Denver

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On our cross country drive to California we're in Denver today. We've crossed the plains of Kansas and Colorado and now the mountains are in view. Denver is famously the "Mile High City".

We spend much of the day exploring the city including, yet again, another train station! We visit a couple of art galleries, enjoy a nice lunch and explore the architecture of the city centre. It's another lovely day to enjoy the weather. Denver seems very cosmopolitan — e.g., check out the hot chick in the photo at left!

That evening we head into the mountains, where it's even higher elevation, and spend the night at Idaho Springs. It's a little backwater town, nothing like the city of Denver. There's a mining exhibit and we take in a "private" hot spring spa. In the mountains the weather is much cooler and a little grey. Tomorrow we'll be in the mountains.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Limon

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We're on a cross country trip to California for a couple of conference.

Today we were trying to get to Denver, we made our way across Kansas (nothing much to see here but Kate enjoys the big sky country which puts Reg to sleep) and as far as Limon, Colorado. Along the way it's Memorial Day and graveyards are being visited and decorated to honor those who are gone.

Kate is pushing our little Hyundai Pony pretty hard against a strong west wind and the car is getting hot. Slow down a little please! This car doesn't have air conditioning so we drive with the windows down, that creates a breeze, but may also account for the car overheating.

Limon is a drab little cow-town with a huge stockyard. Cattle are fattened up here before being sent off to slaughter. The air is ripe with the smell of manure and the cattle are bawling loudly — they're not happy and not knowing what comes next.

There's a dramatic sunset tonight. Kate is right about the beauty of the big-sky country.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Leaving St Louis

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We're on a cross country trip, driving to California for a couple of conferences. Today we're in St Louis in the morning and on the road after a bit of exploration.

Our hotel has a nice pool and we take advantage of the nice weather for a bit of dip in the morning. Kate is keen on train stations (we visit several on this trip) and we visit the old St Louis train station which has been converted into a lovely shopping mall. These old train stations are art deco extravaganzas and well worth admiring. There's even a fancy-dancy Omni Hotel that takes advantage of the beautiful old architecture.

Down at the Mississippi shore there are several paddle wheel river boats tied up. The river is very low this year and you can see lots of the muddy river bank. We understand that you can take long trips down the river to Louisiana. That would be an interesting holiday.

Leaving St Louis and heading west on the I70 we stop for a wine tasting at a local winery along the Missouri River not too far out of town. Oddly they are featuring a "Strawberry Wine". Interesting, refreshing, but not vinifera.

We stop at Katy Station in Columbia for lunch and drive through Kansas City (recalling the movie where W.C. Fields asks, "Is this Kansas City Kansas or Kansas City Missouri") towards Denver making it as far as Limon, Colorado.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Arriving St Louis

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We're on a cross country trip to California.

We left Indianapolis in the morning  and arrived in St Louis, on the Mississippi River, that afternoon. Along the way we stopped for a swim at a recreation area — it's a beautiful warm day and we can dawdle. It's not a long drive, only about 4 hours between the two cities: a bit of Indiana, then all the way across Illinois to Missouri and St Louis on the west bank.

In St Louis we had dinner in the revolving restaurant of the Clarion Hotel with great views of the St Louis Arch (Gateway to the West), the Mississippi, and the Busch Stadium. We explored the Arch (of course!), a bit of the old city and saw a young band (more R&B than anything) in the University area.

We explore more of the city the next morning.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Indianapolis

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Kate has a KBS conference in Berkeley June 5-10 and Reg has a Usenix conference June 20-24 in San Francisco so we're taking a long working vacation and driving in our humble car across the USA. We'll take a week to get there, a week in Berkeley for the KBS, a week in Pacific Grove/Monterey, a week in San Francisco for Usenix and then a week to get home.

This documents the first day of the trip.

We have our first car ever, a 1984 Hyundai Pony, which seems able for the task, and off we go crossing the border at Detroit and making it to Indianapolis for our first night. This photo album shows some sites around downtown Indianapolis where, we discover, the Indy 500 is scheduled the next day. We wonder: "Why are all these people here? Oh furdumb!"

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.