Day 42 of USA Road Trip – Palm Springs

I am so in love with Palm Springs that I have been googling flight prices from London, desperate to book my next trip back. We only stayed one night but it was the most relaxing 24 hours of our trip so far. 

It was a rather long 4 hour drive from Vegas, made longer because California drivers are insane. Everyone drives like they have someone giving birth in their back seat and they are rushing to the hospital! We stopped halfway to swap drivers at Barstow McDonalds, which is set inside an old train station and you eat your meal inside a carriage. Very cool. 

From the moment we arrived in Palm Springs and drove along the gorgeous, palm-tree lined roads, surrounded by mountains, I knew I was going to love it. We checked in to our cute little hotel and went straight to the pool and stayed there until the sun disappeared behind the mountain. It was 105 degrees! 

For dinner, we drove into town and ate at Lulu’s California Kitchen. They have a great gluten free menu with pizzas, pastas, salads and more! I felt like I was in dire need of vegetables (and apparently craving mushrooms) after Vegas, so went for the Wild Mushroom Soup to start and the Portobello Mushroom Tower for my main. I washed all my fungi down with a pomegranate juice cocktail and was in food heaven! 

We wandered around the town for a bit after dinner and there were so many lovely restaurants and bars, including one that served unlimited champagne for $7 between 3-7pm weekdays. Yet another reason why I need to come back! 

We had to do laundry last night before our 3 days in San Diego, so while that was happening we went for a nighttime jacuzzi and swim. It was still 100 degrees, so there were people laying out on the sun loungers even in the dark! So relaxing. 

This morning, breakfast was served poolside. This is the first hotel we’ve stayed at where they actually offer gluten free food and I don’t have to bring my own cereal down to eat! God bless California and their gluten free health fads. After breakfast, we sunbathed and swam poolside until we had to check out. Currently writing this while in the car on the way to our next stop, one of my favourite cities, San Diego! 

Days 39 to 41 of USA Road Trip – Grand Canyon & Las Vegas

On Friday, we headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to spend the day. Sadly, as we were arriving it started to piss down with torrential rain. At the first stop, Desert Tower, the visibility was terrible and it was freezing! We decided to drive on to the visitor centre and come back to Desert Tower later in the day.

 
Thankfully the weather cheered up by the time we had parked. We hadn’t been as organized as usual and had forgotten to make a packed lunch, so we headed into the cafe to grab something. I paid almost $20 for a tiny, plastic-wrapped, gluten free sandwich and a coffee… but at least they had a gluten free option!  

We were feeling pretty spritely so decided to walk the rim all the way to the start of the Red Line bus route. The whole thing took us about an hour and a half, but the weather was gorgeous and the views were incredible! I had a very well earned ice cream (they do gluten free cones!) in The Village before we hopped on the Red Line. 

At the South Rim, they offer free bus shuttles for visitors that operate on three different routes. The Red Line is the only one we used because it covers an area that you aren’t allowed to access in your own car. We took the bus all the way to Hermits Rest and snapped lots of pictures along the way. 

By now, it was nearing the end of the day, so we hopped back in the car to Desert Tower and managed to get a clear picture of the view we were unable to see earlier. Beautiful! 

We stayed overnight at the Super 8 in Flagstaff, which we were mega impressed with because they gave us a bag of assorted welcome snacks (basically, we will like you if you give us food). For dinner we headed to The Village Inn right next door. The Village Inn offer a very small but adequate gluten free menu and are very good at restricting the risk of cross contamination. They didn’t even bring Ewan’s pancakes out on the same serving tray as my meal, just in case they touched my food! I went for the Ultimate Skillet and it was tasty. 

Saturday morning and it was time for us to head to Vegas! I’d never been before so I was super excited. We were staying at the Stratosphere as it’s the only place we could find that offered free parking. I won’t bore you with the full Tripadvisor review but the short version is DON’T STAY THERE because it’s smelly and it’s gross. It made most of our dodgy roadside motels look luxury! No bed bugs though, thank Christ. 

On the way to Vegas we had our first In N Out! I’d been waiting to get to the west coast to try it because I’d heard they do good gluten free options, and I was not disappointed! I got a double-double (simply double patties and double cheese) ‘protein style’, which means it’s wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. It was incredibly messy but delish! I also enjoyed the fries. We will definitely be back during the California part of the road trip! 

