A few more coloring pages for your viewing pleasure

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

12:00pm January 17, 2015

Sleeping in was much needed yesterday morning. After a quick breakfast, we made q quick trip out to Markquart Motors in Chippewa to drop off the GMC. We figured after a few thousand miles it might be a good idea to get it checked out and tuned up. On the way home, I took Kileigh and Dan on a brief tour around EC making sure to hit highlights such as Memorial High School, Kmart, the old house on Lexington, and the site of my concussion in 3^rd grade.  

Adios Kmart! 

We headed back to the house, where my dad had gotten together my ski equipment and some winter clothes for Dan. After a bit of research (mostly done by my dad), we found out that our best bet for skiing was out at Beaver Creek Reserve which is about 20 minutes from my house. It turned out to be a great deal. It was only $3 to ski and $3 to rent equipment. It was a very casual environment and the ladies at the front just sent us downstairs to fend for ourselves and follow the posted signs regarding equipment selection. After gearing up we drove across the road to the trail head and I gave Kileigh and Dan a brief lesson before we headed out on the trails.

How to ski (By: Beaver Creek)

Choosing ski boots

Gearing up!

Pre winter adventuring

As expected, there were a few wipeouts throughout the afternoon. Dan was definitely the first, but I will admit I took a spill or two myself.  My skiing skills have gotten a little rusty living down in Austin. It was my first time out at the Beaver Creek trails, but I definitely approve.  There were some fun hills and great scenery. Dan and Kileigh both were close to professional skiers by the end of the session which I credit mostly to my stellar teaching abilities.

Bridge Action Shot

What we pretend to look like (again...)

Our true selves

Selfie number 100 of the trip..give or take a few

Highly skilled photography (photo credit:me)

After skiing, we were still not done playing in the snow. We drove down the road a short ways to a county park called Big Falls. I’ve been there multiple times and really love the area. We trekked along the path to the falls that the park is named after. I would say we were about 90 percent convinced that the ice we walked out on was frozen enough to be safe. Luckily, there were no casualties and we all made it safely back to the car after making some snow angels, taking some selfies and generally bumming around in the snow.

Possibly Dan's first snow angel

Reliving childhood

And one more of these

Scenery shot. I think its pretty. 

Wipe out??

We may be a little cold in this one. 

Wait for it....

Snow explosion!!!

And another one of the snow angels and a bunch of foot prints. 

We picked up the GMC on the way back to my place. Everything was in order except for a minor coolant leak that we would need to monitor as we travel. We got home a little later than expected and were ravenous. Luckily, Joel was back home and had started heating up the meal my parents had pre prepared for the evening. (They would have eaten with us also, but they had to attend my mom’s work Christmas party). My mom made us a comfort food staple, chicken enchilada casserole with cornbread and rice. And for dessert she made hot fudge pudding cake. This is possibly one of the top 3 desserts known to mankind and it was as good as always. After dinner we relaxed with some margaritas and played a board game that Joel had recently purchased, Munchkins. It’s a little difficult to explain, but we had a great time and Dan ended up winning in the end. We also went over to Joel’s place to hang out for a bit and see his 6 month old puppy, Bowser. Once again, we were responsible and headed home at a decent hour.

Munchkins and Margaritas

Bowser!!!

He is sooooo big!

This morning my parents made us French toast for breakfast. We continue to be spoiled with great food on this trip. After breakfast, we took our time getting ready to go. I had originally planned on bringing a few boxes of things back to Austin with me, but that was before I had fully comprehended the amount of things three people need for a three week road trip. So instead of multiple boxes, I squeezed a few small items in the remaining gaps between our luggage in the GMC. We said goodbye to my parents and set out for Milwaukee after a solid few days in Eau Claire. It was definitely sad to say goodbye to family knowing I may not see them until this summer, but I’m slowly coming to terms with this being a new fact of life. Also, I got zero pictures with my parents so y'all will just have to believe that they were there. 

We are now on our way to Milwaukee to see the one, the only, Sarah Girls. She was one of my college roommates senior year, fellow engineer, and partner in crime. Our Milwaukee plans include Lakefront Brewery, Roller Derby, and the Packer v. Seahawks game.

1:00 am January 16, 2015

Turns out 7:45 was wishful thinking.  We pulled in the driveway of my parents’ house right around 8:15. Luckily, they love me enough to have waited until we showed up to have dinner. They made us a classic Wisconsin feast including, grilled brats with cooked onions and sauerkraut, baked beans with bacon (I discovered I still don’t like baked beans), cheese curds, sweet potato fries, Wisconsin beer and some fresh veggies for good measure. There was even rhubarb custard pie for dessert. There really are few better things than enjoying a good meal with your family and friends. After dinner, I figured it was time to show Kileigh and Dan the Wisconsin bar experience. I drove them by Water Street, the main drag downtown that has over ten bars in three blocks, but opted to actually go to the Firehouse a slightly classier bar which is a few blocks from there. Both my brother, Joel, and my longtime friend, Jared Ryan met up with us there. We chose to not close down the bar tonight and headed home around midnight after an enjoyable evening of conversation and brews. Tomorrow morning will be another lazy morning where we can sleep in, followed by cross country skiing and a few other activities. 

