Denver, the mile high city

It's nice to get a proper nights sleep after *shudder* Casper. We didn't get a free breakfast at this hotel, but after the delicious meal last night we were pretty good to get wondering and grab some munchies in town.

Our hotel is just outside of the main centre of the city, so we knew it would be a bit of a wonder into town. Thankfully our GPS has an on-foot feature, so I programmed into it all of the sights we wanted to see today and it became our own personal tour guide :)



On our walk in we went straight through the university campus for the city. I think we looked young and trendy enough to blend in - I was tempted to head along to a few lectures...

Alex has been after some new flip-flops for a while now, so we had a THRILLING time shopping for shoes ;)



I made a purchase myself of a new 4GB SD card which we'll be using to capture more memories when our digital camera gets full up THEN once we get home we'll use it in our new digital photo frame (Amazing DOUBLE benefit!!)



The memory cost about £10, fantastic! The downside is the physical and mental trauma I suffered getting the bleeding thing out of the packaging!!!



Denver is a lovely city, full of trees, coffee house lined streets and plenty to see and do. For lunch we had a big choice of treats, but in the end went to Taco Bell. Which I've wanted to try out since I heard about it in Demolition Man - At the time Chris Rogers had to explain the joke to me, being my American expert as a young man! We got a Taco each and a Pepsi, costs less than £5 for all that. Bargain :)



Walking around we kept getting asked to vote by a bunch of people who were hanging round the city with clipboards. In hindsight perhaps we should have registered and helped shape the future of the country!

After lunch we thought we'd take a break from culture and watch something at the cinema - Pineapple Express - we LOL'd :D



To round off the day we had an Indian meal, as part of our mission to try the worlds cuisine in America!



Tomorrow we hit the road again... to somewhere else I can't remember at the moment!

Casper the not so friendly ghost.....

What can I say- last night was one of the worst nights we've ever experienced in a "hotel" ever- Pete assures me it wasn't as bad as his Birmingham experience, but it got pretty close!

From my entry last night it was probably evident that we weren't impressed with the Shilo Inn Hotel in Casper- well, it didn't improve. Not only did the room absolutely reek of smoke, there were stained/yellowing towels, spots of blood on the bed sheets (not loads, but still- ewwww!), a toilet which re-filled extremely noisily every half hour, and cold water for my bath. Neither of us were keen to stay there, we didn't feel very safe, there just wasn't a very friendly feel about the place- plus we could hear people hacking up in the next door room. We put off going to sleep for as long as possible-thank God for the TV and Internet! Don't think we were keen to turn off the lights! At about 12:30 we gave in and fell asleep. All was fine until 4am- we were woken by very odd noises which made us very uneasy- there were banging noises outside in the corridor- I swear I cannot express just how much we both thought gun shots would be fired.... it was that kind of place. No idea what the noises were we heard, but they kept on banging away at regular intervals for a while. There were shrieks and the sound of people talking. A dog started howling and barking a few doors down, and I could hear people going up and down the corridor and knocking on doors saying "room service" in fake Mexican accents... All of this was bad enough, and quite scary and freaky in the middle of the night. We were on tenterhooks, convinced we'd be getting someone banging on our door and trying to get in. Whilst all of this was happening, the toilet continued to make it's noises.. Just when we thought things were settling down again at 5 am ish, trains started chugging up and down the very close railway honking their horns so loudly and for so long you just wouldn't believe it. It was like some comedy sketch except we were too tired to find it funny. After half an hour of train horns, there was another commotion outside in the corridor as various guests who had obviously got fed up with all the noise etc decided to leave in the most noisy fashion possible, bumping and dropping their suitcases up and down stairs. I was ready to get in the car at this point- our get out plan was pre arranged- we would skip the free breakfast, I'd forgo a shower, my clothes were already laid out- we wanted to get straight on the road and the hell out of Casper, or Crapster as I'd like to call it... The Shitlo Inn in Crapster.. Excuse my language, but it was so bloomin' awful!

Well, we finally managed to fall back to sleep and woke at 8, jumped straight out of that icky bed and on the road. We could not get out of their fast enough. This is the view we had from our hotel room- you can see the beauty. I imagine this is where most honeymooning couples would choose to stay!!



Perhaps I'm being harsh towards Casper- we had no chance to explore, it, it probably had reasonable parts... but how would we know when our tour company decided to stick us in the skankiest hotel in the most remote part of town, so well situated next to the railway, interstate and fast food joints.