Once in Vegas, we waited in the 30 minute line to check in (that I was fuming about but it turns out this is standard in all the hotels, even the crazy expensive ones) and dropped our bags in our grim room. There’s a very good bus called the Deuce that goes up and down the strip 24 hours a day, so we purchased a day pass and went out exploring. 

While we were checking out the shops in Caesars Palace, we came across an area with an aquarium and a dragon statue blowing fire, which as we are both 5 years old mentally, we were drawn to. Behind it was a Cheesecake Factory. I am a HUGE fan of the Cheesecake Factory and am quite frankly livid that we have a sodding Bubba Gump in London but no Cheesecake Factory! Madness. The queue looked ridiculous but we were only waiting about 10 minutes before we were seated. I had the insanely good chicken and roasted garlic dish with gluten free pasta and it was absolutely amazing. I could eat it a million times over! I had planned to treat myself to a slice of their gluten free Godiva Cheesecake for pudding but sadly I had stuffed myself to the brim with peach bellinis and creamy pasta that there was no room left 😦 

We spent a few hours exploring more of the crazy hotels and watched the fountains at the Bellagio while soaking up the atmosphere. We were pooped by the time we headed home for bed!

On Sunday morning we got up bright and early and tucked into a big Denny’s breakfast before hopping on the bus down to the Welcome to Vegas sign. Top top: don’t bother with the huge queue, stand slightly to the side of the sign and take your photos. They come out just as good and you don’t have to stand out in the 100 degree heat for 30 minutes!

We spent the first half of the day literally just working our way around every single hotel on the strip, stopping for a drink now and again. Our top favourites were the Luxor, Paris and the Venetian – I’d love to stay in one of them the next time I come to Vegas. 

We had lunch at Yolo’s Mexican Grill inside Planet Hollywood, which was nice but you have to be very careful if you’re a coeliac. When I first explained my dietary requirements, I was told I could eat basically anything that’s served on a corn tortilla. Thankfully, I questioned if the pork was also gluten free before ordering, and it turned out that I could only eat pulled chicken or beef, and all the other meats were off limits. I played it safe with a pulled chicken salad, which even they thought was odd because they served the chicken on the side! It tasted pretty good though. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Stratosphere pool, where we indulged in the 2 for 1 cocktail happy hour and topped up our tans. Who am I kidding? I just topped up my blame-my-mum-she’s-ginger pale skin with a couple more freckles. 

We grabbed a quick dinner at Roxy’s Diner inside the hotel before getting ready for the evening, where I had the gluten free pancakes with bacon.  Nom.

If you’re staying at the Stratosphere, you get to go up to the top of the tower for a discounted price of $5. The view is nice, but the main highlight is watching idiots ride the 3 horrible thrill rides. One of them is a roller coaster style train that hangs off the side of the tower and looks completely unsafe. It actually makes the whole observation deck shake when it goes over the edge, so god knows how scary it is to ride! There’s also a drop ride and a spinning ride that again hangs off the side of the tower. 

My friend Dilys who I worked with in Toronto now goes to uni in Vegas, so we met her up the tower for a cocktail. She gave us a gift of Royce Nama Chocolate from the Venetian and it was AMAZING. It’s chocolate made with loads of double cream, so it has to be refrigerated and only has a short shelf life. She gave us both the Champagne and Macca flavours but it was the Macca (green tea) that stole my heart. We didn’t have a fridge so I had to eat it that night or it would go off. Don’t worry guys, I was up for the challenge. 

I was so sad that Britney wasn’t doing a show on the nights we were there as I would have loved to see her, but overall I really liked Las Vegas and will definitely return – but when I have more money to burn! 

Days 36, 37 & 38 of USA Road Trip – driving through Arizona & Utah

We’ve had a very jam packed few days; lots of driving, sun and out of this world views. On Tuesday we headed to Petrified Forest National Park, an insanely stunning park with more than enough there to fill a whole day of exploring. We went to every single point in the park, and at the Blue Mesa point we decided to take the short trail which led you into the heart of the mesa. It was only a 1 mile circuit which we thought sounded like nothing and were surprised that we were the only ones doing the trail. We were wrong. Walking up and down steep inclines in 100 degree heat was pretty intense to say the least. Ewan may as well have been walking an overweight Labrador by the way I was panting throughout the trail. The views were just about worth it but I would definitely recommend going in the morning when it’s cooler!

Tuesday’s accommodation was our most exciting yet – a Wigwam at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. It was actually more like a tiny house in the shape of a wigwam, because it had proper walls, a bathroom and a tv, but I loved it nonetheless. It was apparently the inspiration for Lightning McQueen’s hotel in Cars, which would be exciting if I’d actually watched that movie. 

