Back from Colorado

The GF and I just had just finished our first vacation after I came back from Iraq. Thank God for this past long weekend! The dog tagged along too for the long drive from here to Colorado Springs. Whoever said that Kansas was flat ought to have his or her eyes re-examined! There was a long road of nothing but hills and the only population were cattles and horses. It's kind of beautiful in a drug-induced haze sort of way.

On the way to and back, we listened to both AM an FM radio, as well as the IPOD, since the satellite radio portal has something wrong with it. Dammnit, I got the satellite radio for long drives!

We stayed at this econolodge on the edge of town, kind of a ghetto area, but it was fine since we were just there to lay our heads and eat the free breakfast.

The mountains were beautiful! We went to the zoo and saw giraffes necking, hippos feeding, and watched people like they're a part of the zoo display. Thanks to military discounts, we didn't have to pay for most of the tickets at full price. We also took the railroad to the top of Pikes Peak, it was really cold at the top, around 14,000+ ft. When we came down from the mountain, I got this raging headache that wouldn't go away, probably from the altitude. Should of had a shot of oxygen from the oxygen bar at the top of the mountain, $6 for 20 minutes, flavored too! I wondered about what it would be like, just to live on top of one of these mountains with no one but your signigicant other and maybe a few pets. I kind of feel like I live like that now, except for the 8 hours that I'll have to spend working. I think the GF would like to live in the mountainous states one of these days.

It was kind of surreal coming back to this part of the Midwest, not our absolute favorite, but hopefully, it won't be permanent. I think the GF said that she felt depression lift as soon as we drove out of Kansas. I kind of always have believed that you make the place that you are at, but so far, the Midwest have stumped me a bit.