Days 41-42: Denver, CO to Omaha, NE
The next day, we set out from Denver in the early afternoon for Boulder, where we'd be seeing an old friend for dinner before we finish the last leg of our journey back to Chicago. As is our routine now, we found a last-minute Airbnb and settled in, walked around the neighborhood a bit, then headed over to Pearl Street to take in Downtown Boulder. We picked up a quick lunch from Spruce Confections and walked around a bit. Despite our failure to take, well, any photos of Boulder, it is a pretty sweet city and is definitely worth more time than we could spend there (and we will be back someday!). We met our friend over at Verde for some tasty tacos and margaritas, then said our farewells and went home for the night.
The next day brought some pretty uneventful driving. Once you get out of the mountains, that last part of northeast Colorado is pretty flat, followed by a whole lot of Nebraska. We tried really hard to get something out of the ride across 80, looking up things along the way and even digging up an old New York Times article from 1990, "I-80's Exits To History In Nebraska." And yes, it is a historic passage crossed by prehistoric tribes, European trappers, early settlers and hordes heading west to find gold. But driving across it, you kind of wonder if they all found it equally monotonous.
The plus side of all that nothing, however, is a crazy line of sight, not unlike what we experienced up in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. When it's clear and sunny, the expansive landscape makes you feel very small. When the weather turns, the landscape becomes a giant 3D weather map where it seems you can actually see a system develop and turn and pour down. So, that occupied the last part of the drive, along with a few minutes of a crazy, beet-red sunset on the horizon. Through Lincoln and into the outskirts of Omaha (another city we'd really like to see more of at a later date), we arrived at our room for the night in pitch darkness.
After a very long day of driving, we finished the day off with a walk over to Modern Love for another one of our favorite meals of the trip. And if you can say that about takeout, you know it's damn good food. The space is simple and cozy, complete with a lively game of beach volleyball going on just outside.