We’ve been back home now for two weeks having a blast, and I
just realized that I hadn’t yet blogged about the final week of our road trip.
So here goes…
Disclaimer: Since we’ve been back we’ve heard “complaints”
that I write too much about food. If you
have no desire to read about food, please feel free to stop reading after the
first few paragraphs.
Week 3 started out near the Utah/Colorado border. We drove through the beautiful state of
Colorado through deserts, farmland, and
eventually mountains. We eventually made
it to Rocky Mountain National Park where we had planned on staying for 2 or 3
days to do some hiking. The park was beautiful,
but unfortunately the campground was pretty bad. They had taken out all the trees around the
sites so it was pretty wide open and really windy. We made the best of it and managed to take a
nap and go for a nice little hike in the evening.
That evening we reviewed our options and decided to try to
arrive home two days earlier instead of staying in the park for a few days. There
was a bridal shower for Joh’s sister Ashley that had been scheduled for two
days prior to our expected return date, so we figured that if we left the park
the following afternoon we would be able to make it back if we put in a few
long days of driving over the remaining days.
We spent the next morning in the park driving around the
park. Up and down mountains and viewing
beautiful mountain sceneries. Around mid-morning we stopped for a hike and we
did a six-mile one out into the wilderness to a small lake way up in the
mountains. It was a really cool hike
that brought us by all sorts of streams, mountains, ponds, and the like. Unfortunately
100’s of other people had the same idea, so the trail was packed full of
people; but we made the best of it and we were rewarded with a really good
time.
By the time we were finished it was early afternoon and we
still needed to get a lot of miles in that day. We managed to end up around 2
hours past the Colorado/Kansas border in a small RV Campground in the middle of
nowhere. The campground was really nice, and they even had a hot tub. After a
morning hike and many hours of driving, the hot tub felt great.
The next day it was straight on towards Kansas City, where
we planned on dining on Kansas City-style BBQ for lunch. Those of you that know me know that I’ve
always been fanatical about BBQing and so I couldn’t wait to try out the
authentic stuff. After researching online
for a recommended restaurant we ended up at Arthur Bryant’s. Arthur Bryant’s BBQ is world-renowned and is
a Kansas City tradition. It’s been said to be the most famous BBQ restaurant in
America. So early that afternoon we found ourselves waiting in line for BBQ
with around 300 other people. As we got
closer and closer to the counter, the smell of the pork and BBQ sauce cooking in
the wood ovens full of hickory and oak was making my mouth water like crazy. After an hour or so in line we finally made
it to the front of the line and ordered the 4 best things on the menu: A
quarter pound each of Ribs, Pulled Pork, Burnt Ends, and Brisket. We were not disappointed. Best ribs I’ve ever eaten, the burnt ends
were incredible, and the sauce was awesome.
Our next stop was St. Louis.
We arrived in town early morning for a walk around downtown. We spent a few hours walking the streets,
checking out the sports stadiums, parks, gardens, and of course the big giant
arch. When lunchtime came around it was
time to check out St. Louis’s version of BBQ.
We got a recommendation to go to Pappy’s Smokehouse. They had an even longer line up than the
restaurant in Kansas City. It was well
over an hour in line. It was worth it though.
The ribs were really good – not quite as good as the ones we had the
previous day, but still really good.
Our bellies stretched after two days of BBQ, we got back on
the road and drove most of the way towards Chicago. We stayed the night in a cheap motel an hour
outside the city and got up the next morning and went straight into downtown.
We arrived there early morning so the city was quite abuzz with activity. It was quite stressful to us. It was really overwhelming to be in the
middle of that. We just sat down on a curb and watched everyone scurrying
around everywhere. After we were finally used to it, we merged in and walked
around town for a few hours. We visited the park, the art museum, the shops,
and everything in between.
When it was time for lunch we decided we needed something
different. We walked over to a local and asked where to go in order to get
something unique to Chicago. She gave us
two options: deep-dish pizza, or a Chicago-style hot dog. Deep-dish pizza has an incredible amount of
cheese, so Joh wasn’t too up for that idea, so we opted for the hotdog
instead. We were referred to a place
called America’s Dog. This place was cool. The owner had apparently gone on a
road trip across the USA to discover all the different styles of hotdogs that
each city offered. Then he came back to
Chicago and opened a hotdog restaurant with a big menu of different hotdogs
from all over. Some were deep-fried, some were BBQ’d, some were spicy, and some
were sweet. I went straight for the
Chicago dog (when in Rome… or in this case Chicago) and got a nice hotdog with
hot peppers, pickles, mustard, and a few other things. Really tasty –no regrets there.
After Chicago it was basically straight home. We stayed in a small park in Michigan
overnight (and got devoured by mosquitos), did a little shopping at an outlet
store, and then crossed the border and straight on back home.
It’s been really nice being back for these past two weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time with our friends
and families, and went camping for a week.
We’ve got two weeks left now and then it’s back on the road.
 |
| BLOG ROADTRIP DAY 17-22 |
No comments:
Post a Comment