America, dude!
Or: The Trip of A Lifetime
I don´t think I´ve had as many "never have I ever"- moments as I had on this trip:
Never have I ever
...seen moose (meese?)
...seen chipmunks and porcupines and racoons
...seen prairie dogs (all of those wild and turning up unexpectedly)
...mountainbiked
...seen prehistoric native American wall paintings and carvings
...had pop tarts for breakfast
...gone four-wheel-driving
...played arcade games (extensively)
...been to America!
So! I spent the autumn holidays in Colorado and Utah in the States and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!
Truly fucking GEORGEOUS states and so much amazing nature and all the great experiences! Absolutely LOVED every minute of it and now returning to my normal life seems rather gray and dull in comparison to the color(ado)ful life over there (haha, see what I did there?!).
Also, I am going to write this particular post in English just because I want to and I can because I´m the boss of this blog and the creator and therefore its God so I can do whatever I want to at least in this area of the world wahahaha.
ALright!
I flew there with Icelandair which sucked because they don´t feed you on the airplane, which is against my human rights if you ask me, but on the other hand they had a good connection right into Denver AND they flew over Greenland and Canada which was one of the most breathtaking and wonderful things I have ever set my eyes on. Check out the perpetual icescape and the glaciers!
I landed in Denver and got picked up by my friend Chad whom I had gotten to know five years previously in Colombia and then met again in Amsterdam this May. He is amazing because he planned this really great roadtrip for us and lots of other really great adventures - and all I had to do was sit back and enjoy (which I am really good at). I hereby extend my eternal gratitude to him and a lifelong invitation to visit me in whicheverboring wonderful place I might live in the future.
The first week we spent mostly on the road: From Denver to Crested Butte to Ouray to Moab in Utah and then back to Denver.
The second week we spent in Denver - him working and me roaming around museums and bagel shops, in the evening discovering bars and restaurants, bowling or drinking.
First of all, I have to state that America is even more American than I thought it would be. It didn´t just meet my expectations, it also surpassed them. There were cows on dry grass meadows with mountains in the background, wild-western style gas stations, the nature and the American man whose conversations consist 90% of the word "dude" combined with a lot of of self-esteem. Oh yeah, and the big cars of course. I´ve never seen so many big cars in my entire life. It was all just very American and I was walking around pointing at random objects saying, "this is so American!". I´m sure I was very good company being Captain Obvious. But it was! All very American, I mean.
Secondly, I was not aware of a few things beforehand. A) That we´d be high up in the mountains which meant that the mountain sun would leave me crustacean-like red a lot and that I couldn´t breathe whenever I did anything remotely requiring condition. And B) that I was actually in an area which used to be considered the Wild West (you know, with saloons and Buffallo Bill, and Cowboys, and desert, and homesteaders, and native American Indians like the Utes and the Shoshones and the Pueblo People of Mesa Verde.
Oh, and the nature! It makes me swoon just to think about it! I´m very jealous of the amazing nature all Denverites and Coloradans have in front of their doorsteps - and hell, they make good use of it. They hike, mountainbike, ski, fish, drive, camp ... everything. That´s also what they need the big cars for: to go and play in the mountains.
So, to sum up, I´ve just had the best time and I´m very sad that it is over now.
But let me not only ramble about random things but also walk you through the steps of the journey!
Crested Butte
Our first stop on Tuesday was Crested Butte which is a cute mountain town and very well-known for its mountainbiking and skiing. I absolutely loved it there - the town itself is really just one main street with souvenir shops and little houses and restaurants along it and some more houses around it and then that´s that. Since the area around it is protected against development it is insanely expensive to buy property there. This is the place where Chad took me mountainbiking and I also loved it while I was (snail-like) racing down the mountains! It´s lots of work and it left me huffing and puffing up the hills but it was definitely worth being outside on this beautiful day amongst the golden aspen trees. When we came down the mountain, we also saw three wild moose out of nowhere! I didn´t expect anything like this and they just walked around the water like it was nothing. Also, the landscape reminded me a lot of Central Otago in New Zealand where I had spent the autumn seven years ago on my gap year trip.
While writing this, I am a little frustrated though, because my words and the pictures just cannot convey the feeling of being there and the painstaking beauty of all these places that leave you humble and speechless. I mean, look at this!
Ouray
We drove over the Kebler Pass to our next destination Ouray with a stopover at the Black Canyon. We saw amazing golden autumn landscapes and a canyon (where Chad casually told me to "watch out for rattlesnakes") while listening to music, drinking pumpkin lattes (Everything pumpkin! Very American!) and trying to remember the Spanish we had once learned.
