The drive itself is rather boring. I mean, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado can't get much worse than that. I was bored enough I took a bunch of pics while driving and posted them under the "Travel" section of my smugmug page (look at the links on this page for that site).
It was nice getting to Denver with plenty of light left. There was some decent overcast that hovered over the mountains, but in a few you can barely see them as I approached from the far side of Denver. The first time I actually saw them I was 88 miles from my destination which is a good 10 miles from the base of the mountains, so I could see them from app 100miles away! It sounds weird, but I got a little choked up when I first saw them. I felt like Clark Griswald when he saw Wally World in the first Vacation series movie.
The next morning I left at 4:40am for Salt Lake City Utah. The first hour or so was in the dark, but as I approached Cheyenne Wyoming the sun very quickly rose to light up the rather barren landscape. One cool thing was all the antelope I saw on this section of the trip. I guessed I saw close to 1,000 total in Colorado and Wyoming!
One thing I didn't realize was the altitude difference heading up into Wyoming. Denver is app 5,000ft and just 90miles north Cheyenne is around 7,360ft and the pass up to Laramie is approaching 8,000ft! The car definitely doesn't have the power at the altitude to make it up hills without downshifting, and it kills your gas mileage too!
After Laramie Wyoming becomes a high altitude desert offering very little to the eye, at least along highway 80. There were a few straight sections of road that seemed to disappear into the horizon, and it felt like nothing cruising at 90mph : )
Once I approached Utah the Wasatch mountain range showed it's snow covered caps in the distant. My excitement grew as I got closer and closer. The drive down into the valley to SLC was fun, a bunch of twisty roads that offered plenty of fun for enthusiastic drivers. Like many cities nestled away in the mountains, you basically come around a corner and there it is. The city is surrounded by mountains on both east and west that still hold some deep snow. You can't really see the Salt Lake unless you are on a hill, and the city seems to go off into the farthest stretches of your eyesight. Overall it's beautiful to look at. Lucky for me Toby's house is right at the entrance of 80 into the city and just 1/4mile off the highway!
I know the feeling when you first see the Rockies. I remember it well from the first time I saw them. I also remember the goose bumps I go from the views on many of my hikes in the Mountains. Sounds like the trip is off to a good start.
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