So, we were on the road early and fuelled only by our desire to get out. No breakie! Had to make do with snacks from the car. We were so far into hicksville, there weren't any proper rest stops with food for miles. Talking about fuel, we were in need of some more, so followed a sign from the interstate indicating fuel nearby. We ended up going round and round some tiny town trying to find this elusive garage.. it was all getting a bit unnerving, American horror movies started running through our minds.... We'd all but given up when we happened upon a small garage so we pulled up and re-fulled. All went well, but we were greeted by some very over excited local teens wearing head to toe black clothing, scarves round their necks and bandying what I assume were paint guns.. who knows. They were yelping and running around, driving pick up trucks.... I was just thinking "let's go, let's go" in my head. I'm sure they were harmless enough. Though Pete admitted that he thought at first they'd just robbed the garage!! Whilst at the garage we had to attend to one of the biggest problems with the great American road trip- bug splatter. We'd never considered it before. It doesn't seem to occur in the UK. I suppose in America there are just more bugs. Basically, your car gets covered in bugs. You hit them as you drive along and their smooshed biddies and gunk stick to your windscreen and car like glue. Every garage provides squeegees so you can clean up. This will give you an idea of what you get after just a few hours on the road. I've also included a pic of a sign that was placed just by the garage.







There's not much to report about our journey today. We stopped in Cheyenne for lunch, grabbed a subway sarnie to share, and a coffee- oh it was good to eat something like that after our experiences in Casper. Sat in a car park and read our books for an hour or so, that was nice. We then got back on the road, detouring via the Rocky Mountains to get some more excited scenery and then made our way to Denver, the Mile High City of Colorado.







We reached our hotel and were glad to find it's clean, tidy and with good facilities. So relieved. We've enjoyed a yummy meal at the restaurant on the 14th floor with a panoramic view of Denver. Pete was ecstatic to get his hands on a double vodka and coke, and I was happy with a slice of chocolate cake.

Tomorrow we'll explore Denver- hoping to track down a Krispy Kreme Donut store, the mile long mall and an Indian Restaurant!!!

Oh, and we have sent a strongly worded email to the people who've booked our hotels with regards to the Casper experience.

Horny in Casper.....

The title makes this sound more exciting- I shall explain more in time!

Well, this morning we woke up in the lovely Yellowstone again, a beautiful crisp morning with the sunshine pouring in through the window. We enjoyed a free breakfast again- this time we tried omelets with sausage gravy- a bit strange, but we have to try these American delicacies! It was nice, but not very filling so we had to fill up on bannanas!



After breakfast we checked out and went for a brief stroll round Yellowstone for the last time to grab some bits and bobs... We ended up going into a t-shirt shop owned by a very amusing character- we didn't get his name, but he was very friendly and made us laugh. He told us how he and his wife live in Florida but run this t-shirt shop f0r most of the year, travlelling back to Florida in October. He told us all about his friends in Florida, in particular his English friend originally from Shepards Bush, who's nickname is Ringo Flamingo, faveourate activity is partying til 4 am and despite not being 40 yet looks 60 "but at least he's having fun!". This t-shirt guy was a bit mad, followed everyone around the shop telling them what would suit them.. I think the funniest thing said was as follows: "so, are you guys honeymooning?" "round here we have a name for this season- we call it the season of newly weds and nearly deads!!". Yup, this guy was a real "pistol" as they'd say over here! We did make a few purchases in his shop- Pete got a sticker for his laptop and I got a t-shirt with a yellowstone park designed ironed on to it by t-shirt guy.

Once we'd picked up some lunchables, we set off on the road again at about 10 am. This time we were heading for Casper in Wyoming. We had to drive through Yellowstone Park again which was no hardship... more beautiful views and a sighting of some Pronghorns:







Yellowstone lead on to Teton National Park which did have a different feel to Yellowstone, different trees etc... we didn't see any more wildlife though- but did have the joy of being stuck in traffic due to roadworks... Prior to the roadworks we stopped for our lunch and Pete enjoyed some larking about:



Once we left Teton behind the terrain and journey became more tedious, not helped by more slow traffic and roadworks. Though today's trip was "only" 350 miles, the parks and roadworks made travel very slow... nothing eventful happened, we just enjoyed listening to Russell Brand and Adam & Joe podcasts courtesy of Pete's ipod and the BBC. Was nice to hear some English voices!





We were looking forward to reaching Casper, not least because we'd been on the road for so long! Once we were 20 minuets away we noticed a massive cloud of smoke in the distance:



We were hoping this wasn't our hotel on fire, or an omen... unfortunately, it could have been taken as an omen- we arrived in Casper just after 7pm- 9 hours on the road and only one toilet stop! Hardcore! We drew up to our hotel, relived and looking forward to getting some food and relaxing.. Unfortunately, we were greated by a rather run down and sorry for itself "hotel". It smelt as we walked through the corridors, was very dingy, a dog was barking.. we opened the door to our room and were overwhelmed by the stench of stale smoke- gross!! Couldn't get the window open quick enough.. Which we did only to be reminded just how close the hotel is to the interstate ("conienience"!). What seemed to be the worlds longest truck horn honking competion appeared to be going on! Now the dilema- shoud we "sleep" with the window open and risk the noise, or shut the window and choke on the smoke? We'll let you know..



