Breakfast was most definitely the highlight of the day. I know I keep going on and on about Kerouac’s, but the love that seeps in each meal is so evident. This morning we had fresh squeezed orange juice, so pulpy and delicious and the richest coffee in hearty Great Basin pottery mugs. We ordered a […]

Read More Day 11: Baker, NV to Lee Vining, CA

First and foremost, happy Father’s Day to two great men. My dad has shown me from a young age that hard work, humor, and a good cocktail lead to a happy life. Happy day to Zak whose wit, wisdom, sense of adventure, and innate sense to nurture Zoe, Ellie, and me make life fun. We […]

Read More Day 10: Great Basin National Park and Baker, Nevada

This day had the potential to be a bad one and if we had had this day two years ago I’m not sure any of us would be talking. I’m ridiculously proud of us. It was a tough day, but we rocked it. We woke up super early for some reason, I think because we […]

Read More Day 9: Great Basin National Park

What a day! We have met some of the best folks today and that’s always some of the highlights of the trips. The first stop of the day was at U Dig Fossils for some fossil digging! I wasn’t sure what to expect, except I knew I wanted to find a triceratops. Turns out that […]

Read More Day 8: Fossil Digging and Baker

Kudos to Ranger Mike for, once again, suggesting an awesome hike. We took it a little more easy today after yesterday’s long and uppy hike. We were the first hikers of the day to the Fisher Towers trailhead, which really surprised me, as we didn’t get there until 8:45. With the exception of some climbers […]

Read More Day 7: Fisher Towers

Today was our first long hike of the trip. We hiked 12 miles in Canyonlands National Park and it was marvelous. We took Ranger Mike’s suggestion and hiked the Murphy’s Trail (kind of) in the Island in the Sky District. The hike was all around awesome. It began with a mile flat hike to the […]

Read More Day 6: Canyonlands

I know we say that this place is so special to Ellie, but the truth is that I hold Arches so close to my heart and many of my “this is why we do this” moments are in this park. We arrived at Fiery Furnace early and began our fourth hike in this distinct area […]

Read More Day 5: Arches National Park

The sun is about to set in Utah and we’re sitting at the base of Delicate Arch writing these posts. It is definitely another “pinch me” moment of RTXIX. And we’re only on the fourth day. The day mostly consisted of the drive from Denver to Moab. It was smooth and easy. Our first stop […]

Read More Day 4: Denver to Arches

As soon as we hit publish on our posts on Saturday night we headed to Park Burger RiNo for the official Dispatch summer concert pre-party. We spent a few hours hanging out, chatting with other fans, enjoying the collaboration beer, learning more about the charity Calling All Crows, and enjoying the muralist. (Who was from […]

Read More Day 3: The Stewarts and Dispatch (extended version)

It’s late and the girls and I are going to write more about today tomorrow in the car. I will just say that my sincere hope for all our readers is that at some point your soul feels like mine does right now. Full of the kindness of friends. Embraced by the music that brings […]

Read More Day 3: The Stewarts and Dispatch at Red Rocks