On the way to Boulder, Colorado from Arches National Park, we stayed at a KOA campground in Grand Junction, Colorado. The picture shown above was the sunset right after we crossed into Colorado and it was the most beautiful sunset I have yet to see in my life. No picture will ever do justice, period. Grand Junction was only an hour and a half drive from Arches. We were able to get there early enough to set up camp and then head into town to grab a bite to eat. We ended up going to Applebee’s where we stayed almost three hours! They had their first ever trivia night there and of course we played and won every round. With prizes in hand and belly’s full, we slept like champions to get ready for the 4.5 hour drive over to Boulder, Colorado.
Once in Boulder, we immediately looked for a microbrewery where we could try some local brew and great food. Thanks to Trip Advisor we stumbled across the Walnut Brewpub in downtown. They had great beer, great guacamole, and great food; all we could ask for! While eating, we looked for activities in the area on our phones and Cory hit the jackpot: a bouldering gym. If you are not familiar with bouldering, it is basically rock climbing but without the ropes and on more difficult terrain (indoors, that is). Follow this link to get a better visual idea of what it involves.
With our stomachs about to burst with beer and pub food, we decided to go through with it anyways. Bouldering in Boulder had a nice ring to it. When we walked in it was like an adult playground, filled with challenging courses and sculptures. It was only $13 for a full day pass with shoe rental which was absolutely worth it. After a few easier routes up to the top, we moved onto some more difficult routes to the top that we were failing more than succeeding on. There was one route that we just couldn’t figure out. We must have tried 20 times until this girl came over about 5’0″ and showed us how to do it first try. After getting deflated a bit from that, we were able to finally succeed thanks to her instruction. It was a very eye opening experience to me at just how much of a workout rock climbing and bouldering is and how it is a great way to stay in shape while having fun! I plan to get a membership at a gym near us back home that has both rock climbing and bouldering as well.
With another fun experience in the bag, we packed up the car and braced ourselves for the 15 hour drive over to the windy city: Chicago, Illinois!
After 15 hours, we got to Chicago around noon time. The traffic was horrendous to say the least, even mid-day on the weekend. When we got into the actual city, it was back to the world of jay-walking, fast and furious style taxi drivers, and way overpriced parking. At first we grabbed a parking spot right outside Millennium Park at a meter for $4/hr. which was pretty steep, but better than $52 overnight parking! Walking around, we were able to see how massive Lake Michigan is, the Cloud Gate which was a bean-shaped mirror sitting in the middle of the park, and all of the skyscrapers of the city.
Once the pay meter was up, we moved on to find a $14 full-day parking lot after searching forever. We walked around a little bit more and got onto Michigan Avenue where we found a Potbelly’s sandwich shop. Anything would do for food, anything. I had remembered that my friend Andrew from Merrimack who I played soccer with had recently moved to right outside Chicago. I gave him a call to see what he was up to and if he could show us around the city a bit, but he said he would be discovering just as much as we were because he hadn’t been in the city very much at all.
When we pulled into the city, we checked out Hotel Tonight app to see if there were any good deals to stay in the city for the night and I couldn’t believe the prices, even at the “deals” that they were. We were getting dangerously close to sleeping in the car for another night. Andrew was kind enough to ask his parents if they could accommodate us staying there and they were glad to help. After eating we jumped in the car and head out to Andrew’s house which was only about 30 minutes from the city.
With our things set up at his house and a game plan in mind, Andrew dropped us off at the train station to go into the city to watch the Boston Bruins take on the Chicago Blackhawks on their turf. Andrew had actually tipped us off to an all New England sports bar that was in the city which was awesome to hear! When the train rolled up we were kind of excited at the fact that they were double-decker trains because we don’t have those back home, so of course we sat up on the second level. Once in the city, we got a taxi to bring us directly to Tripoli’s Tap which was the Boston sports bar.
“Maximum capacity”, the bouncer told us. Disappointed, we began to walk away and then he called us back as 3 people left the bar. It was absolutely packed! It took us almost 20 minutes just to get a beer order in. Getting a bit claustrophobic, we saw an opening to a backyard setup and made our way over. There had to have been 100 people out back with 2 big-screen TV’s set up. We stood out back for the whole game and when the Bruins scored the place was electric! It felt just like being back home with all of the trash talking, potty mouth Boston accents. When the Bruins scored in OT, we were working our way back into the bar section and the place exploded in excitement. I got more hugs and high fives than I can count! Great bar with a great atmosphere if you are a Boston fan from outside of Chicago.
Getting back to Andrew’s after a long train ride, his mother had set up sleeping mats for us with our sleeping bags, pillows, and left us towels to shower. I couldn’t thank her enough the next morning when she had a bacon and egg breakfast ready for us with bagels and orange juice. I can’t explain to you how great it felt to stay in an actual home, have food prepared for us and everything. The family dog, Fenway, was a great addition to the stay. He was a 89-pound, fluffy golden retriever with the mindset that he was a lapdog. He was nothing but a cuddle-bug and I loved every second of it. Dog’s have such a way of cheering you up, even when you aren’t remotely sad!
With a great stay in Chicago thanks to the Suttle family, we were fully rejuvenated for the final 17-hour leg back home. As some of you may be thinking, the trip got pretty skewed from the original game-plan, but that was bound to happen. This trip was all about variability and going with the flow. We made a decision pretty early on that we were going to be home for the 17th of June instead of the planned 21st of June. We didn’t tell anyone but our parents because all of us have girlfriends and we were going to give them a big surprise by getting home early. An especially big surprise was planned by Cory because on the 17th, it was his 6-year anniversary with his girlfriend, Kayla. My next posts will consist of a list of trip favorites along with what I gained from this whole experience, so be sure to check those out as well!
Check out all of the pictures from Boulder, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois on the Ultimate Road Trip Facebook page!
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