How to Love Road Trips

Somewhere between CO and CA, Road Trip Sept 2010

                 

I don't want to say I'm and expert on this subject, but I do have a real love for driving for hours on the open road.  I've been on multiple long road trips usually about 8-10 hour drives excluding my drive across country (which I would do again in a heart beat!), and I've actually never had a bad time.  I figured I'd give some tips on the subject.

1.  Honour thy mixed tapes:  Make mixed CDs or playlists.  It's nice to just let the music go and get excited about your pre-approved list rather than skipping and searching for the right songs.  Road trips are all about the music so include everything from dance music to some slow Celine Dion ballards.  Pro-tip:  download a couple of stand up comedian shows, it really is an awesome way to take a break from music and just laugh.  Everytime we take a trip I always wish we downloaded more!

2.  Thou shalt not make people sit on their feet:  Make sure everyone in the car has enough space.  I know sometimes you need to jam pack the car, but do not put that bundle of wood under your passengers. 

3.  Thou shalt be comfortable (piggy backs number 2):  Wear comfortable clothes with layers.  If you're driving through multiple weather conditions, you don't want to be too cold when you jump out of the car to pump gas.  Also bring a couple of pillows for people to take naps. 

4.  Honour thy time:  Try not to "be in a hurry".  Road trips are better enjoyed for everyone when you're taking your time on the road.  This way, you won't get annoyed stopping to use the restroom, stopping for gas, or running into the dreaded traffic that kills your road trip buzz.  Just add a few hours on to you ETA and you'll be pleasantly surprised if you arrive earlier than expected.

5.  Thou shalt utilize thy co-pi:  Make sure you switch driving shifts.  I do like to drive, but you miss all of the gorgeous scenery when you're driving, so it's nice to take and break and let someone else take a reins for a while.

6.  Do thy research:  Research where the traffic will be and try to avoid it at all costs.  I know there's always traffic leaving Las Vegas and there's always traffic around Los Angeles.  I try to avoid it by going around it or leaving at a time where you will have the best chances of not getting stuck in it.  I can sit in the car driving for 12 hours, but there's something really irritating about sitting in traffic for a half hour!  

7.  Remember to keep emergency energy:  You will get tired driving at night.  Make sure you have a trusty redbull before heading on deserted roads incase there is no where to stop again for miles. Redbull has saved the day (night!) on important legs of our trips more than once.  Please be safe.  Pull over or ask someone who has been napping to take over for a bit.  It's very dangerous getting tired at the wheel.

8.  Remember to go to kinkos and print directions:  Print directions!  Cell service can be spotty in some areas, it's best to have old school paper back up.

9.  Thou shall know where to fuel up:  Gas buddy.  If you're travelling on a budget and you need an estimate for gas, use gas buddy.com.  It tends to be a little lower than what you actually will spend, but it's still a good gage.  Don't trust gas station signs and fill up when you can.  I was driving through CO once and there was a sign that said "next gas station 44 miles" but we decided to fill up right there.  Luckily we did this because when we arrived at that next gas station.. the entire town was closed.

10.  Thou shall remember to have fun:  This is kind of a no brainer.  When you're on a road trip with friends it's really fun to have games prepared and just enjoy some conversation.  If you're a passenger, put your phone down and try and enjoy the time you're spending with the people you're with.  Some suggested games would be the question game, print out trivia, or sometimes I like to play "don't forget the lyrics" with the music you're listening to at that time. 

I hope you enjoyed this list and got some ideas on how to prepare for a road trip.  Some obvious additional suggestions would be to have some water/snacks in the car and a general courteous to the person who is driving.. offer to fill up the tank once.  Just because that person is offering to drive, doesn't mean you shouldn't help split gas.  Especially with prices the way they are now:)

Colorado Feb 2014

Two of our good friends decided to make the move from the beach to the mountains last August.  Although they were to be missed dearly, we were extremely excited to go visit them in Denver.  What did I take away from our visit to Denver?  Beer, beer, beer, outdoors, and more beer.  This place is a Mecca of breweries and quirky little drinking holes in the middle of no where.  I really enjoyed the farm/country feel of Denver and it's surrounding towns.  I was also surprised to see how old many old brick buildings and houses there were.  I'm a sucker for exposed brick!  To top everything off, the people in Denver are very friendly and seem generally interested in your story, which is always nice when visiting a new town.

We got up bright and early on Friday and headed to Vail for a day of skiing.  The drive was fun dispite running into some traffic.  Vail is an amazing mountain.  The place was huge and we felt like we were inside a snow glob during our day trip.  

As you can see the runs weren't very crowded and this was President's Day weekend.  Such a fun day!

Saturday was a day for a little R&R, beginning the day with a tastey breakfast, going to a prohibition bar that had the best ginger beer I've ever tasted, and ending the evening at a bar to drink the night away with good friends.  

Now that we have adapted to the altitude and dry air, we can get started on the many brewery visits.  First stop, New Belgium Brewery.  This tour is awesome!  They give out 5 samples throughout the 90 minute tour and have a bar to drink at either before or after.  There's also a fun surprise at the end of the tour, but if wouldn't want to spoil it...

La Folie, my heaven.  Sours are the new I.P.A.s If you didn't know...

Me and Colin with our amazing hosts.

After a fantastic tour at New Belgium, our gracious hosts took us to another brewery called The Black Bottle Brewery, also in Fort Collins. This brewery felt more like a small bar than a brewery which is nice for lunch and watching the Olympics.  The food was really good to pair with their delicious beer.  The thing I loved about Colorado is ordering tasters. Even though I usually ordered a full drink, it's a nice option when you have a million choices for beers!

After getting full off many beers and good food, where to next?  Why not another brewery?  Our next stop is Funkwerks, Inc. also in Fort Collins.  I really really loved this place.  It was in the middle of no where.  Very few people were in this tiny spot.  I'm not sure why but I really felt a zen vibe at this bar.  It may have been the no music playing, so no filler noise. All I know is that it was very relaxing sitting outside watching the sun set while sipping on their really delicious sour:)

We ended up back at the apartment for a fun night listening to music and drinking the night away to ring in Cole's 28th birthday.  The next day was very laid back which was a perfect last day of vacation.  We visited two breweries, the first was a funky joint called Vine Street.  This place had some great native decor and I cannot complain about the beer and food.  The next and last brewery was Epic.  No I do not mean the moment was epic, it's the name of the brewery;). This place smelled like hops and had this great industrial decor to accompany the brewery vibes.  I'm not a beer expert, but again the brews were delicious.  The real treat of this visit was seeing all the presidents past walk into the brewery for President's Day.  Definitely an Epic way to end a great weekend.  Until next time Denver!  And to Cole and Kelly,  we'll see you in a week in San Diego:). 

Thank you Denver, Fort Collins, and Vail for showing us how to drink beer and enjoy the outdoors!

If you're ever in Denver, definitely check out the breweries I've listed and definitely take the free tour at New Belgium.  Also, if you have the time and are very ambitious, here's a list of all of Colorado's breweries!

I cannot believe I almost forgot to mention this.  Colin and Cole had a little challenge going.  They challenged eachother to a beard off until they saw eachother during this trip.  They both made it and both somehow kept employment;). Here are the results.