For dinner we headed a few doors down to Romo’s Mexican Cuisine. They could make most of their dishes gluten free as long as you requested corn tortillas, so I ordered the chicken enchiladas with green chile. It was enormous, looked a little bit like vomit, but tasted incredible! 

After a good nights sleep in our wigwam, we got on the road to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. It’s completely free and the view from Spider Rock was absolutely ridiculous, there’s no way the photo below does it justice. Add it to your bucket list immediately! 

We then drove on to the Four Corners Monument and stood with our feet in all 4 states at the same time. It was cool but I wasn’t overly impressed with the area on the whole – for the $10 entrance fee I’d hoped that they would at least have a toilet seeing as it’s in the middle of nowhere! All of the toilets were closed so we didn’t stay long. 

On the way to our final stop of the day, Monument Valley, we got caught in a huge, sudden hailstorm. The hailstones lifted all the dust from the hills around us, which in turn created a scary dust storm which was horrible to drive through and covered the car in orange! Definitely an experience but hope that doesn’t happen again! 

Monument Valley doesn’t close until 8pm in the summer, so when we arrived around 6pm we still had loads of time. We started with the self-driven tour but our little Ford Fiesta wasn’t doing particularly well on the very hilly and rocky dirt track, so we turned around and took in the views from the visitor centre. It was gorgeous. On the way to our hotel for the night, we pulled the car over to watch the sun setting behind the Monument Valley skyline. Beautiful! 

By the time we got to the town of Bluff, where our hotel was, it was pitch black and we hadn’t eaten since lunch. To our relief, we came across a cute road-side bistro called Coombe Ridge and headed on in for a bite to eat. I didn’t have high hopes for anything but a salad, but they had loads of gluten free options, including burgers, quiche and genuinely yummy sounding salads. I went for the cheeseburger with a cup of tea and I was in heaven! 

Yesterday, we got up early and drove to Antelope Canyon to do the Upper Canyon Tour. We had tour reservations for 12pm and they ask you to arrive an hour early to keep your spot, and what with the confusing time zones between where we were staying and where we were heading, we ended up arriving at 10.30am! They let us join the 11am tour, which ended up being a huge stroke of luck because when we arrived at the Canyon after travelling in the back of a jeep, the canyon was full of sun beams! By the time we left the Canyon around 12pm, all the sunbeams were gone. Without the sunbeams the Canyon is just very dark and shadowy, and much less fun to photograph! The tour itself is a bit of a chaotic nightmare (you are asked to keep moving at all times in order to keep the crazy amount of human traffic going, but we had a very vain teen in our group who got her parents to take around 2000 photos of her and held everyone up, which resulted in a shouting match between the tour guide and the parents) but you can’t get into the Canyon without a tour, so that’s kind of unavoidable.  

For lunch we went to my fave, Denny’s. I’m obsessed with their gluten free English muffins! They have pretty amazing gluten free options for a diner style restaurant too. 

After lunch, we were heading to ‘The Bend’ and found an overlook to Glen Canyon Dam. Not as stunning as some of the other crazy views we’ve seen over the past 2 days, but still gorgeous!

When we got to ‘The Bend’, we were surprised to find that you have to hike to get to the site. I’m not sure why but we were expecting a side of the road parking lot viewing area kind of thing! It was 100 degrees, I was wearing black (idiot), and there are 2 very steep hills to get there… so it was another sweaty hike! The bend itself is out of this world, but you have to watch yourself as you are literally stood on a steep cliff edge with no barrier, looking down. I can imagine on a summer weekend that the crowds can get quite dangerous, so I was glad we came on a weekday! 

After all that sweating, I was ready for a quick dip in the hotel pool and a nap! I slept soundly until Ewan woke me up for dinner. We headed to the Italian restaurant in Page, which is bizarrely called Bonkers. They had an insanely good gluten free menu, including chicken dishes, pastas, garlic bread and so much more! I went for the chicken parm with garlic bread and it was delicious but I’d pass on the garlic bread next time. It was a slice of gluten free seeded toast with cheese on top. Strange. 

I’d read some reviews about last nights hotel online (Travelodge Page) and some people had complained about bed bugs. I was petrified, but we checked the bed very thoroughly and couldn’t find any sign of them. I decided that to be safe, I would sleep on top of the covers in tight bottom track pants, a t shirt and a hoody with the hood up, leaving literally only my hands and face exposed for potential bites. If I had packed my balaclava and gloves, I would have worn them too! I woke up very dehydrated but with zero bites on me…. take THAT bed bugs!