Wisconsin State Line

Progress thus far....

5:30 pm January 15, 2015

This entry may be a little less detailed because I’m writing it for the second time.  My computer has recently kicked the dust. I have hopes that the Geek Squad at Best Buy may be able to revive it, (that is if we get a chance to stop there) but until then Kileigh has graciously let me use her laptop to continue blogging.

But we got up this morning at Grandma’s place and she fed us a solid breakfast.  We said our good byes and hit the road around 9 am. It was nice to sleep in a bit and not be in a rush. The halfway point of the trip was Iowa City and as long as we made it there by 1pm we were in good shape. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining in through passenger’s side window, so naturally I dozed in and out of consciousness for the first four hours. Even with multiple stops, Dan managed to get us to our destination in Iowa City on time.

Gran Forke and I

The point of the stop was to meet up with Emily Reynolds, if you don’t know her you’re missing out. Emily is my good friend, sorority sister, college roommate and soon to be doctor, AKA champion of life. But we met up with her at 30 Hop, which was a quirky American Diner with a very large beer selection that was just off the interstate. Kileigh, Dan and I all ordered the lamb burger while Emily went the healthy route with a pear salad. After ten days on the road together in close quarters, I’m concerned we are losing our individuality. Well, not that concerned. Anyway, it was a relaxing meal with easy conversation. Unfortunately it had to be a quick stop, since we are expected to make it to Eau Claire in time for dinner with the Forke fam later tonight. So we documented the stop with a picture underneath the large American flag on the wall and then said ‘see ya later’ to Emily and went on our way.

30Hop -- Lamb Burger -- Delicious!!!

America!

We once again had to stop at a Walgreen’s in order to get our commemorative postcards, but the rest of the drive has been uneventful.  Although we did get to see another beautiful sunset as we drove through the last bit of Iowa. At this point, we have just crossed the border into Minnesota and have about two and half hour left to Eau Claire. We are all enjoying the scenery on the state highways for a change of pace after spending days (literally) on I-80. I have hopes of getting to Eau Claire by 7:45 tonight, but it may be wishful thinking.

Iowa Sunset

Minnesota State Line

11:00 pm January 14, 2015

We hit the road early this morning after saying goodbye to Andrew and thanking him for letting us crash there.  We stopped at a nearby McDonald’s for a quick fuel up for the day. There was a strange children’s table in the back corner that was slightly alarming to me. But maybe I am just a little over judgmental. (See pic below to form your own opinion).

Thanks Andrew! It's always good to see Valpo friends!

Yep. Terrified. 

After McD’s we hit  the road and quickly left behind the spectacular mountainous landscapes we have been driving through for the past few days and exchanged them for the flat expanse that is the great plains. Dan was very disappointed that it was not growing season and we wouldn’t be able to steal any corn from the fields as we drove by. Also around this point in the trip, we encountered our first car concern as a large crack suddenly propagated across the windshield from what originally been just a small ding. Luckily, this was only superficial in nature and is not real cause for alarm.

Driving through Nebraska in a nutshell.

A highlight of this journey was actually the rest stop we made in Ogallala. We are still unsure about the exact pronunciation of this town, but made some quality attempts at sounding it out. (O-gul-la-la ????) While we waited for Dan as usual, Kileigh and I wandered behind the main rest area and discovered a few things. First there was a sculpture that we decided was actually a small slide. Second and most importantly, we found and befriended some horses grazing nearby.

Sea Biscuit!

Sculpture or Slide? You decide!

 The rest of the drive was rather uneventful, until the sun started setting. We have been blessed with some gorgeous sunsets on this trip and this Nebraska sunset was up there with the best of them. Soon after the sunset, we rolled through Lincoln and observed their capitol building which we found out is widely known in the area for its phallic appearance.

Nebraska sunset.

But really, it was beautiful.

Around 6:30pm, we finally made it to our destination in Omaha, NE. Grandma’s house! She welcomed us in immediately and served us an excellent home cooked meal of shaved beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, wine, etc… Oh and of course there was coffee and chocolate pie too. She also reminisced with us about her childhood and growing up on a farm outside of Beatrice. After dinner, Grandma and I decided we had to teach Kileigh and Dan a classic Forke Family card game, Polish Poker.  They picked it up rather quickly. In fact, Dan won two of the games and Kileigh won the other.

