FST : Day 2 – Hays KS to Wheat Ridge CO (345 mi)

A little shorter leg today, and on this day, we began to see the mountains.

We had yet another uneventful drive today, with a few more stops to smell the posies. We once again stopped at the site of the world’s largest prairie dog. We’d stopped here some years ago with Siobhan, and while we didn’t go run through the animal pens, we did do a little shopping in the gift shop. Sometimes, you just need another rubber snake.

We kept expecting to see the mountains, and it seemed like it was forever before they finally showed themselves. In reality, we probably could’ve seen them sooner, but there was a fair amount of haze out there, so that kept us from seeing them until we were quite close to Denver.

Just seeing them makes my heart go pitter-patter, and reminds me of the first time I saw the Rockies, back in 1989. I’d gone to Cheyenne (from Omaha), and was driving down to Denver from there. I topped a hill and suddenly the Rockies showed themselves. I was smitten, and still am.

Tomorrow, we stab to Moab, where we’ll stay for five nights, taking short jaunts, and taking a whole bunch more photos.