On the road again...

By this time you may be wondering, "How's Oliver doing?" He's fine, see?

He pretty much looked like this the entire trip.

In true Oliver fashion, he was totally chill. He is such an angel, a perfect feline specimen, and he absolutely lived up to these standards the entire trip. He wasn't too fond of hotel rooms where he could hear the neighbors, but otherwise he was great. No vomiting, no feces, no howling or scratching. He's such a joy!

Our next stop was Colorado Springs, where we spent a day with family and went to the Royal River Gorge. It was very beautiful, and was the first place I ever laid eyes on the Oregon flag. I have to say, it's definitely not as cool as the Tennessee flag, but I'm not going to judge a state by its flag.

It was really freaking hot that day, I think it was almost record-breaking, and it we didn't stay long. The gorge was beautiful, and made us wonder if the word "gorgeous" comes from that. I did some research and couldn't find anything to definitively say yes or no, but methinks the answer is yes.

The other thing you may not know about Colorado Springs is that NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is there. It's hidden in a mountain under granite that's 1300 feet thick, and is protected by 2 blast-proof doors that weigh 30 tons each. It's been there for 50 years, this year being the 50th anniversary. I'm not 100% clear on what happens there, but the gist is that they montior and respond to any disturbances in our airspace. Parts of the facility have appeared in some movies (think War Games and the the Terminator movies). Incidentally, I don't really understand the abbreviation for this place. I like things that are very logical, and as a result I'm thinking this should be called NAADC. But whatever. That's just my OCD coming out.

There also are a lot of prisons in Colorado and I'm curious why. According to my research, there are 30 prisons in the state (including federal, state and private prisons). There are only 17 in Tennessee. Also, the only "supermax" prison in the country is located in Colorado. Many federal and state prisons have a maximum security area, but there is only one in the country that is entirely maximum security, and it's called ADMAX. Lots of famous criminals are there: Ted Kaczynski (the unabomber), Robert Hanssen (the guy they made the movie Breach about), Richard Reid (the shoe bomber - we can thank him every time we take our shoes off at airport security), and lots of others from the Oklahoma City bombings and a few mob bosses I've never heard of.

On our way to our next stop (Salt Lake City) we drove through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado, and it is truly one of the most amazing places I've seen. It's so majestic and dramatic, words cannot describe it:

Our next stop was Salt Lake City, where we drove through at night and thus did not take any pictures of the city. On our way across eastern Utah, though, it was SO gorgeous. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice, but here it is anyway:

You probably can't tell, but there is a rainbow in that picture. We thought that was a good sign.

Anyway, we stayed at a KOA campground in my dad's RV which was kind of hilarious. It sleeps like 8 people, and we had our own room, see?

It was kind of a tight fit, really, but it worked out nicely. It gave us a nice break from the road, and my dad keeps it a cool 65 degrees in there all the time. It's also totally equipped with a full kitchen and bathroom (including a shower). But seriously, it was really nice to have a last visit with some family before we said goodbye for a while.

Next up: Idaho and OREGON!!!