We arrived in Glenwood in time to have dinner at the Slope & Hatch... a little taco and hot dog hole in the wall. I highly recommend visiting this little business if you're traveling through. There are only about 6 tables inside and it is always packed... be prepared to sit outside.
The only hotel we could find that would allow the dogs was The Hotel Denver. This place was SO charming. Antique furniture through out and the most hospitable front desk people I've ever encountered. These wonderful people packed up a beach bag for us when we told them we were going to the pool, fully loaded with towels, apples and bottled waters. They are pricey and truth be told had there been a cheaper place to stay that would accept the dogs we probably would've gone there. I'm so glad we got to stay at this treasure. My suggestion, splurge on this at least once in your lifetime.
We stayed for the weekend, did lots of swimming at the hot springs, ate ice cream then went back for an evening swim. I'm not sure what it is that kids just love about swimming at night? I think they feel like they are getting away with something. Whatever the reason, my children act like the entire pool just filled with birthday cake when they flip that light switch on.
Sunday we left for Dinosaur National Park in UT and let me recommend to all you parents to children aged 6ish - 12ish.... this is the age to go. My kids loved touching the dinosaur bones and joined the jr. rangers program where they learned all about 6 different dino's. The downfall was that we had to leave the dogs in the car while we raced through the exhibit. Luckily I have remote AC in my Volt so I was able to run that with the windows cracked and the water dish in the passenger seat so I don't think Sarah MacLachlan will be singing to me for it.
After that we headed for Salt Lake City to our next Home2 hotel where it was the least favorite hotel on our journey. We were on the 2nd floor, which was a pain to potty the dogs. Then to make matters worse the people one floor above us had either a toddler running across the floor until the a.m. hours or it was a large dog pitter pattering around. So not the best nights sleep for the only one legal to drive. I tried to get the girl to drive, but that suggestion was met with an eye roll so hard she may have sprained and eye ball.
I forgot to mention that at the start of our journey we started an audio book on the Bluetooth. Sidebar........As someone that has traveled the route from Colorado to California twice, each time with 2 nine year olds and 2 pets (first the cats, then the dogs), I can not implore you parents enough to get an audio book the family can listen to or a podcast for any trip over 2 hours. On the way back from our first trip I discovered the podcast Lore. It was historical, a little creepy with just a hint of darkness, but nothing too horrible that a 9 year old can't listen to, depends on the kid. Listen to a couple episodes yourself to judge. Probably the Lobotomy episode is the worst.
Because this was an opportunity to walk through history, I decided to share a book that I had just listened to twice about The Donner Party, The Indifferent Stars Above. Was it too dark for 9 year olds? Maybe, but it is history.
So starting at Salt Lake we traced the route of the Donner Party, looked across the great salt desert where Sarah Graves Fosdick and her entire family trudged across in covered wagons. It's quite a picture they paint in the book of what these human beings endured. We were so much tougher back then, however we did only live to the age of 50 ish, so those hard times obviously took their toll.
In my next post I'll cover our trip from Utah into Nevada and finally California.
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