Today we’re off to the Grand Canyon and tomorrow we will be in Vegas. Woo! 

Day 35 of USA Road Trip – Albuquerque

“What are you doing in Albuquerque if you’re not Breaking Bad fans?”, asked the man in the candy store where they made the ‘meth’ for the TV show. It’s a question that regurgitated in our brains over the course of the day. 

For starters, I was totally wrong. It’s nothing like Santa Fe. We started off downtown which was completely barren except a few dodgy-looking people, including a man with a huge metal chain nonchalantly chilling on his shoulders. We moved on to the Old Town, which was a lot nicer but small. We meandered through the streets and shops which were thankfully open despite it being Labour Day. This was when we came across the store with the candy ‘meth’. The man behind the counter was adamant that we had to take a photo of the cardboard cut outs of the characters and a tray of ‘meth’, insisting that we would be the envy of all of our friends. Read it and weep, guys. 

We then came across a Rattlesnake Museum, which was only $6 and I’d never seen a rattlesnake, so we decided to go in. The whole place was filled with live rattlesnakes (behind glass) and full of interesting facts. They were also playing a David Attenborough show on a big screen, which was excellent. We made friends with a cute but very venomous lizard, and Ewan snapped a picture of me being ‘brave’ and standing kind of close to a rattlesnake. 

We decided to walk to a park located south of the city, which turned out to be a big mistake. The park was actually a zoo, so we couldn’t get in, and it was sodding boiling and we were both dying for a drink. Thankfully, on the way back to town we found a pub with board games, so we had a drink and played Battleships (I won!). 

Once we finally got back to the hotel, we had a quick nap before heading out to a BBQ restaurant called Whole Hog Cafe for dinner. The restaurant is within a 2 minute walk from our hotel so it was easy peasy. All of their meats are gluten free, as well as 2 of their BBQ sauces and a few sides. I went for the Loaded Baked Potato with pulled pork and a side of coleslaw. It was yummy! 

We’re now in bed watching the first Sex and the City movie ahead of an exciting drive tomorrow. We’re going to be visiting Petrified Forest National Park and staying overnight in a Wigwam! Cannot wait. 

Day 33 & 34 of USA Road Trip – Santa Fe

So the margarita trail was a bust. You needed to drink 5 of their suggested margaritas to get a t-shirt, but you could only get a maximum of 2 margarita points a day, regardless of how many you drank. Seeing as we were only there for 2 days, we wouldn’t have been able to get a t-shirt (which is the whole point of doing the trail). Instead, we bar hopped along our own route and tried lots of different drinks! That basically sums up our first evening in Santa Fe. 

We stopped for dinner first at a local Mexican restaurant called Mucho Gusto. It’s a short walk away from the main drag so it’s a little cheaper than the overpriced restaurants right in the heart of town. They don’t have gluten free items marked on the menu, but once asked they were very knowledgeable and knew what I could and couldn’t eat. I went for the beef and it was yummy. Obviously, I had to wash it down with their house margarita! 

From there we headed to Coyote Cafe and nabbed ourselves a spot on the rooftop, overlooking all the gorgeous terracotta rooftops. The cocktail menu was AMAZING. I tried 3 different cocktails and all of them were dreamy, especially the Coco Loco. 

Once we had peeled ourselves away from the cocktails, we stood outside Starbucks to steal the wifi and book an Uber home. I remember when Uber first became a big thing in London and my housemate and I used it to get to a friends birthday party. Within a couple minutes, a fancy Mercedes had pulled up outside and our driver was wearing a suit! Plus, it only cost us £10 to get from Clapham to Holborn. Alas, that Uber now only exists in my memory. Last night, there was apparently a surge (even though the streets of Santa Fe were quiet and there was zero traffic), and they were quoting $45 for a trip that cost under $10 three hours prior. Such a joke. We downloaded the Lyft app instead and yes, they also had a surge, but it was only $14 to get home with the surge fee added. Download Lyft!! 

Today we got the train into town at Ewan’s request (he revealed yesterday that he loves trains almost as much as commercial planes – the things you learn about someone when you spend a month with them in a car). Despite the fact that we got the times wrong and arrived 45 minutes early for our train, it was a VERY cheap and easy way of getting around. I capitalized the ‘very’ next to cheap because we got both journeys for free! On the way into town, no one came around selling tickets, so we just didn’t buy one. On the way back, someone came round to sell tickets just as we were about to arrive at our stop, so he told us we didn’t need to pay. Score! The train is also adorably called The Road Runner and when the doors close, it makes the ‘meep meep’ sound! Cute. 