Grandma said she wouldn't judge me if I finished off the bottle after dinner. 

Love me some Polish Poker

After the games, it was time for some much needed showers! I now am sitting her feeling clean and refreshed and ready for bed! I’m really looking forward to meeting up with Emily in Iowa tomorrow for lunch and finally getting to show Kileigh and Dan the homeland. See you soon Eau Claire!

9:00 am January 14, 2015

We ended up getting into Denver, specifically Golden, around 4:30 am yesterday morning. All things considered, I think we made pretty good time. We stayed with my friend Andrew Rixon, who I went to school with at Valpo. For the first time on the trip, we broke out our air mattresses, but we were so tired that we probably could have slept on anything.

After sleeping in until 11, it was time for some breakfast. Although Andrew couldn't join us due to graduate school commitments (I definitely don't miss those!), he recommended we check out Golden Diner. It turned out to be a great little diner.  Besides the food, the most memorable part of the diner was the woman’s bathroom that was the size of a small studio apartment. On our way to the diner, we noticed that we were right next to the Coors Brewery. We did our own makeshift drive through tour around the plant before heading into downtown Denver. Highlights included stacks and stacks and stacks of kegs and taking a selfie with the Coors sign in the background.

Definitely enjoyed the town of Golden!

Kegs on kegs on kegs. 

Just some pretty scenery near the Coors factory.

Andd the selfie. If you look real close and squint, it says Coors in the background.

Andrew was busy with school, but luckily we had plans to meet up with my other friend as well, that friend being Andrew Johnson. Yeah, both of the people I know in Denver are named Andrew. It only made things a little confusing for the day. This Andrew has only been living in Denver for two weeks, but we put the pressure on by asking him to help us figure out the best places to explore in the area. The nature and science museum seemed like it would be a good place to start off our day, but it turned out the museum was closed due to a power outage. Very random, but nothing we cold do about it, so we ended up at the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL) instead. It was unclear as to exactly what our experience at CELL would be like, but we each handed over 5 bucks and decided to check it out. We were basically led through a series of videos, poster and interactive exhibits that explained the history, definition(s), and current issues surrounding terrorism in the U.S. During the tour, Andrew proved to be very knowledgeable and provided us with extra 'fun facts' along the way. It was definitely one of the more unique experiences of our trip so far.

CELL

The only photo they wold let us take inside of CELL.

While CELL was a neat experience, we all felt like we needed to do something a little more upbeat next. The state capitol building was within walking distance, so we decided to go in wander around for a bit. It was more or less your typical capitol building, but as a structural engineer they are always fascinating. 

Colorado State Capitol Building. 

Capitol Ceiling. It looks pretty neat. 

Another random view inside of the capitol. 

After perusing the capitol, Andrew took us to a local brewery called the Great Divide. We hung out in the tap room for a bit, each order a beer, and then went on a short tour of the place.  Our tour guide was enthusiastic, short, and had definitely had a few beers that day, not including the one he brought with him on the tour. The operation there was pretty small, but on the tour our tour guide described their plans to greatly expand in the next few years. After the tour, they had flights of 3 beers available for $3. Not a bad deal at all. Especially, since the beer was excellent.  My favorite was the Claymore Scotch Ale. 

Our very short tour guide.

Rocking the safety glasses. 

Andrew posing with the $3 flight of beer.

At this point, it had been hours since we last ate and the effects of the craft beer were amplified by my empty stomach. As a group we decided to head to dinner at Phoenician Kabob, a Middle Eastern restaurant just outside of the main downtown area. It turned out to be a great choice, as the food was delicious. We had been considering ending our night with some ice skating, but by the time we finished dinner it was a little too late. And after such rich beer and food we were all a little too tired anyway, so instead we drove around and stopped by a little bar we found called the Park House, which had some live music going. Once we sat down on the couches there, it quickly hit us just how tired we still were from our travels the day before and all the activities from the day itself.  We decided to call it a night around 10pm and had Andrew drive us back to our car that we had left in a parking garage all day without knowing how much it would cost. Luckily, we got away with paying 12 dollars only.

Dan's very large, but delicious looking meal at the Phoenician. 

View of the capitol on our way home.

So we said goodbye to one Andrew after thanking him for giving us a grand tour of Denver and headed back to the other Andrew’s place for some sleep. We had some minor navigational confusion on the way back, (I personally think Siri is to blame) but eventually managed to find our way. Back in Golden, Dan crashed immediately while Kileigh and I stayed up and chatted with Andrew for a bit before hitting the hay.

Overall, our stop in Denver was full of spontaneity, hospitality, snow, and good times. (The only disappointment was not getting to climb a mountain, but Kileigh and Dan both vetoed me on that one.)  It also reaffirmed my desire to live in Colorado at some point in my life.