Last blast in Denver

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We had only one full day in Denver before flying home and with an abundance of options, how do you narrow them down? We immediately eliminated anything that would require a lot of driving since we were officially drived out. We also wanted something we hadn't done already along the way, so after some interweb searching we settled on the Denver Botanic Gardens. Smack in the middle of the city, this place was a shockingly beautiful surprise. It was huge - you could literally spend hours quietly wandering through. Without a doubt the most spectacular urban botanical garden I've seen. We also lucked in and showed up on a free admission day. Sweet! It also gave me an opportunity to put to work a photo lesson my uncle gave me before the trip. Sweet x 2!

After 18 days, 2845 miles (that's a respectable 4578 km), 2000+ photos and probably over 100 cough drops between us (tousse, tousse), we reached the end our trip. Here's the down-low:

Top three places to visit:

T: Yellowstone, Deadwood and Chicago.

Me: Yellowstone, Chicago and Pike's Peak.

Yellowstone has everything you hope for in a national park, and really, the animals everywhere were so much fun to see that they probably had us locked-in at the first Buffalo sighting. It also had our "most beautiful" vote (T for everything and me for the amazingly coloured pools and springs). For Chicago, there is so much more to see I can imagine going back. Our "if we had a do-over" was in Chicago...the museum (Natural History for me and both for T) would have been dropped in place of the Art Institute and checking out some F.L. Wright buildings if we had it all to do over again in the time we had. The Denver Botanic Gardens were so striking they almost made my list.

Most delectable eatables:

T: It's a tie for her between Chicago deep dish pizza and the chicken plate from Sahara Cafe in Manitou Springs.

Me: I never wavered from my Chicago hotdog (that magnificent beast).

We had some close contenders along the way like Tatum's Avocado Toast (freshly mashed avocado, toasted brioche, poached egg, bacon, queso fresco, melon salad) at Over Easy in Colorado Springs, CO; the homemade jam and salsa at Betty's Cafe in Vernal, Utah (I ate the jam with a spoon); perfectly cooked over-easy eggs at Granny's Restaurant in Cody, Wyoming; and the fry bread at the Cedar Pass Lodge in Badlands National Park. But the hotdog. Nothing could top the glory of that steamed poppyseed bun and sport peppers.

Best Discovery:

Unanimously decreed - the Gaperguide. We loved it throughout Grant Teton and Yellowstone and commented often how great it would have been to have it in the other national parks.

Should have brought:

T: gloves

Moi: a polar fleece

Yellowstone was cold and we were up and out early. Layers were the key to keep toasty during those expeditions in the wee hours to scope out critters.

Brought, but didn't use:

T: Bear whistle

Moi: a board game

We didn't see one bear at all (despite our best efforts), let alone get close enough to need to scare one off. We also didn't have as much down time as we anticipated so our game to pass the time never got played.

Most ridiculous purchase:

It was mine. A selfie stick which we used once. (You are free to shame me vigorously for this one).

If we could have added a couple of extra days, we would have seen:

T: Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup

Moi: something outside the areas we were in OR time for some longer hikes in Yellowstone.

The annual roundup was scheduled to start a day or two after we left the Black Hills area, so adding a couple of days there would have given us a chance to see a bunch of cowboys (and cowgirls!) round up over 1000 head of buffalo. Since I can see going back to Chicago, I wouldn't add more time there this time around, but that is one place there is a lot more I'd be interesting in tackling. We only took short walks (although a lot of them) in Yellowstone so I like the idea of being able to go a little further into the wild on a more substantial hike. BUT...we really did do Yellowstone well and saw a lot so the lure of something completely different is also appealing. Hmmmm. Don't know. How do you decide!?!?!?

The Verdict:

T: Everything was awesome and all the drives were gorgeous. All of them.

L: Loved all the critters. Loved them. (But now I really, really want to pet a buffalo).

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