Minnesota and Arizona 2023:
Day 20 - Kansas

	Monday, June 26, 2023: We awoke around 4 AM, shivering with cold. It was only 50° F in here! The heater in the cabin apparently did not work, and we were only sleeping in lightweight sleeping bags. In the middle of the night, Tom went out to the van and got our fleeces, which helped, but it was still much colder than we were prepared for. We slept fitfully until 6:30 AM, when we figured we'd be warmer if we packed up and started driving.
	A few minutes after leaving the KOA, we were entering Rocky Mountain National Park.
	We passed the official entrance sign at the western entrance, ...
	... and then drove right through the unmanned fee stations. There were signs indicating that timed entrance tickets were required between 9 AM and 2 PM, so we were glad that we were getting an early start.
	There was an adult and juvenile elk that were walking along the road, but they turned off into the trees almost as soon as we saw them.
	We came to a large meadow area, ...
	... which was filled with elk.
	We pulled into the Colorado River Trailhead parking area, ...
	... and then got back in the van when we saw the sign saying the trail was closed. We were definitely going to hike the seven miles to LaPoudre Pass where the Colorado River starts, really. No, not really.
	We drove the switchbacks as climbed up, and up, ...
	... and up.
	The views were incredible as we climbed higher.
	Whoa. This big guy was just walking down the side of the road. Tom got all the way over into the oncoming lane and drove very slowly as we let him pass. He barely turned his head to look at us.
	We turned into the access to Lake Irene, ...
	... where there was still snow on the ground just beyond the picnic tables.
	That's Lake Debbie's Mom, uh ... Lake Irene.
	We crossed the continental divide at Milner Pass at an elevation of 10,759 feet.
	This is Poudre Lake, which is just beyond the pass. Poudre Lake is not to be confused with La Poudre Pass Lake, where the Colorado River is born.
	As we gained even more elevation, there was still snow along the roadside.
	We crossed the Fall River Pass at 11,796 feet, ...
	... and then stopped at the Gore Range viewpoint.
	It was still quite cold, and we hadn't taken our fleeces off since we left the cabin.
	The views were amazing, ...
	... no matter which direction we looked.
	Check out the the grass on the flat slopes on the distant mountain.
	Shortly after leaving the overlook, we passed the highest point on the road at 12,090 feet.
	We pulled off at another overlook and saw this marmot that was busy licking the pavement.
	This was the Lava Cliffs overlook, so we're guessing that's them.
	As we headed down the other side of the pass, we saw the water from the snowmelt running down the hillside and into the culvert along the side of the road.
	There were drains every so often, which we only noticed because the water stopped all of a sudden.
	We always admire the handiwork of the road crews that work in the National Parks.
	Those are the Rocky Mountains out there.
	Escape campervan!
	Oooh. There are still people in there. We weren't staring at you, just your van.
	It was just before 8:30 AM when we reached the Beaver Meadows Entrance Station, and the line to get in was already pretty long.
	We pulled into the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, ...
	... and went looking for the Mather plaque.
	This one was part of the the original 1930 casting run and was placed at this location when the visitor center was completed in the 1960s.
	We saw a fallen ranger display like this one at Hot Springs National Park back in January.
	There was an informational display telling the story of how one of Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentices had designed the visitor center in 1964.
	You can see the Wright influences if you look for them. The cantilevered deck, ...
	... the flat roof and the natural stone, ...
	... and the lack of vertical mortar lines.
	The visitor center itself was not open until 9 AM, so we couldn't go in. Sadly, there was a tiny coat-not-on-child hanging up near the entrance doors. Hopefully the parents will come back for it before their child needs it too badly.
	There was one of the awesome topographic map displays out in front of the building, so we were able to see it even though the building was closed.
	The administration building was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
	It too, looks very Wright-ian. Not sure if a flat roof is the best thing for a building in the mountains in Colorado, though.
	There were pretty columbine ...
	... and other pretty Colorado wildflowers growing around the building.
	Check out those mountains. We took this after turning around to go get a better picture of ...
	... this U-Haul design for our collection. At this point, we have most of the state/province designs, so it is harder and harder to find the ones we're missing.
	Here's the older part of Estes Park that's right outside the park.
	Wait. A Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store actually in the Rocky Mountains?!
	We treated ourselves to breakfast at the McDonald's in Estes Park.
	This was the only elk we saw in town this time. They must all still be up in the mountains.
	We were close to the Stanley Historic District, ...
	... so we drove up to the entrance to the Stanley Hotel, which was the inspiration for the hotel in the movie "The Shining."
	This intersection is where we stopped with our friends Pete and Sally back in 2003 to take photos of elk as they wandered the town.
	As we drove by Debbie's ex-husband's girlfriend's family's vacation home in Estes Park, we saw at least three marmots in the backyard. They must be like squirrels in the Midwest.
	We passed Lake Estes, ...
	... and then the Estes Park sign on the hill leading out of town (last photographed in 2003) ...
	... and on into the Roosevelt National Forest as we drove US-36 toward Lyons.
