Vacation - Day One & Two

Our plan had been to leave around 4 am Monday morning. Can you say hah? We always make these grand plans about getting up early, but it just doesn't happen. It especially doesn't happen if you go out of town to a baseball game when you're supposed to be packing. We didn't finish packing until midnight on Sunday. However, the packing included packing the car. All we had to do in the morning was get up and go. We finally hit the road a few hours later than planned.

On Monday, we drove to Omaha, NE. Our plan had been to go to the zoo and spend the night. The later start meant the zoo was out for that day. We hoped to get dinner and maybe swim at the hotel before calling it a night. It's funny that swimming was in our plans. More alert people might have known the the Olympic qualification meets for swimming were scheduled for, you guessed it, Monday in Omaha, NE. We were worried when the hotel near the zoo was sold out and told us the entire city was as well for this meet. If we had listened to them, we'd have just driven on to Lincoln. Luckily, we decided to try another hotel a few exits down the road. They were sold out, too, but they referred us to another hotel that had a room. We headed to bed early with plans for an early start at the zoo.

We woke up bright and early and "enjoyed" our free breakfast in the hotel lobby. The zoo was only 10 minutes away. We arrived bright and early and still had to wait in line. The zoo is beautiful. We spent a few hours and saw maybe 1/3 of the sights. Sera loved the penguins and the fish the most.

We're in the butterfly conservatory here. Sera was fascinated with the birds in this display. They had different sections with different insects and reptiles in this area as well.

Sera couldn't wait to see the giraffes and elephants. Unfortunately, we didn't get to the elephants on this trip. We did see the real giraffes, but they wouldn't pose with Sera.

The aquarium was a huge hit. I bought Finding Nemo for Sera to watch in the car. After seeing all the fish here, she alternated between asking for Nemo and asking for Penguins (Happy Feet)for the entire trip. This was my favorite creature in the aquariums. I'd never heard of it before. It's called a sea dragon. Honestly, I first thought it was floating seaweed.

After a morning at the zoo, we hit the road. After a couple of hours, we stopped a rest stop and Jim grilled chicken breasts for our late lunch. Did I mention that we also cooked out the day before? This was so much nicer than fast food, and it meant Sera could run around and play in the grass. This rest stop even had a sand play area. Unfortunately, this also became the resting spot for Sera's Mei-mei. May she rest in peace. Her twin has been ordered.

It's the last place Jim and I remember seeing her. We think she fell out of the van when we got out. Here's a picture with her and Sera from last summer.

We finally made it into Denver and went straight to Coors Field. We were about an hour late for the game, but weren't worried. It was more about Jim seeing the stadium than actually watching the game. It wasn't as if the Tigers were playing. We had barely settled in when the game was over. It ended up being the shortest game EVER played at Coors Field.

It's all good though. Jim had time to tour the stadium and get plenty of pictures. Shortly after we arrived, a Coors Field photographer stopped and asked us to pose for a picture. She also took one of us on Jim's camera. Her photo was supposedly posted on their website that week. We also ate some fantastic chips. They were homemade chips topped with a mild queso, crumbled blue cheese, and bacon. Yum!

We hit the road planning to get just south of Denver and look for a hotel. Luckily for us, the interstate was closed and we were forced to pull off earlier than planned for the night.

More tomorrow on why that is so.

Indiana to Omaha - 557.57 miles
Omaha to Denver - 540.7 miles