Ouray has the nickname "little Switzerland". It has natural hot springs and is nestled in the mountains with great hiking and four-wheel-driving trails around. So guess what we did! Eat burger (I forgot to mention that after this trip I´m pretty positive I am 90% burger but that´s ok because I love them burgers), drink local craft beer, go four-wheel-driving (saw a porcupine!), and chill in the hot tub by the river at our motel. The next morning, we had very fun American (!) breakfast with funny things like biscuits and gravy and waffles in maple sirup and English muffins (aka. crumpets) and such. Served on disposable cutlery. To be fair, this was the only time that happened, though.
Oh, and while packing the car up, there was a couple pointing to the broken hot tub shed door telling me that two nights ago a bear had tried to get into there. A frigging bear!! How crazy is that!!
Also, I haven´t mentioned yet how nice and open people were in general. You get into conversations really fast with all kinds of strangers and wherever you go it´s really easy to talk to everybody. It´s a nice change from the don´t-talk-to-me-attitude of Northern Germany. Instead of saying "hello" they ask you "how are you" and until I got that they just want to you say "I´m good how´re you" and then get on with whatever you wanted - it took me a wee while.
Moab, Utah
Once we got to Moab, we had crossed the Rocky Mountains. On the other side, the landscape is very different: It´s all red, dusty, rocky desert. We camped with two of Chad´s friends and while they rode some crazy difficult mountainbike trail I drove through Arches National Park, ate more burgers and slept in a parking lot. We had s´mores around the campfire at night, made banana bacon burgers in the morning and then went back to Denver with a stopover at hanging lakes and Smokin´Yard BBQ.
Week 2: Denver
Monday morning, we were greeted with snow. So I had some pop tarts for breakfast (love those warm toast pastries and the breakfast á la Girlmore Girls! Simply HAD to bring home like 2kg of those!), made tea and worked a little for my seminar. The change of pace left me slightly irritated and after a brisk Halloween-decoration-watch walk I was happy that Chad came home to do stuff with me like go to a Mexican restaurant (there´s a huge Hispanic population in Colorado! Another thing I didn´t know. Even signs and museum information are bilingual!) and check out a speakeasy which is a bar that was hidden during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and now it´s still a cool hidden bar that you can only enter through a bookshelf-door.
The next few days, I visited the aforementioned museums and bagel delis, did some more WFH for school, rode my bike into town and back (hills, huffing and puffing,...). We visited Boulder and Golden where we took great vintage pictures in amazing costumes, had a fun night out with his friends, and then it was already time for me to go back home! 😞
Bye Americas! Had a great time! And screw you that you are so far away and with the jetlag!
I still love my school and my zumba and my girls here, and if I don´t get a position in this school afterwards or at another school I like I might consider going abroad to a German school after all - shaping the exciting, fun life that only I can shape for myself. Or I´ll just get a dog to hang out with. I´ll see about that one.
Right. So these are all the emotions and thoughts and feelings all packed into one very long blog post! Maybe you got bored in between and only looked at the pictures and that´s fine, too.
Let me know what you think!
Also, I want you to know that I´m very grateful to all my family and friends and the people who made this trip so special. Life is, because of you, great after all (and because of all the great stuff there is to see and eat and do of course!). Thanks.
I don´t think I´ve had as many "never have I ever"- moments as I had on this trip:
Never have I ever
...seen moose (meese?)
...seen chipmunks and porcupines and racoons
...seen prairie dogs (all of those wild and turning up unexpectedly)
...mountainbiked
...seen prehistoric native American wall paintings and carvings
...had pop tarts for breakfast
...gone four-wheel-driving
...played arcade games (extensively)
...been to America!
So! I spent the autumn holidays in Colorado and Utah in the States and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!
Truly fucking GEORGEOUS states and so much amazing nature and all the great experiences! Absolutely LOVED every minute of it and now returning to my normal life seems rather gray and dull in comparison to the color(ado)ful life over there (haha, see what I did there?!).
Also, I am going to write this particular post in English just because I want to and I can because I´m the boss of this blog and the creator and therefore its God so I can do whatever I want to at least in this area of the world wahahaha.
ALright!
I landed in Denver and got picked up by my friend Chad whom I had gotten to know five years previously in Colombia and then met again in Amsterdam this May. He is amazing because he planned this really great roadtrip for us and lots of other really great adventures - and all I had to do was sit back and enjoy (which I am really good at). I hereby extend my eternal gratitude to him and a lifelong invitation to visit me in whichever
The first week we spent mostly on the road: From Denver to Crested Butte to Ouray to Moab in Utah and then back to Denver.
 |
| www.google.de/maps |
The second week we spent in Denver - him working and me roaming around museums and bagel shops, in the evening discovering bars and restaurants, bowling or drinking.
