Road Trip to NV: Day 2

So, the story continues.

We ended up accidentally staying in some form of VIP section of the hotel, I clearly fail, and were on the 17th floor.  Here is the view from the next morning....

So anyway, that morning we decided to go to a breakfast place called Eggtc. (get it!?).  We arrived and immediately recognized it was a good decision.  I ordered the Turkey Florentine sandwich (Sliced turkey, scrambled egg, swiss cheese, spinach, avocado, tomato on wheat with side of hollandaise) and it was awesome!  The coffee was also very good.  Good decision all around.  

As we ate, we actively googled things to do on our phones.  I found something I absolutely had to go do.  Carson found something he absolutely had to go do.  Mine was very close to Eggtc., and his was very close to I-70 on the way out.  It was meant to be.  And so, we drove to mine first.  

Yes, badminton birdies.  Because, how can you be in a city having this as art and not go see them?  Four in total, spread out around the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  We looked at them.  Then, logically, we hit them.

Opposite the museum was this cool looking building, not sure what it is and too lazy to google it.

I'm not sure if this art was meant to look like it was about to be moved somewhere else, or if it was about to be moved somewhere else, but I had to try to squeeze into the coat thing.  I did not have much success.

We continued around to the back of the museum where we spotted a bunch of tourists hanging out.  Carson went to say hi.

I soon concluded that I was getting tired and zen I took a nap.

Refreshed, we continued on to this street corner parking lot.

Actually, that's 18th and Brooklyn.  Oops.  I took a picture somewhere....


Anyway, not sure if it is the right parking lot that I took a picture of anyway because we were going to the famed 18th and vine.

Behind this building stood a statue of Charlie "Bird" Parker, one of the fathers of jazz.

For this reason I can only assume that this statue stands where he once stood in the parking lot of 18th and vine jamming out.


Across the street was this nifty statue/thing depicting jazz musicians jazzing it up.

Also in the 18th and vine area is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which, along with the Jazz Museum, was closed until later in the day (whomp).  

And so, it was time to hit Denver.  On the way out, we spotted a YMCA which was pivotal in the creation of the Negro League, soon to be a historic landmark as well.

It was saddening to leave Kansas City behind, as we both really enjoyed it there.  The atmosphere, the beautiful women (side note: St. Louis was desolate of those--I think they all moved from STL to KC), how green the city was, the nice temperatures and minimal bugs, the beauty of the city, the activity downtown and so many other things that immediately grabbed us.  It had a very laid back, beach city feel to it (while not on a beach) and has most definitely been added to my list of cities I want to live in.  Preferably not during tornado season.  AND on top of all that, we didn't even get to try Gate's BBQ!  We will meet again, Kansas City.

Once we got on the road, it was quickly apparent that Kansas City and Denver are far apart.  After about 50-100 miles of getting past all the quick GPS directions, we see our longest next-turn mileage of the trip.  Luckily, we are both refreshed and ready to go.  

Luckily, we passed exciting things on the way, and exited accordingly.

Unfortunately, the Road to Oz Highway was actually 9 miles out of the way to reach the Oz Museum.

So, we continued on.

And on.

And on.

Until finally it was time to stop.  I had been driving for a full tank of gas and then some, and my driving arm showed it.  One day I will learn.

Carson then took over and, of course, was immediately pulled over by the Kansas Highway Patrol.  He said he wanted a souvenir, what better souvenir than this!?

83 in a 70.  "I'm giving you a warning.  It's 70 in Kansas," said the cop.  Little did he know, we are used to 55, 60 and 65 back east.  


We continued on, me laughing at the situation (I had seen approximately zero cops while driving and he had driven by at least 10, or more), Carson saying it isn't funny.  But it was.


We soon hit the mountainous state of Colorado!

Little did we know that the mountains dont start until after Denver.  Which was still...really far away.  Disappointment was evident, to say the least.


But, we livened up when we reached none other than the "Point of Interest"!

We immediately exited.

What the hell could it be?

Um.  What?

....This tower was down a gravel, bumpy, pot hole road.  Needless to say, neither of us wanted to die that day.  So we continued on.  From the road passing by, we were able to see this:

What could possibly have been inside besides a torturous death, we will never know.


Hours later, we reach our destination.

Even in Denver, you can't really tell there are mountains looming past.  What the hell!?

We drive on, as Carson has a friend living in Denver who has graciously agreed to let us stay at her place for the night.  Her place just happens to have this awesome view:

Nay, we did not go to the amusement park--though that is AWESOME that a city has one so close to it.


Instead, we continued on to give away something we had transported across the country for the gracious host.  A can of east coast Yuengling.

Then it was time to venture out into the city and have some Denver experiences.  We started at a place called Tilted Kilt, which is alike to Hooters but with, well, a kilt theme.  This was along a really cool stretch of downtown Denver, 16th Street, where the road is exclusively used by free shuttles, and the things to do are endless.  


Then we went to a local Micro-brew, Wynkoop where we sampled all their beers.

I will say the Cowtown Milk Stout was fabulous.  It was a very rich, dark beer and I ordered another.  We were not aware at the time that 5280 feet in the air causes alcohol to hit twice as hard as sea level.  And, Washington DC is approximately 25 feet above sea level--I checked.


Later, we went to the top of the Hyatt where there were just countless women and no men.  Looked like a good place to be.  It also looked down on the B.A.B. (Big Ass Bear).  This picture is a side shot from driving by it earlier.

And now the shot from above.

And the view from the roof of the hotel.

Denver also has a tram service, which goes right through the streets and would more than likely end my life if I lived there.

Finally we made our way back to Liz's (our gracious host), and all passed out for the rest of the night.


Day 2 ends in Denver.  Preview of whats to come: Day 3 features the morning in Denver and the evening in Moab, Utah, sight of the climbing movie 127 Hours, where the guy gets his hand trapped under a boulder and has to cut it off with a dull knife.