Two weeks ago I took a solo road trip to Colorado driving 13-14 hours one way. Colorado is a beautiful place with the Rocky Mountains extending throughout most of the state. I have seen the Appalachians in Georgia, but the Rockies are extraordinary. I had an amazing trip and I wanted to share my experience.

One of my childhood friends recently moved out to Federal Heights which is halfway between Denver and Boulder. As soon as I found out about his recent move, I knew immediately I wanted to go and see him. I left on a Wednesday and made stops in Sioux Falls and Mitchell, South Dakota. Sioux Falls has falls park, which is rather pretty, but now that I have seen it, I wouldn’t stop there again. In Mitchell, South Dakota, there’s the corn palace. The Corn Palace is a gigantic castle with a history of corn inside. It’s very midwestern which is part of the reason I stopped there. It’s corny, *see what I did there* but I had a fun time exploring the castle. Eventually, I reached Denver by 9:30 PM. I stayed in Colorado for three full days before heading back to Minneapolis on Sunday.

While in Colorado, we did a lot of hiking. I’m surprised at how much the altitude impacted me. I consider myself mostly in shape, but I found I was out of breath faster. The hike was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. I wish while I was in Colorado that I drank more water. I had a tension headache throughout most of the trip which was probably due to dehydration and lack of oxygen. Despite the headache, the hike was breathtaking *I have got to stop with these puns*

The last hike we did was the Garden of the Gods. Garden of the Gods is located in Colorado Springs which is two hours south of Denver. Unlike the first hike in the Rockies, these rocks are bright red in color. This hike was less difficult than the one in the Rockies, but again with a mounting tension headache, I started to lose steam towards the end.

Towards the end of my three days, I didn’t want to leave. I had friends from college who had moved to Colorado as soon as they graduated. I can see why. My friend said I’m welcome back anytime and I might take him up on that except I wouldn’t do the drive again. Colorado was one of my favorite trips I have ever taken and I can’t wait to go back.

As a side note, Colorado is a geeky place. My friend took me to numerous amount of game stores, comic shops, etc. My favorite game store I went to was in Boulder titled Gamer’s Guild. We were able to sit down with the owner and his cute puppy. We even did a Throne of Eldraine draft on Friday night. I didn’t do so well in the draft, but it was still fun to experience the geeky culture in Colorado.