The mother of all road trip : DAY FOUR

DAY four we wake up groggy eyed. It is really early as we prepare to leave Denver. While leaving the city you can see the vista of the downtown on one side and the snow-capped Rockies on the other side. We left so super early that there were hardly any cars on the road yet.

Once you leave the city borders of Denver and go towards Wyoming the scenary changes at every bend and it is truly breathtaking or as people in this generation likes to refer to it "instagram worthy".

For once we did have a destination. Teton National Park. We debated going to YellowStone National Park but then later decided that YellowStone will have to be a trip by itself. Wyoming is empty. When I say empty. I mean EMPTY. There is nothing anywhere around. Unlike the east coast there are no rest stops after every 30 mins. It is just wilderness. Raw and beautiful.

Finally after driving for hours we came across an almost broken gas station. But there were atleast 50 cars there. It looked like it was the only gas station for miles. As I entered the gas station, I saw on the left that there was a tiny designated room marked "PRAYER HALL / GURUDWARA". Surely enough that gas station in the middle of nowhere WYOMING was owned and operated by a Sikh family.  Along with the regular chips and sodas and candies they were also making " Aloo Paratha" in a corner. I was the only other Indian and I went upto them and asked them if I could buy one. They informed me that was for the family and not for sale. Seeing my dejected and hungry glances they just offered me one and said no payment was necessary. I was touched with their gesture. After that I went to use the restroom. I wish their compassion extended to the other guests using their facilities and they step up and clean the restrooms.

After a brunch of " Aloo Paratha" we were on our way again. We were driving at 100 miles an hour. And our windshield ended up being responsible for a million bug deaths. The white spots you see are not meteors, but bug guts.

The Grand Teton National Park is a national park(BIG SURPRISE) and the two major peaks are Teton Range and Jackson Hole. Words are not enough to describe this place in the middle of true cowboy country. It is pure, untouched, virgin. This is where peace lives. Nothing bad can ever happen here. It is where you fall silent and drink in the the grandness that nature has to offer. The few snaps in this blog does not do any justice to this place. We also got to see wild animals including wild buffaloes, deers, foxes and a moose.

We decided to have dinner at Jackson Hole town. It is the tourist spot and gentrified to appease the tourists and cater to them, what they would expect a cowboy town to look like. Although, I did have the best grilled salmon I have had ever in my life here.

When we left Jackson Hole we still had daytime. (Thank God for Summer). Then, however from nowhere a bunch of dark rainy clouds started floating in and covering up everything.

We were soon caught up in a crazy thunderstorm and had to make a stop for the night adding one more extra day to our epic road trip.

The mother of all road trips : Day 3

The next day we left Oakley Kansas a little late, around 9 am.  We knew we did not have a long drive as both of us wanted to spend atleast one night in Denver, Colorado. The drive was about 4 hrs. We decided to live lavishly and booked a Hilton for our stay.

As we were nearing the city limits we got the first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains way in the distance.

We reached Colorado by 1 PM. By rule no hotel lets you check in before 3 PM in this country. So the first stop on STP's request was a weed store. Weed is legal in Colorado and unlike California outsiders over the age of 21 are allowed to buy retail weed upto 1 ounce. Only registered weed shop are allowed to see these. And the shops atleast the ones that we went to, looked super edgy and cool. It had high end interior decorations, the best security 2017 has to offer, a bouncer at the door and super cool edgy sales people. A far FAR cry from how and where I have heard my friends buy their weed. There are variable options, multiple fusion, vapes, oils, chocolates, cookies, spreads, cake mixes apart from the actual weed leaves. Oh and yeah! Photography was prohibited inside the shops. I wonder if we, in India can do the same with bhang? It was a "heady" experience. Since STP dragged me to a marijuana shop, I dragged him to a NAIL salon and got my nails done. Sadly there was nothing special about that shop.

After our mini adventures, we checked in our hotel, dressed up for the first time in clothes which were not shorts and minion tshirts and headed out for DOWNTOWN !! We took the fast rail and decided to end the trip at the famous Union Train Station. The fast rail was easy, reliable, runs like every 10 minutes and I must say that the Denver Transport has a great sense of humour.

We hanged around the Union Transport Centre which originally was a train station and now houses some of the best local chocolates, milkshakes, food, art and is basically the focal point of downtown. There are complimentary buses that takes you on tours around the mall. Another fun thing to do is to climb the 13th step of the Capitol Hill and get a mile high. (It is exactly one mile above the sea-level.)

There are million other fun things to do around Denver and Denver downtown mostly free. It is however a very expensive city and it looks it. The Denver that I encountered was all high-end apartments and sparkling malls and corporate buildings, a very pretty downtown and some really aggressive homeless people. When we were lounging around Union Station we encountered the local police arrest a few very loud women.

We had dinner at this charming downtown Mongolian BBQ. It was my first time at a Mongolian BBQ. The food was great but the experience truly unique.

 

I ended the night with a boozy milkshake from MilkBox Ice Creamery(without realizing its boozy properties). But honestly if there is one thing you do in Denver, Colorado do the boozy milkshake. YUMM !!