Day 2: Salina, KS (part 1)

Our original plan was to head out early from Denver so we could go to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure in Salina, Kansas. But the previous night was pretty miserable. Despite (or possibly because of) giving the Bwun some Benadryl after dinner, he refused to go to sleep. Our Motel 6 room was every bit as little as we paid for it; the bed was small and creaky, and when I decided to give the Bwun my spot on the bed and go sleep on the floor, I found a big spider on the blankets. Yikes! Not a pleasant surprise, especially late at night. (A little while after I got back into bed, the Bwun did crawl off and wander around before finally falling asleep on the floor.) Anyway, I figured out that because of the time zone change, we’d have to leave Denver no later than 7am in order to visit the Wildlife Adventure the next afternoon before it closed. Not going to happen. Instead we decided to go the following morning (today). Another post about that next!

To replace that activity on Tuesday, I pulled off I-70 when I saw a sign for the Kit Carson County Carousel. On the way I also saw signs for Old Town Burlington, and they were easier to follow, so we stopped there first. Basically Old Town Burlington is an amazing museum and collection of historic buildings, with tons of antiques. The museum’s focus is on county history. They must have incredible funding – everything was in good condition and it was obviously well-maintained. Impressive! We recommend it.

Of course, we had to look in the law building. They had a cool desk that when open had two wings for incoming and outgoing mail. We also learned the origin of the term "black-balled." So worth the trip!

This was just one of many, many barbed wire displays. Apparently everyone had their own custom wire design - did you know this? I'd guess there were at least several hundred types.

I liked this gypsy-style wagon. I'd love to try their fine pastries, wouldn't you?

And I REALLY liked this 1929 Ford. The original magazine ad next to the car says it can reach 55 to 65 miles an hour.

Next we headed across town (not very far) to see the carousel. We learned from the operator that it was built in 1905 from hand-carved, hand-painted wooden animals; after some stuff, and some more stuff (I didn’t pay really close attention, sorry), it was in really sorry condition and they considered just burning it. Luckily someone established a carousel association and the carousel was eventually restored – today it’s fully functional and in great condition. Yes, of course we took a ride on it!

Have you heard the Bwun roar? He chose the lion to ride.

Ok, sorry, but the internet here is really slow and it’s getting late. You’ll have to wait for more stories and pictures! Goodnight!

Day 1 Pictures

Finally! I know you were waiting anxiously to see pictures from our trip, right? As I said, we drove from Provo to Denver on Monday.

Believe it or not, there was actually nothing interesting before this sign.

Our activity for the day was the Dinosaur Adventure Exhibit. This is a dinosaur skull. Supposedly.

There was an animatronic dilophosaurus that spit water (or what I assume was water) every few minutes. The Bwun loved it!

At first, the Bwun couldn't stop pointing at the dino ride and shouting, "Dote! Dote!!" (which usually means, "Look! Look!!"). But of course he almost burst into tears when I put in a quarter and had him sit on the now-moving dino. He was fine once it stopped, though.

Day 1: Denver

We left this morning around 9am, after much frantic (on my part) dashing about the house trying to make sure we had everything. It was almost an hour later when we got on the freeway – thanks to stops at the library (to return a book), the post office, the grocery store, and Burger King (twice – since they messed up my breakfast sandwich).

The Bwun took a decent nap while the Romgi drove. When he finally woke up, we were in Colorado and ready to stop for lunch. The Romgi spotted a sign on the side of the road: Dinosaur adventure exhibit! It was only a few exits ahead, so we decided to make that our activity for the day. Lately the Bwun likes dinosaurs a lot – a LOT. We call them dinos and he says they go STOMP STOMP. (It comes out more like “gwah gwah,” but he tries.) He absolutely loved being out of the car, surrounded by dinosaurs. We walked around the gift shop and the exhibit for about 45 minutes and then ate lunch at a nearby rest stop. I was glad we’d brought good food – herb cheese and crackers, delicious watermelon and honeydew, and some Izze sodas. We ate enough to be full but not stuffed with heavy, greasy fast food.

Once we were back on the road, the Bwun was happy for a while, but being in the car all day takes its toll, especially on little guys. He finally fell asleep again an hour outside of Denver. It was really weird to suddenly come down out of the mountains and into the flat, flat, flatness of Denver – I’m so used to having mountains nearby, or at least plenty of hills.

I’ll post pictures tomorrow. The camera cable is in the car and believe it or not, I’m ready for bed.

But day 1 was a success, since we got to our destination safely and even got to see some dinos along the way!