We explored all the outskirts of town today, staring at the Railyard. There were lots of cute craft and food stalls in the Railyard, including a coffee shop that did the BEST gluten free coffee cake I’ve ever eaten. Ewan passed on the PB&J cookie which came back to bite him in the arse later. 

We hung out for a while in the Railyard Gardens; looking at the cool art installations, spotting wildlife like gophers and squirrels and climbing in the kids playground. I did at one point stand in a red ants nest but nothing bit me! Can you believe it?! [After I wrote this line, we went to collect our washing from the guest laundry and on the way, a grasshopper fell from a tree and landed on my head. Sigh]. 

A short walk from the Railyard is the State Capitol Building and ‘The Oldest House in the USA’, which was made out of dirt and manure! Both are free to visit. 

Ewan began to get the hunger shakes so we headed to the very popular Cowgirl BBQ for lunch. There was a band playing live country music in the Courtyard so the place was super busy. Their menu is classic BBQ and I was happy to see that they mark the gluten free options on the menu. I went for the nachos which are apparently famous and have been rated highly by Food Network and the Travel Channel…. but they were just okay! 

We walked off our lunch around the streets of Santa Fe and checked out a couple local shops before stopping for our final drink of the day at Blue Corn Cafe. We sat on the rooftop, soaking in the sun and shooing away greedy pigeons. 

Tomorrow we’ve only got an hour drive to Albuquerque, which I’m intrigued to see. I’m expecting it to be very much like Santa Fe but I could be wrong! 

Day 31 & 32 of USA Road Trip – Colorado Springs

I really should start calling this blog ‘What bit me today?’ because I seem to experience a new insect bite every day. This afternoon, as we were walking around The Garden of the Gods, Ewan noticed that I had blood all over my ankle. Something had feasted on my leg and left a mess… even staining my sodding white trainers! Livid. FYI I’ve been covering myself in a bug repellant spray that’s apparently designed for the Amazon Rainforest. Remind me never to take a trip there if I want to come out alive. 

Yesterday, we spent the morning at Coors Brewery. It’s completely free, from parking to the beers at the end of the tour! It was a quick, interesting, self-guided tour which ended up in a large tasting room, where you are allowed to try 3 beers each. Obviously due to my coeliac disease, I can’t drink beer, which meant that Ewan had 6 beers before 11.30am! I helped myself to the unlimited soft drinks instead, and became the designated driver for the day. 

After the brewery tour, we walked/swayed into the town of Golden, Colorado for something to soak up the alcohol in Ewan’s system. We came across a pizza joint called Woody’s that did gluten free pizza. It was nice but I had to pay $5 extra for the gluten free base, which is pretty high compared to what I’ve ever had to pay before, especially because you always end up with something smaller than the gluten-containing version anyway! They did, however, introduce me to a weird food pairing that I kind of enjoyed; they gave me honey to dip my pizza crusts in! It was nice, but I’d still take a garlic & herb dip over it any day. 

On the way back to the car we spotted a bakery called Gold Mine Cupcakes and saw a little sign advertising gluten free. I took a turtle cupcake for the road…. there’s always room for dessert. 

Ewan slept like a drunken log all the way to our next stop, the US Air Force Academy. It was another free attraction with a museum and an incredible chapel that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings! 

For dinner we had reservations at a place called The Rabbit Hole in Colorado Springs, and I was super excited because it had a great gluten free menu online and was Alice in Wonderland themed. The restaurant was as beautiful as I had imagined, all twinkly fairy lights and intricate paintings. Sadly, the gluten free menu was nowhere near as good as it could have been. It turns out that nearly all of the items on the menu are fried (even the plain chicken that goes in the salad) in the same fryer as gluten containing ingredients, so very little is suitable for coeliacs. I went for the wild rice risotto with asparagus and scallops, which was delicious, but it would have been nice to have more options. 

Today has been a dreamy day, starting off at Royal Gorge, about an hours drive from Colorado Springs. Admission is $26 each, but you can get it for $24 if you buy online. It’s a large park with a gondola, skycoaster, zip line and an enormous pedestrian bridge – the gondola is included in standard admission and isn’t as scary as it looks! Ewan didn’t love the pedestrian bridge and got very clammy palms, but I still managed to snap a couple pics of him on it (as he complained through his teeth that I was making him stay on the bridge longer than necessary). 

