The drive from Rifle, CO, to Denver, CO is one of my favorites. The canyons are beautiful, they have some really long tunnels to keep the kids entertained (Rachel held her breath through the entire Eisenhower Tunnel, not an easy feat) and it really just epitomizes “rocky mountain grandeur”.

“Babe!!”

“What??!”

“Check out that bike path! One heck of a climb but just LOOK at it!”

I glanced out my window to see the most picturesque paved bike trail I’ve ever seen in my life. The black and yellow winds up through the pine & aspen trees to the top of a giant hill (possibly Vail pass? I’ve lost track of where we are) before beginning a quick descent back down the other side. It was so beautiful I almost cried. Well, not really, but we did decide that we could easily spend a few weeks here.

Imagine this: Park the airstream, Sam spends some quality time with a signal booster and a mifi card while the kids and I hike and play in the dirt. We spend our evenings on long, scenic bike rides with the kids. Sounds glorious doesn’t it?

For now, though, we just drink it in and keep driving to Denver.