Updates from the Road!

Apologies for not posting last night - I was far too eager to collapse into bed.  Here's a quick re-cap of what happened:

After a long, heartbreaking goodbye, I hit the road a little later than expected on Sunday. I had planned on stopping at the Newton Botanic Gardens for some flower photos, but JD had (predictably) gotten carsick within six minutes of being on the road and I thought it was better to play it safe and not deal with trying to tote him through the gardens. Poor guy.

Instead I decided to stop in Grinnell, my former home. It wasn't a long stop - just a quick trip to Walmart for a few things I needed and a gas tank top-off. Though I didn't go near the college, it felt nice to stop at that town on the way to my new life.

The rest of the trip is mind bogglingly boring, so I will just skip to the part where I arrived at my motel at just past 9 pm. I rang the front doorbell, and a very nice woman came out of the office to let me in. When I greeted her by saying I was checking in, she said "Ah! Are you Christine?"

Yes, folks, that's how small this town was. I was the only guest in the entire motel. I've seen enough horror movies to know that situations like this have a tendency to turn all Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the owners were so incredibly nice I felt more B&B than Bates Motel.  It was wonderful to be able to lie down, and after an adequate night's rest I packed up at 7:30 the next morning and hit the road again for the longest stretch of the trip - 10 hours in a day!

Today was WAY better than yesterday. Not only is the horrible Nebraska stretch over (12 hours of the same exact scenery), but the new scenery is absolutely breathtaking. I stopped at far more rest stops than I would ordinarily because I couldn't resist the photo-ops!

Speaking of photo-ops, my favorite stop today was the Denver Zoo. It is one of the most beautiful zoos I have ever seen, with winding paths and spacious enclosures. The collection of animals is massive, and all of them were out and about despite the 90 degree heat today. I saw creatures I had never laid eyes on despite my hundreds of zoo visits throughout the years. A brilliantly vibrant panther chameleon, two enormous komodo dragons that looked like something out of the jurassic period, and my personal #1 favorite: the two month old new baby snow leopard. She was rolling and tumbling and pouncing around her enclosure and her tiny little face just melted my heart.

This is the kind of zoo I would LOVE to work at some day. My experience there, combined with how much I fell in love with the Colorado scenery, has catapulted the Denver Zoo to the top of my future employment wish list for now.

That's all I have time for at the moment. I have another early day ahead of me tomorrow and I should get some beauty rest.

Stay tuned for pictures from the trip! I'll post tomorrow :)

Love and bellyrubs,

Christy