We decided to check out Canon City afterwards and see if they had anywhere we could eat lunch, and we got insanely lucky. Right in front of our parking space was a restaurant called Teek. It was honestly one of the randomest places ever; all the servers were in top to toe tie-die (including bandanas), not one single item of furniture matched another and the menu had a little bit of everything. Their gluten free items are marked on the menu, and they have a separate fryer too! We shared the pork buns to start and each had the chicken tacos with root vegetable fries for our main. YUM. 

It was now time to head to the Garden of the Gods, a stop that I had been looking forward to for weeks. It’s completely free and you can either drive or walk around the park (or do a mix of the two like we did!). One of the coolest sights to see there is the Kissing Camels, basically a rock formation that looks like two camels kissing! Such an amazing place to tick off the bucket list. 

We drove into Colorado City Old Town afterwards and I was rewarded with a glass of Cherry Wine after being the designated driver yesterday. Not as good as the Blueberry Wine we had in Gatlinburg but still good! 

Onto Sante Fe tomorrow and we’re going to do the Margarita Trail… can’t wait!! 

Day 30 of USA Road Trip – Denver

We are having the best time in Colorado, it’s really beautiful and I definitely want to come back during winter to see it all in the snow! Yesterday, we explored Denver. There was a Park & Ride only 5 minutes drive from the hotel, so we opted for that to get into the city. It was a 45 minute bus ride, but I didn’t mind as I had my excellent book with me; The Glass Castle. 

We arrived downtown and it felt so good to be in a big(ish) city with loads going on and lots to see. We walked along the 16th Street Mall and came across a sign advertising a Money Museum. We were only mildly interested until we saw the word ‘free’, at which point we marched enthusiastically towards the entrance. It was actually a really cool place, with loads of interactive exhibits and little bags of shredded money that you could take away with you. Ewan and I enjoyed acting like kids and designing our own dollar note using crayons and stencils (I know, we’re too cool) and I got a glimpse of what my face would look like on money. Personally, I don’t think anythings ever suited me more. 

After all this excitement, we headed for a walk along the river before grabbing a coffee and some gluten free cakes at a book store. We sat in front of Union Station with them, people watching and sunbathing. 

After a couple hours of wandering around the city, we headed to Larimer Square to find somewhere to have lunch. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that Ewan and I have a soft spot for Lederhosen. This soft spot for Germany also extends to German food, especially currywurst. As soon as we saw Rhein Haus and it’s cheery blue umbrellas, we knew we had a winner. They have a super cheap Happy Hour menu with loads of gluten free options, including currywurst for only $5! Thinking that the portions would be as small as the price, I went for the currywurst and potato salad. The food arrived and the portions were enormous – we definitely should have shared! You can also play Bocce Ball (Bowles to my UK readers) for free at the restaurant.  

After lunch, it was time to tick off some more of Denver’s top sights. We saw the huge Blue Bear peeking into the Convention Centre and the gorgeous Courthouse, which hilariously we mistook for a public attraction and went in. Two security guards asked us if we were due in court today, and upon seeing our confused faces, showed our tourist asses the door. 

Thankfully, we had more luck with the Capitol Building and enjoyed roaming around it and peeking into lots of interesting rooms. We spotted a plaque at the front of the building that marked the one mile above sea level point. It’s weird to think that Denver is so high up, but we could definitely feel the altitude as we were walking up all the steps inside the building (or that could have been the currywurst weighing us down). 

Overall, I loved Denver and had such a good day exploring the city. We are in Colorado Springs at the moment and have lots of cool things on the agenda for tomorrow. Will update shortly!

Ps. Bug bite welts have all but gone. Yay! 

 

Day 28 & 29 of USA Road Trip – Omaha, Lincoln, Cozad & Cheyenne

Note: Wifi being strange so apologies if the pictures on this blog post don’t show up! Will fix ASAP. 

So it turns out that there are far worse things to find in a motel room than dead skin and a cockroach. In the motel we stayed at in Des Moines (Days Inn West Des Moines FYI – don’t EVER stay there), I got bitten by bed bugs. We had an early night ahead of our 5 hour drive the next morning, but due to my old lady bladder I got up to wee at 11.30pm. During this wee I noticed rows of bites over both of my arms and immediately knew from a previous experience in Orlando back in 2000 that it was bedbugs. A quick check of the mattress confirmed it and we headed to reception, freaked out and upset, and got our room changed. I knew I was in for a nightmare couple of days because my body reacts like a paranoid idiot to insect bites and in a matter of hours, I had massive, swollen welts over both my arms. Ouch. Ewan didn’t get bitten once!! 

