Wednesday 8/27 - Colorado, Utah

Day 2

We woke up early after not much sleep and started driving through the little town of Idaho Springs, which we were seeing for the first time in the daylight. It was adorable, almost like the little old mountain towns you only see replicated in movies or theme parks. We decided to stop at a cute little diner called Jiggie's Cafe for breakfast, where I aptly had my first ever Denver omlette, though technically we were no longer in Denver.

While on the road, our stops needed to kill several birds with one stone. Grocery stores were a lucky find amongst gas stations/rest stops with nothing but junk food. Sleeping in the car was a last resort, so camping or knowing people to stay with would help plan out where to stop. Bathrooms were obviously the most essential. Toilets and places to wash up were few and far between, so finding one or the other made it important to plan out when and where to poop, which thus would have to be done when it's convenient more so than when it's necessary.
Bathing was the most difficult thing. Some rest stops do have showers, but we never ended up using them. But roughly 36 hours into the trip, mostly sitting in a cramped car in the heat, having gone at least 2 days without a shower, we were getting overdue. Fortunately, driving through the gorgeous Colorado Rockies, we happened upon a branch of the Colorado River just off the highway and got the notion to stop for a swim and a 'bath'. We parked, grabbed our bathing suits and shampoo/soap, and walked down to the relatively easiest part where we could climb down to the water. It couldn't have been more refreshing. Rafters would pass and wave periodically, a few guys making row-by passes at us. But at least we were in bathing suits.

We continued on driving through the mountains, passing Frisco, Vail, some mountain goats, and a bunch of other little ski towns along the way.
Eventually we made it to Utah and Arches National Park shortly before sundown. It was the perfect time to be there, with the air cooling down to a more tolerable degree and the sun low in the sky, making the red rocks even redder. We sat at the first lookout for at least 30-45 minutes, mostly just reflecting on the beauty and history of the site. We headed over to the camp site just as the sun set, luckily finding a spot despite their claim that it was full.

We pitched the tent in an open sandy spot, and as it got dark, started a fire to grill the corn we'd bought earlier from a roadside stand. This, the Ritz/Triscuit crackers with peanut butter, and some mushrooms Kyle had brought made up our dinner. The corn was perfect and surprisingly filling..the peanut butter and crackers never failed to keep us satisfied throughout the trip.
We spend much of the night staring up at the stars, millions of which were visible now that we were a fair distance from light pollution. Lisa got the most energized out of anyone, hallucinating about moving stars, doing yoga, breaking out the hula hoop tied to the roof of the car. She'd theorized that the stars could actually be a canopy of giant glowworms waiting to secrete their saliva and catch us for prey.

Fearing we were being louder than we realized, we eventually went to sleep in our cozy tent on a comfy bed of sand, fortunately with no snakes or scorpions to disturb us. However, Jina got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, after which Kyle got up to check on her and spotted a coyote by our tent. I was too out of it to take it seriously or worry, but apparently it sniffed around the tent for a while and went over to the burnt-out fire to steal our burnt corn cobs. We later figured this was Kyle's spirit coyote.