Road Trip - Omaha to Denver
A good friend of mine was driving from Winnipeg, Canada to the Mojave Desert and I met him halfway in Omaha to keep him company on the road.
We are not in California anymore, Toto.
After a long flight for me and a long drive for him we crashed at Hotel Deco for the night. A hip hotel in the city that was much fancier than we were expecting.
They really know hot to hipster it up in Omaha surprisingly!
Right around the corner from the hotel is Block 16, a burger bar that Alton Brown claims serves the best burger in America.
The burgers and fries were amazing, cooked medium rare and juicy, but sadly the picture didn't turn out well. The french fries are nothing short of heaven.
Along with really low gas prices, gas stations across Nebraska have some interesting items inside.
The main concern was the winter weather and incoming snowstorm. We had just missed a blizzard and had another one hard on our tails. Seeing these big rigs on the side of the road didn't ease our thoughts while driving across the icy freeway.
It had been decided before we met we would take a break from driving in Denver to check out the town as it had been over 12 years since I last visited. We booked an industrial garage that had been converted into a home in what is now called "Rino".
It was a pretty swanky pad with a lot of interesting designer choices and art. (This picture above is property of Airbnb. I forgot to take an outside picture and this is the one on the Airbnb listing.)
The local eatery Work & Class was suggested to us by our Airbnb host. It turned out to be the best spot we hit in Denver. If you eat only one thing make it the Biscuits and Rotisserie Chicken Pablano Gravy. Also the rotisserie chicken alone is probably the best chicken I have ever had. Ever.
After a beard trim at Piper's Parlor (great place for a clean up), we grabbed some breakfast at Gallop Cafe.
If you haven't been to Denver before or haven't been in years, I suggest checking it out. It's really amazing what they have done to it. It has completely changed from the Denver I remember 12 years ago, but of course that was a time when I was broke and didn't get a chance to explore as much of the city. It's all in the high running for "hipsters per capita" with San Diego, but maybe that's what makes the city so interesting now.
On the way home we stopped in Frisco at Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe. Highly recommend the "Eggs Butterhorn"!
Our drive detoured off to Moab, Utah as this had been a stop in my last road trip 12 years ago, and in my humble opinion you can't drive through Utah without visiting at least national park in Utah. We picked Arches National Park as it seemed the best choice for a quick side trip.
I watched this girl and her boyfriend/husband try to capture her handstand picture for a full 30 minutes before the boyfriend gave up and walked off.
Seeing Las Vegas ahead of us was probably the most welcoming sight we saw the whole trip as it meant we only had a few more hours to drive till we reached our final destination. All told the trip took 4 days! It was fun, but NEXT TIME I'M FLYING!