The next morning, we waved a VERY happy farewell to that motel and got on our way to our next stop, Cozad. Around midday, we stopped in Omaha to stretch our legs along the Riverfront and grab some lunch. As we were exploring the market, we came across a cute, family owned restaurant called Old Market Spaghetti House and headed in when we saw that they did gluten free pasta. I went for the gluten free angel hair pasta with pesto cream sauce. I’ll admit that it did look a little like a cat had vomited on my pasta but it did taste good! It was refreshing to find a restaurant that offered a gluten free pasta option other than penne too. 

Back on the road, we were driving along the freeway when we saw what is apparently referred to as ‘the Penis of the Prairies’ (Ewan told me this and I’m not 100% sure whether he’s having me on or not). In more professional circles, it’s called the Nebraska State Capitol Building. We decided to go into Lincoln and visit it, and we were pleasantly surprised that you could both park and go in it for free! The inside of the building was gorgeous and reminded me of Gringotts Bank from the Harry Potter movies. You can also take the elevator up to the lookout to get a good view of the city. 

A couple hours later, we arrived at Cozad, our destination for the evening and the sleepiest town ever. To be honest I think describing it as a town is a little generous, but it was very quaint and our pink motel was very cute! This was a very ‘road trip’ kind of night, staying in the middle of nowhere. For dinner there was zero option other than the Dairy Queen next door, where I had the grilled chicken salad and an m&m’s blizzard. 

We ended the evening by washing everything in our suitcases, as bed bugs can travel in your luggage/clothes. Obviously this could not just be a straight forward operation; the washing machine broke, ruined a few of our clothes, and the motel owner ended up letting us use their personal washing machine because the other was now out of order. We were up until almost midnight waiting for the sodding dryer to finish! 
Today has been much smoother overall, even the bumps on my arms have deflated a little! On the drive to Denver, we stopped off in Cheyenne to see their Capitol Building but OF COURSE it was under renovation and covered in scaffolding, so we checked out their State Museum (free!) instead. 

For lunch we wandered into a cafe called Dad’s Cafe, and from looking at the menu on their blackboard, it didn’t look like I could eat anything. I asked the man behind the counter and he informed me that I was in a 100% gluten free, coeliac friendly restaurant. I was SO happy! It’s not often the case where I can literally order absolutely anything on the menu, they really should advertise on their menu/signage that they are gluten free! I chose the Wyoming Rueben and Ewan had the BLT, which naturally I had a couple bites of too. Everything was so good! 

Before leaving Cheyenne, we visited their famous boots!

We’ve arrived safely in Denver and are both so excited to explore the city tomorrow! Sleep tight all, don’t let the bed bugs bite…. 

Day 27 of USA Road Trip – Des Moines

Can you believe that we’re almost 4 weeks into the road trip?! It’s going insanely quickly! 5 weeks still to go though, so I have a while before it’s time to head back to reality.

We’ve already had loads of incredible moments and this really has been the best trip of my life so far, but there have been a few less amazing experiences that never made it onto the blog, and seeing as today’s destination was another quick one, I’ll reveal a few secrets. 

1. Gluten free bread doesn’t seem to cope well in the heat of the car and subsequently moulds very quickly, so I was using corn tortillas to make my peanut butter and jam sandwich lunch for about a week. I’m back to bread now as that was just too weird.

2. Following on from the above, we originally found ourselves sans cutlery, so I was literally spreading peanut butter and jam onto the tacos with my fingers. 

3. Ewan and I have only had one argument on the trip, the first night in New Orleans. Obviously, it was over food and I’m embarrassed to admit that I actually cried because the only thing I could eat in the city was a salad (told you I was a salad dodger). 

4. I’ve had to stop painting my nails all the colours I like because mosquitos are attracted to the darker colours and keep biting my fingers. 

5. I’ve also had to stop fake tanning after we got caught in a downpour and my beautiful white Converse got soaked. All the fake tan came off my feet, staining my shoes orange. We’ve washed them twice and they are still peach! 

Back to the present day, this morning we drove 3 hours to Des Moines, Iowa. The ride was uneventful and we only stopped once for a ‘wee and wifi’ break in McDonalds. Des Moines is a cool place to visit; modern, clean, and interesting, but it’s missing one vital component – people. It was totally dead! Perhaps it’s busier on a weekday? 

