Back in Iowa!
After a lengthy day of driving yesterday, we arrived in Iowa City at around 10 p.m. Unfortunately the drive from Laramie, WY to Iowa is essentially the same distance as from Denver, CO, but we toughed it out, alternating driving and sleeping.
We left Anderson's parents house on Saturday morning, after a quick breakfast and goodbyes, and headed to Boulder to see one of Anderson's oldest friends, his buddy Dan Brewer. Dan has just become the equivalent of God, as he has recently been promoted to manager of the Movie Gallery he has worked at since he arrived in Boulder. We ate lunch at a very unique place called the Dark Horse, that has all sorts of weird decorations hanging from the ceiling, and is also home to numerous delicious beers, most notably Buffalo Gold. We also checked out the hotel that his girlfriend Brya works at, which was eerily home to a recent heart-attack victim.
We then spent the remainder of the weekend in Wyoming, with our recently-engaged friends Chris & Katie. They live in Laramie, so we checked out some good local favorites (the vegetarian/organic restaurant Sweet Melissa's and the dingy bar Copper's, home of the tasty drinks Copper's Popper's) the first night we were there, and then on Sunday we took full advantage of Wyoming's extensive natural beauty. We got up early (by our standards) at around 8 or so, and then headed out for a full day of fishing. We hit up two beautiful spots (one was a "super secret" local spot, the other Lake Marie high up in the mountains), and caught 7 fish (all trout of various varieties) that were destined to be our dinner. The crisp, thin, mountain air and the high elevations were tiring but refreshing, and we saw plenty of hawks, antelope, and other flora and fauna. We returned home late, for a satisfying dinner of stuffed, grilled trout, exquisitely prepared by Chris. It should be noted that their dog Jackson had a wonderful time, too, though he'd like everyone to know that he was tragically denied his own fish dinner.
After our all-to-quick Wyoming weekend, we headed to Iowa on Monday the 21st, after a quick stop by Katie's parents house in Cheyenne to drop her off (she had broken her foot a few week's earlier, so she needed to get a cast put on). Thankfully this was our largest day of driving left, and the 12 hours passed tolerably enough (Laramie & Denver our unfortunately the exact same distance from Iowa City).
Our few days in Iowa flew by, our days spent taking care of our last batch of errands, as well as sorting out our last bunches of stuff (to take to Wisconsin). We have actually decided to return to Iowa for one last night, to see Hunab Ku open for the Pnuma Trio on the 7th of September, right before we were going to be at HarvestFest. So that works out well timing-wise, and then we'll be able to see an awesome show with two great bands... hopefully you'll be there to join us!
In Iowa we bounced around, passing out in several places, so many thanks to Luke, Stephanie & Jeremy, and the Hunab Ku house for all of their hospitality. We did manage to polish off one last keg of OCBW red ale, so if you learn anything from us, please remember to always support your local brewery whenever you have the chance.
After an all-to-quick three days, Friday morning was upon us, and it was therefore time to head to the Windy City. Traffic being simply awesome, our 4-hour trip became 6 before we were actually at Jenn & Jake's high-rise condominium, conveniently located a few blocks from Greek Town. So that's where we are now, and we'll give you a thorough Chicago report in the very near future.