First of all, I have to state that America is even more American than I thought it would be. It didn´t just meet my expectations, it also surpassed them. There were cows on dry grass meadows with mountains in the background, wild-western style gas stations, the nature and the American man whose conversations consist 90% of the word "dude" combined with a lot of of self-esteem. Oh yeah, and the big cars of course. I´ve never seen so many big cars in my entire life. It was all just very American and I was walking around pointing at random objects saying, "this is so American!". I´m sure I was very good company being Captain Obvious. But it was! All very American, I mean.
 |
| www.google.de/maps |
Oh, and the nature! It makes me swoon just to think about it! I´m very jealous of the amazing nature all Denverites and Coloradans have in front of their doorsteps - and hell, they make good use of it. They hike, mountainbike, ski, fish, drive, camp ... everything. That´s also what they need the big cars for: to go and play in the mountains.
So, to sum up, I´ve just had the best time and I´m very sad that it is over now.
But let me not only ramble about random things but also walk you through the steps of the journey!
Crested Butte
Our first stop on Tuesday was Crested Butte which is a cute mountain town and very well-known for its mountainbiking and skiing. I absolutely loved it there - the town itself is really just one main street with souvenir shops and little houses and restaurants along it and some more houses around it and then that´s that. Since the area around it is protected against development it is insanely expensive to buy property there. This is the place where Chad took me mountainbiking and I also loved it while I was (snail-like) racing down the mountains! It´s lots of work and it left me huffing and puffing up the hills but it was definitely worth being outside on this beautiful day amongst the golden aspen trees. When we came down the mountain, we also saw three wild moose out of nowhere! I didn´t expect anything like this and they just walked around the water like it was nothing. Also, the landscape reminded me a lot of Central Otago in New Zealand where I had spent the autumn seven years ago on my gap year trip.
While writing this, I am a little frustrated though, because my words and the pictures just cannot convey the feeling of being there and the painstaking beauty of all these places that leave you humble and speechless. I mean, look at this!
Ouray
We drove over the Kebler Pass to our next destination Ouray with a stopover at the Black Canyon. We saw amazing golden autumn landscapes and a canyon (where Chad casually told me to "watch out for rattlesnakes") while listening to music, drinking pumpkin lattes (Everything pumpkin! Very American!) and trying to remember the Spanish we had once learned.
Ouray has the nickname "little Switzerland". It has natural hot springs and is nestled in the mountains with great hiking and four-wheel-driving trails around. So guess what we did! Eat burger (I forgot to mention that after this trip I´m pretty positive I am 90% burger but that´s ok because I love them burgers), drink local craft beer, go four-wheel-driving (saw a porcupine!), and chill in the hot tub by the river at our motel. The next morning, we had very fun American (!) breakfast with funny things like biscuits and gravy and waffles in maple sirup and English muffins (aka. crumpets) and such. Served on disposable cutlery. To be fair, this was the only time that happened, though.
Oh, and while packing the car up, there was a couple pointing to the broken hot tub shed door telling me that two nights ago a bear had tried to get into there. A frigging bear!! How crazy is that!!
Also, I haven´t mentioned yet how nice and open people were in general. You get into conversations really fast with all kinds of strangers and wherever you go it´s really easy to talk to everybody. It´s a nice change from the don´t-talk-to-me-attitude of Northern Germany. Instead of saying "hello" they ask you "how are you" and until I got that they just want to you say "I´m good how´re you" and then get on with whatever you wanted - it took me a wee while.
 |
| Mount Sneffels |
Moab, Utah
Once we got to Moab, we had crossed the Rocky Mountains. On the other side, the landscape is very different: It´s all red, dusty, rocky desert. We camped with two of Chad´s friends and while they rode some crazy difficult mountainbike trail I drove through Arches National Park, ate more burgers and slept in a parking lot. We had s´mores around the campfire at night, made banana bacon burgers in the morning and then went back to Denver with a stopover at hanging lakes and Smokin´Yard BBQ.
Monday morning, we were greeted with snow. So I had some pop tarts for breakfast (love those warm toast pastries and the breakfast á la Girlmore Girls! Simply HAD to bring home like 2kg of those!), made tea and worked a little for my seminar. The change of pace left me slightly irritated and after a brisk Halloween-decoration-watch walk I was happy that Chad came home to do stuff with me like go to a Mexican restaurant (there´s a huge Hispanic population in Colorado! Another thing I didn´t know. Even signs and museum information are bilingual!) and check out a speakeasy which is a bar that was hidden during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and now it´s still a cool hidden bar that you can only enter through a bookshelf-door.