Desparate to get out we rushed straight back to the car; "didn't think I'd be glad to get back in the car so soon!" was my comment... We drove for a couple of mins but it was very clear our choice of food was Burger King, Mac Donalds or Tacco Bell... We drove straight to Maccy Ds as it was closest.. in there we enjoyed more of what Casper has to offer- wrinkly hairy truckers hacking up, staff who just stare at you without offering to take your order and a whole team of testosterone filled teenage boys from the local hocky team.. Great wholesome all American fun.. We couldn't get out of there quick enough with our burgers and back to our stinky room. Joy.



So, now we're enjoying the best thing- free internet and tv. Thank God we plan to leave early tomorrow as we head to Denver. It's quite tempting just to go now!

To finish off I'll tell a couple of little stories from our trip so far!

San Fran:

Something that makes us laugh now- understanding our sat nav with its funny American accent was tricky at first. Of course the driving was harder, but we couldn't understand what it was saying- the first road it told us to take when we left the airport, tired and confused: "Please turn left onto Iady" Us- "What the hell is Iady?" It took us until a few days later to realise it was telling us to take I-80- doh!

On our 3rd day in San Fran we were swapping hotels and as such had to move our car which proved the single most stressful experience of the holiday so far I think!! The highlight was after going round and round the block 4 times being pulled over by a cop- que Pete trying to find somewhere to pull over and me yelling "oh God, oh God, where's your driving licence?! What if he has a gun?!". Of course he just wanted to find out if we were lost- bless!

Yellowstone:

Whilst in the local garage this morning picking up some sarnies, an older lady was bumbling around with her weird little dog, which was running around like a mad thing sniffing and wagging it's tail. Not very noteable, however, a little while later, whilst pulled over in Yellowstone park taking pics of Pronghongs, I noticed the same lady walking over to me mumbling away "say, do any of you guys know how to take a film out of a camera?" I looked up to find her shoving the greasy camera into my hands "Does this have a film in it?" she says. I look and see no it doesn't, which I kindly inform her. She passes me a film- "can you put this in dear?" I go ahead and put it in, she mumbles thanks and totters back to her husband muttering about how they'd spent their whole holiday so far taking pictures with no film... Whoops!

One more note of interest- something we read on road signs as we drove into Teton Park:

We saw wildlife
From afar
Til we hit them
With our car

Remember that folks! Until tomorrow!

Exploring Yellowstone

For the first time since San Fransisco we've stayed at a hotel for more than one night, which meant we were able to spend today exploring the local area. Our hotel is right next to Yellowstone National Park, so guess where we spent our time :)



Yellowstone has more than half the worlds geothermal features in it, so we saw lots of smoking, bubbling pools of water and mud.



Lots of wildlife too, although Alex didn't get to see a Moose which is what she really wanted...



...apart from a plastic one :)



By the evening we were tired and hungry, but all the eaterys in town were full up.



So instead we visited the Colonel instead in what looked like his first ever restaurant. Over here you get biscuits with your chicken! Although they work quite nicely... Alex also had Mac & Cheese with hers and I had mashed potato and gravy.

From Twin Falls, Idaho to West Yellowstone Montana

After all of the driving yesterday we decided to get a little exercise this morning and took an early morning swim and dip into the hotel hot tub. After that we wondered over to a local family run diner for our complimentary breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese and toast. It was just the right amount to get us started.

Once we'd checked out we took a short drive over to Shoshone Falls, which is a beautiful natural area. Just check out the pictures!



After a few hours soaking up the sunshine and the scenary our road trip continued again with more air conditioned and cruise controlled travelling until we got peckish and dropped off the interstate for a Subway (I eat two a day)



Back on the road again... brm.. brmm ... brm... until we saw a site of geological interest; alongside a rest area was a walk which took us through a landscape created by liquid MAGMA which had then cooled and turned into spongy rock. It was like being on the moon! (kinda)



After another hour or so of driving we finally reached the state of Montana which is beautiful! Our hotel (Brandin' Iron Inn) was only a short journey once we'd crossed the border. From what we've seen of the scenery so far it's all change again, we really are getting a real cross section of America :)

Road trip!

We woke up this morning in our 17th floor room to watch the morning sunlight come up over Reno. A little more beautiful than the neon lights of the casino floor :)



Today we had the longest single drive of the trip of 455 miles *phew* which meant we spent pretty much the whole day on the road. After leaving Reno we made a pitstop at Walmart and loaded up with road and drinks to keep us going on the road.



I used to think that air conditioning and cruise control were luxurys, but when driving through long desert roads they are required features! Although it was a long drive, the scenery is much more interesting than driving on motorways in England and the traffic more relaxed.



We're now booked into our room at the Shilo Inn which is huge! It's more like an apartment than a hotel room, it even has two TV sets in it :) Tomorrow we'll be taking it easier and enjoying some of the local sites around the Twin Falls area.