	The North Saint Vrain Creek ran right along the roadside.
	Hey! There's an Oskar Blues Brewery Tap Room in Lyons! Too bad it was only 9:30 AM or otherwise we might have stopped in.
	Lyons has a great welcome sign.
	As we reached the outskirts of Boulder, we saw this great neon sign just outside a neighborhood. The drive-in that it used to belong to, the Holiday Drive-In, is no longer here, but it was very cool that they restored and continue to maintain the sign.
	Aren't the Flatirons beautiful?
	By 10:15 AM, we were seeing the Denver skyline, ...
	... and shortly after that, we were in a Winchell's, the same one we went to when we were here in 2019, actually.
	We picked six donuts, and then in a complete breakdown of Bundlings travel protocol, we didn't take any photos of what we picked. Our experts have been able to reconstruct the timeline of events, however, and we are pretty sure that we didn't eat any of them right away. We put them in the cooler to save for breakfast the next morning.
	Our next stop was at the National Park Service's Rocky Mountain Regional Office building in Lakewood, Colorado.
	Their Mather plaque is part of the 1991 casting series and was placed here during the 75th anniversary rededication for the park service.
	We sent this photo to our friends Tom and Ruth off in Canada since they used to live in Lakewood not far from this building.
	With some time to kill, we decided to get give our trusty minivan, Septimus, a bath. There were a lot of bugs smashed on the front of the van, and after the long dirt road in Colorado, Septimus needed it.
	With a sparkling clean van, we drove over to the Black-eyed Pea for lunch. This is one of our favorite restaurants, and Colorado is the only state left where there is more than one open venue.
	We ordered our usual: one meatloaf dinner with broccoli rice casserole and fried okra, and a vegetable plate with fried apples, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, broccoli rice casserole, and fried okra, along with their delicious rolls. We share the meatloaf and three of the sides, but we each get our very own broccoli rice casserole and fried okra. No one should have to share those.
	We took leftover meatloaf and the remains of the sides and put them in the cooler. The donuts were on top of this, still unphotographed.
	With our endorphines still sky high from eating at Black-eyed Pea, we headed over to Colorado Mills Mall, ...
	... and proceeded immediately to their LEGO Store.
	We admired the sculpture of Nova and Zac from the LEGO Friends sets, ...
	... and Debbie contemplated trying to fit the Jazz Club modular set in the van, ...
	... but then we settled on trying to get another minifigure from the Disney 100 collection. Score! This is the one that Debbie wanted, and we were able to find it largely because that sombrero is so easy to feel in the sealed bags.
	We accidentally drove by Blue Origin's offices in Denver, ...
	... on our way to the Park Meadows Mall.
	This was our second and final LEGO Store stop in the Denver area, ...
	... and Debbie though about buying the Pac-Man set just to get this cute display that comes as part of it, ...
	... but then filled a small Pick & Build cup instead.
	We thought it would be a good time to take COVID tests since we'd been in close proximity to lots and lots of people on this trip. We swabbed as we drove, and fifteen minutes later, both tests were negative. Yay!
	Here lies the location of our former Black-eyed Pea restaurant of choice. A moment of silence, please.
	As we entered the suburb where our friends Dianne and Tom live, we noticed that they were razing lots of the existing homes and replacing with newer ones that were all painted matte black and white. We can't wait for this paint color trend to pass.
	Someone was building a Pride float on a truck bed in their neighborhood, and we saw it being taken for a test run later in the evening.
	Around 2:30 PM, we arrived at Dianne and (Other) Tom's house.
	This is their cat Tortuga. She laid on the back of the couch and stared at us as we sat on the porch and talked about everything that had happened since we saw them at the Macalester College reunion just two weeks earlier.
	Later, we moved to the backyard where Tom grilled marinated chicken to go with the rest of the meal that Dianne had prepared. That's Dianne's nephew Pants, er, Zander, helping his Uncle Tom to make sure that the chicken is grilled correctly.
	Dianne's brother Stinks, er, Dan, was visiting, and Tom's sister Marti also dropped by just in time for dinner.
	Zander was very excited to show us his 3D-printed Minecraft Creeper that Tom had just taken off the printer.
	Dianne made a sour cream blueberry cake for dessert that was just heavenly.
	It's nice having such great friends! If only they lived closer!
	By 7:00 PM, we were back on the road, headed east. Check out this Greek Orthodox church! Nice domes!
	We weren't very far out of town when we dug into the cake Dianne sent home with us to have as a late night snack. Don't judge us. It was too delicious to save for later!
	What do you think? Rain ahead, maybe? It's nice when you can really visualize weather.
	Rainbow!
	We stopped at a rest area right at sunset, ...
	... and then drove on for several hours until we reached Kansas.
	We had planned to drive for several more hours, but we stopped for the night about an hour after crossing the Kansas-Colorado border, at a rest area where these guys ...
	... were just hanging out outside the women's restroom in the glow of a green light bulb. We put in the sunshades, reclined the seats as far as they would go, and settled into our sleeping bags for the night. Day 21 >