The next few days, I visited the aforementioned museums and bagel delis, did some more WFH for school, rode my bike into town and back (hills, huffing and puffing,...). We visited Boulder and Golden where we took great vintage pictures in amazing costumes, had a fun night out with his friends, and then it was already time for me to go back home! 😞
Bye Americas! Had a great time! And screw you that you are so far away and with the jetlag!
How to Budget the US
Don´t. It´s not cheap. Which is why I haven´t done it before. But it´s worth it! So lemme give you an impression of the prize ranges that expect you there:
Flight: I paid 850€ Hamburg to Denver with Icelandair but I bet you can get it cheaper. For good flight deals ask my favorite travel agency at traveloverland.de (just call up the Bremen agency, they are great!)
Food: For a meal at a restaurant expect around 40$ for two people (around 35€). For a burrito or a sandwich or anything you pay around 7-11$ (6-9€). Beers are between 4-8$ I´d say, so also a little more expensive than here.
Gas I have no idea because it was in gallons and meh who even know how to convert all those systems (most our conversations about weather were just as useless because I can´t use any Fahrenheid and neither can he use Celsius information hahaha).
Motels or Airbnbs are between 60 and 100$ a night for two people (55-85€).
All in all, I paid 1500€ for the two week trip, but that was because I had a free bed for more than half the trip. On the other hand, we didn´t worry about spending money on food and drinks, and as I said the flight can probably be gotten cheaper as well.
Flight: I paid 850€ Hamburg to Denver with Icelandair but I bet you can get it cheaper. For good flight deals ask my favorite travel agency at traveloverland.de (just call up the Bremen agency, they are great!)
Food: For a meal at a restaurant expect around 40$ for two people (around 35€). For a burrito or a sandwich or anything you pay around 7-11$ (6-9€). Beers are between 4-8$ I´d say, so also a little more expensive than here.
Gas I have no idea because it was in gallons and meh who even know how to convert all those systems (most our conversations about weather were just as useless because I can´t use any Fahrenheid and neither can he use Celsius information hahaha).
Motels or Airbnbs are between 60 and 100$ a night for two people (55-85€).
All in all, I paid 1500€ for the two week trip, but that was because I had a free bed for more than half the trip. On the other hand, we didn´t worry about spending money on food and drinks, and as I said the flight can probably be gotten cheaper as well.
What´s happening now in my life
Now I´m back in Verden which seems suddenly very small and boring (it´s small but not boring actually, and still beautiful) and as the last time when I arrived back from China I might need a while to readjust to everyday work life. After about a month I was perfectly happy with my routine here, but until then it was hard work to get myself motivated. It is better now because I have more work to do to suck me right back in but also worse at the same time because the dark season is beginning and early darkness makes me gloomy and want to hibernate until more life-affirming seasons start. Bemytravelmuse describes on this blog post pretty well how I feel right now, the only difference being that I have the "travel low" by returning home after this amazing time and not on the road.
I have lots on my schedule (work-wise) and until next summer I´m pretty booked with seminar essays and exam preparations. Yay.
Now I´m back in Verden which seems suddenly very small and boring (it´s small but not boring actually, and still beautiful) and as the last time when I arrived back from China I might need a while to readjust to everyday work life. After about a month I was perfectly happy with my routine here, but until then it was hard work to get myself motivated. It is better now because I have more work to do to suck me right back in but also worse at the same time because the dark season is beginning and early darkness makes me gloomy and want to hibernate until more life-affirming seasons start. Bemytravelmuse describes on this blog post pretty well how I feel right now, the only difference being that I have the "travel low" by returning home after this amazing time and not on the road.
I have lots on my schedule (work-wise) and until next summer I´m pretty booked with seminar essays and exam preparations. Yay.
I still love my school and my zumba and my girls here, and if I don´t get a position in this school afterwards or at another school I like I might consider going abroad to a German school after all - shaping the exciting, fun life that only I can shape for myself. Or I´ll just get a dog to hang out with. I´ll see about that one.
Right. So these are all the emotions and thoughts and feelings all packed into one very long blog post! Maybe you got bored in between and only looked at the pictures and that´s fine, too.
Let me know what you think!
Also, I want you to know that I´m very grateful to all my family and friends and the people who made this trip so special. Life is, because of you, great after all (and because of all the great stuff there is to see and eat and do of course!). Thanks.
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