver for another Yankees-Rockies game. We were hoping for a better result, but once again we were disappointed. The Yankees are struggling right now. Most of the game went as planned. Gerrit Cole pitched a gem. Giving up one run on two hits over six innings. He struck out 11 Rockies. It was an impressive performance. He even got some run support. The Yankees were leading 3-1 in the eighth when the bullpen melted down and gave up a grand slam. The Yankees had some fighting spirit and tied it up in the 9th. With the score knotted 5-5, we went to extra innings. After a quiet 10th by both teams, the Yankees took a two-run lead in the 11th. It felt like they should have been able to hold on and win, but in the bottom of the 11th, Nick Ramirez promptly gave up a game-tying two-run home run. A batter later Ron Marrinacio gave up a walk-off home run. It was an exciting, thrilling, and really disappointing game for the Yankees. 

We drowned in our sorrows in a great dinner with our good friends. We went to the Sushi Den in Denver where we had the best sushi I have had in a very long time. It was excellent. Then since it was national ice cream day we found a nearby food truck to get some ice cream cones. I enjoyed a rather delicious honeycomb vanilla. Then we again found ourselves talking late into the night with Hayden and Victoria. 

On Monday morning we didn't want to leave, but we knew we had to so we drove the 8ish hours home. 

This trip was just what we needed after stress with the house and recent busy weeks at work Alison and I needed a break. Spending time with our friends reinvigorated us. We are really grateful to have such wonderful friends who opened their homes and shared a small piece of their lives with us.