Labor Day labors

During Labor Day weekend, the little town of Elko, Nev., celebrates the end of summer with a county fair, horse races and general merriment. I'd never been to Elko during this time of year and really wanted to see the true meaning of Americana. J's parents were nice enough to buy us a plane ticket to come out to see them for the weekend. What a treat!

So we were all prepared to fly out on Friday on Southwest Airlines. But when the end of the work day on Thursday came around, I got home and greeted my pups and realized that not only did I want them to come with us, but I wanted to go NOW. So I called J and he laughed at my spontaneity but got home quick and packed up with me.

We packed the car up with what we needed and got on the road that night at 8 p.m., making it to Grand Junction before midnight. The hotel was hilarious with two people and two dogs all packed in (they refused to stay on the floor), but it was comfy. We drove another 8 hours the next day from Grand Junction, up through southern Utah and into Salt Lake City. We switched to a rental car (damn Hotwire and their no-refund policy!) and did the last three hours from SLC to Elko. It was beautiful and long and new for me.

On the way, we saw amazing rock formations in Utah...

And stopped a lot so the dogs would stop whining about their ears and so we could stretch our legs. I believe this was in Helper, Utah. Yes, that is the name of the town. And I thought it was adorable.

After getting our rental car we hit the salt flats outside of SLC. The dogs were not quite sure what to think but we made them pose for a pretty picture. Can you tell how much Lucy hates staying in one place for her picture to be taken?

After making it out to Elko, we got to see J's family and our good friends, the Pierces. They have an adorable little daughter named Ellie and another one on the way. They took some time out from parenthood to have a beer with us and sing karaoke. And this time, no one got puked on. Grand fun. Here's Jared and J.

Here's Jen, Amber, Jared and J. (J Crew plus one.)

I even got a picture with Jen and Amber. Lots of waters in front of us for the preggers lady and for me, the tired wuss.

After the races and the parties and the great dinners and the great company, we got back in the car and headed out. It was a little more of a drag on the way home than it was on the way there, but not too bad. The dogs were actually pretty patient. I really thought Wyoming was beautiful. There were these long stretches of road, like the one below, that felt like they went on forever. This hill had hundreds of giant wind machines.

We hit Lymon, Wyoming, for some Taco Bell (we didn't have it in Cali and don't have it in CO either). Across the street was this old OLD OLD one-screen movie theatre called the Valley Theatre. It kind of made us feel like staying for a movie. Such a nice, inviting reminder of older facets of American culture.

Midway through the trip, the clouds started to gather on an otherwise clear day and we started to get worried.

After a huge show of lightning and torrential rain, we pulled into Golden as exhausted as we ever thought we could be. (13 hours that day to get home) I don't think I'd do the drive in one day again, but it certainly was fun to see those new places for the first time. Goodbye summer! Hello fall...

Labor Day labors