DAY FIVE: Where The Buffalo Roam

Where the buffalo roam? Turns out, Hays, Kansas. They don’t roam very far because they’re caged in a giant pen (more on that later).

Today was a day of covering ground; that is, after driving in circles around the greater Denver area in search of breakfast. There’s apparently this great place for muffins, and Colin knows exactly where it is... or, does he? We later found out that it is called Le Peep and we missed it by a tenth of a mile. So, if you’re ever in Denver, check it out, Le Peep, it’s by the Zoo. We hear the Zoo is pretty good too; it’s over by Le Peep... or is it? As it turns out, Le Peep is not just by the zoo, apparently they’re all over the Denver area (see http://www.lepeep.com/).

Emily finally did some serious driving today. She drove from 11:00am to 5:00pm. Emily thinks this should count as six hours of driving. Colin thinks it’s important to take into account the time zone change as we crossed from Colorado into Kansas… (we learned that the hard way about time zone changes!) and insists that Emily drove for only five hours. Still, as this more than quadrupled Emily's driving contributions, it was much, much appreciated by Colin.

About 25 miles before our first destination, Hays, Kansas, Emily decided it was too windy and she had enough of driving, so we pulled over into a gorgeous rest area. Truly, Kansas has some of the finest rest areas around (even some with WiFi!), and this was a perfect place to switch drivers.

Once in Hays, we searched for the Fort (see 8^th grade U.S. History book) and the buffalo (see AAA Kansas Tourbook), but were unsuccessful in both quests, and turned our focus to food. Sunday in Kansas is God’s day and apparently God doesn’t eat. Most local eateries were closed, but we did find Gella’s Diner and the LB Brewing Company, and what a find it was.

This diner/functioning brewery has great food, including the North Kansas specialty of Grebble. What is grebble, you may ask? It's a fried bread served with maple syrup and, what else, but pesto! Now, you may think that fried bread, syrup and pesto is an odd combination... and you’d be right, but it is DELICIOUS!

Our friendly waitress also drew us a map to the buffalo, and as it turns out, they’re at the Fort. Or, at least, across from the fort, in a park. We took pictures and then went on our way. (This may have been Car Woody's favorite stop so far... back in the Old West, at last!)

Now, after 9+ hours of driving, we made it to Kansas City and, we’re not in Kansas anymore… we’re in Missouri.

We've finally settled in to our third room of the evening... the first two, suffering from unfortunate issues you would not expect to find at a three-diamond Triple A rated hotel. We should have taken the sage advice of loyal blog reader and experienced traveler Jody Moss, and had them show us their third room, first. The good news is, we've been upgraded to a suite with a jacuzzi! And yes, other loyal blog reader Jamie, it's a Trading Places-style Duke and Duke jacuzzi... not a self-powered one.

Current Mood: On vacation! No driving tomorrow!

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