Overambition
In planning my trip to visit my buddies Andy and Mike in Denver, I planned a bit too overambitious. It had been since six months prior since I’ve gone on a trip (to South Africa), so I wanted to get a lot done.
I thought in a week we could drive down to White Sands, New Mexico, over to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and then back through Colorado. In five days! That’s doable, right? I got the idea because a few years back I went on a 4-day long road trip from Darien, Illinois to Wyoming and back with my lovely parents before I moved out of my childhood home.
Andy and Mike thought it was too grueling for too short a time. Here was my rough itinerary:
Yikes! What we ended up doing was perfect – ambitious enough, but we didn’t overexert ourselves.
Introduction to Colorado
Mike picked me up from Denver International Airport and we went for a quick bite to eat at Tom’s Diner in downtown Denver – a retro-themed late night restaurant. We caught up, ate breakfast food at midnight (including a milkshake) and then went to his apartment where Andy greeted me. The three of us have been friends for a long time. Andy and I met in 1st grade, and while I didn’t really know Mike until high school, Andy had been friends with him for longer. So we got chemistry.
The next morning, Andy and Mike invited friends over for a delicious brunch – pancakes, fruit, and tea galore. It was magnificent! After new friends came and went, we decided to investigate Dinosaur Ridge, a small trail where plenty of dinosaur footprints had been unearthed.
Dinosaur Ridge
I’m not particularly obsessed with dinosaurs or anything, but how could I miss seeing something so unreal? I’ve only seen dinosaur-related things in museums.
Dinosaur Ridge is 17 minutes outside of Denver and in my opinion, a fun (and free) must-see while in Denver.
For the first time, I was seeing the mountains of Colorado – a sight I would get quite familiar with over the coming days. They lined the edge of the highway as we neared Dinosaur Ridge.
Once arrived, we hiked around the small mountain, getting a glimpse of the Red Rocks Ampitheater across the highway – a popular concert venue.
Along the trail, we saw brontosaur “bulges” in the rock, ripple mark currents, bones, and for the grand finale: footprints.
It is one of the coolest things, to turn a corner and see evidence of the creatures who lived here millions of years before us. I was blown away and had to take a few minutes to really absorb the magnificence.
It looks fake, but they’re not. I tried to find out why the footprints are marked black but haven’t found any reason online. I imagine visibility, but it seems odd that someone would vandalize something so sacred.
Dinosaur Ridge was a lovely sample of Colorado for me, but I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful the rest of the state would be. The following day we would leave Denver, marking the beginning of our small 4-day road trip which included Crested Butte, the Black Canyon, Glenwood Springs, and Rocky Mountain National Park.