A Colorado Christmas: Iko Hits the Road

This year we are visiting Brian’s sister, Julie, and her family to celebrate a belated Christmas. The idea of spending time in Colorado with family sounds great. The idea of paying for 6 airline tickets, not so much. We decided to hit the road.

You may know this about us: we are not unaccustomed to a road trip. However, this year we have a special guest—Iko, our exchange student from Japan. Iko has never driven more than about 5 hours in the car. So you can imagine his surprise that we were planning to drive 20 hours, and that 20 hours would only get us partway across the U.S.!

And so it came to pass that this unsuspecting young man found himself trapped in a minivan with 5 other people, assorted bags and food supplies, and a ridiculous number of wrapped presents. Two of those 5 people had raging colds, turning our family bus into, as friend Jeff Smits termed it, a germ incubator. Plus, on this particular trip we had more items that could not be stashed under other things, and so packing was ungainly and not particularly effective. A bit of hapless rearranging allowed us to close the back door and call it good.

Somehow we avoided the blizzard just a little bit south of us, and the storm that had passed through Iowa and Nebraska earlier had left only a few telltale semis waiting to be hauled out of the ditches next to the highway. We drove 13 hours the first day, with a record 2 stops—one 10 minute gas/bathroom stop and one stop that dragged on over an hour while the pizza people in Council Bluffs slowly processed our order. What’s the key to minimal stops, you ask? Dehydration. Don’t let the kids anywhere near a beverage. Also, allow them to immerse themselves in videogames for hours on end with no interruption; that way they are never fully conscious and cannot recognize their increasing need for relief until you’ve already stopped.

We had prepared Iko for the rather subtle scenery of Iowa and Nebraska—that’s a nice way of saying that the bread basket of America is mind-numbingly boring to drive through. Except it really wasn’t. The fields stretched out around us, blanketed in shimmering white on a sunny day with some lovely blue skies. Wind-carved snow drifts curled over like waves lunging for the sand. We saw hawks perching in trees, and Brian and I are pretty sure we spotted a snowy owl sitting in one tree. I don’t care if you don’t believe us; you can’t convince us otherwise.

By the time we hit Grand Island, Nebraska, where we had decided to spend the night, we were ready to get out of the car. We found a nifty hotel room that was cheaper than some 2-bed rooms, but had 3 queen beds lined up in a row and even threw breakfast into the bargain. This seemed like a fantastic find, until the moment it became clear to us that two of our six would be hacking long into the night with their coughing fits. But we survived this too.

The second day of driving was also peaceful as we passed more snowfields, spotted a bald eagle, and gazed on ghostly white wind turbines rooted in the snow. Funny how those simple white turbine arms start to look like stick figures cartwheeling toward the road after you’ve been driving for a few hours. That’s when it’s time for another shot of caffeine.

We got into Colorado Springs in the early afternoon and were ushered to our temporary abode. There was no way that the 6 of us, plus grandpa and grandma, were going to be comfortably sheltered in Julie and Darin’s house. Thankfully, one of their friends went out of town and left us his house. It’s a lovely place with plenty of space. It turns out we are also dogsitting. The owner of the house has a huge golden retriever who is just 100% love on legs, and he and Natalie are becoming fast friends. She does not appear to notice that Jeter sheds in rather copious amounts, and that she is almost as furry as he is now. We expect new begging for a second dog to commence shortly after we get home again.



Iko checks out the souvenir Team USA pen collection.

And so after a better night’s sleep, separated from the ailing, we did more official sightseeing. We drove to the Olympic Training Center for a tour (a tour which is FREE by the way). We saw the gyms where gymnasts, weight lifters, judo and tai kwon do competitors, and swimmers come for long or short-term training. Iko indulged his passion for gift shops while we marveled at the fact that we drove 2 days cross country only to be on a tour with the entire Calvin women’s basketball team.




Calvin team at gift shop.

A team that, in fact, we went to see play a game against Colorado College tonight. Calvin killed them, by the way. The alumni association invited Calvin alumni to see the game, and they even provided pizza after the game. While we’ve never gone to a women’s game yet this year at Calvin, a mere 2 miles from our house, there we were watching them in a mostly-empty-but-for-the-Calvin-folks gym. That’s what free pizza will do for us, people.
But back to the training center. You get to see where the wrestlers work out, along with their wrestling dummies—big huge punching bag-type things with heads and arms. You get to see the Olympic pool (which has a valley in the middle of it to reduce wave resistance), and you get to see the weight room everyone uses. Natalie and I agreed that perhaps the most interesting part of the tour was the gym where a male gymnast was training. He was rather well-formed, you might say. A fact that was not lost on the women’s basketball team, as they took many a souvenir photo.

After the training center we ate at a small bakery/café called Smiley’s, and we highly recommend it. Then we traveled on to Garden of the Gods to introduce Iko to the red rocks of Colorado. While it was quite cold, the sun was shining warm on the snow, and the rocks were as amazing as ever. Truly a beautiful place, under the commanding view of snow-covered Pike’s Peak. We took a few walks around the rocks. Lovely.

At this point, I would like to throw in a travel tip. Nothing dims the afterglow of an afternoon of beauty and loveliness like a trip to Costco followed by a second stop at a supermarket. Whatever magnificence you experienced earlier will fade quickly as you wait in line to pay for industrial-sized packages of lettuce, beef, and Wheat Thins, even if there are 50 different sample stations. And the retail hell that is the supermarket lane will kill any last vestiges of peace. Just say no.

So we’ve driven 1200 miles across the heartland, we’ve seen Olympic hopefuls and gorgeous rock formations, and we’ve eaten pizza at Calvin’s expense. If I’m not careful, I might burst into a rousing rendition of “I’m Proud to Be an American” but I’ll try to spare you that. All in all, it’s a very good start.