We headed to the State Capitol, a gorgeous, gold-roofed building with lots of attractive gardens and interesting monuments all around it. There was a big brass bell out the front that Ewan rang, and almost pooed himself when it made an insanely loud booming noise. We were the only ones there which made for great photo opportunities, but the bloody roof had scaffolding on it! That always happens to me. Whatever city I’m in, whatever building I’ve gone to see, I guarantee it will be covered in scaffolding! The State Capitol is closed on a Sunday so we couldn’t go inside it, but if inside is anything like the outside, I bet it’s worth a look. 

We then headed to Pappajohn Sculpture Park, which if you were wondering, has nothing to do with the pizza joint (don’t pretend your mind didn’t go there). It was a very cool space and full of weird and wonderful statues. Below are a couple of my favourites. 

It was now time for DINNER! I was super excited because we had reservations at Louie’s Wine Dive and their gluten free menu looked incredible. I was not disappointed! Their gluten free menu is extensive; you can get everything from pasta to battered fish to Nutella torte. We started with the calamari to share but sadly (not sadly for me) it was dusted with Parmesan, so Ewan didn’t eat it. My main was the champagne fish and chips, which was a champers and rice flour battered cod served with fries and coleslaw. The coleslaw was rank by the rest was delish! I washed my battered fish down with a couple happy hour $5 glasses of champers and was definitely in my happy place. I couldn’t resist the chocolate torte for pudding either. Coeliacs, please check them out if there’s a Louie’s Wine Dive near you, the staff are adorable and the food is great! 

Day 25 & 26 of USA Road Trip – Oklahoma City & Kansas City

The last couple of days have been quite light in terms of sightseeing as we are just ticking off states/passing through places at the moment, but we’ve still seen, and eaten, some cool stuff! In Oklahoma City, Ewan had a hilarious mental breakdown when he found out that parking was 50 cents more expensive per hour than we had expected (even though we’d only planned to park for 2 hours) and thankfully it turned out that 2 hours was just about enough time anyway! We first visited the eerily beautiful Oklahoma City National Memorial that honours the victims of the 1995 bombing. It was incredibly moving and I encourage everyone to visit if you’re ever near the area. 

We had a little wander around Bricktown, a neighbourhood that’s basically a poor man’s San Antonio or Camden without the people, but it’s still a cute area to have a drink by the water! There’s lots of fairy lights so it’s probably prettier at night. What with the extortionate
parking, we headed out of the city for dinner and came across a Chili’s. Once seated, I explained my dietary requirements to the waitress. She was SO good and gave me a full allergen breakdown of every item on the menu, which even included information on cross contamination, meaning that I could make a safe choice for myself. I went for the chicken fajitas with corn tortillas and I was not disappointed! The whole thing was cooked in garlic butter so tasted divine, and the portion was huge! Very impressed with Chili’s and their gluten free options. 

We went for a little swim in the hotel pool before bed, which was nice but it was probably the randomest pool I’ve ever swam in. Imagine you’re in a dingy indoor car park and you come across a hole filled with water surrounded by a couple plastic chairs… that was the vibe of our hotel pool. It was clean though! 

Today has mainly been a driving day, around 6 hours in total to Kansas City. Once we checked in, we went straight for dinner at a BBQ restaurant called Q39. It gets super busy and the parking is a bloody nightmare, but it is 100% WORTH IT. Literally the best meal we’ve had on the road trip so far, and the best burnt ends I’ve ever had. Their menu is annotated to show the gluten free options, and I was happy to see that almost all the meats and sides were gluten free. From the suggestion of our waitress, we both went for the brisket platter with an extra rib added. Honestly, I’m almost sad that we loved it so much because it means that one day we might have to come back to Kansas City… and there’s really not much else here! Fingers crossed we find even better BBQ at one of next stops.  Note: Q39 also offer 3 varieties of gluten free beer, which I didn’t try because I think beer tastes like cats piss, but this is yet another reason why this place is amazing for coeliacs! 

We burnt off about 1/100th of our dinner with a walk around Penn Valley Park afterwards, and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up before going over to the casino across the road for a night of wine and gambling. Sadly, our plan was foiled when they wouldn’t accept our I.D. for the casino because it wasn’t American. Pffffft. Hope we don’t have this problem in Vegas! We had a glass of wine at a restaurant instead and I came back to the hotel to write this. Crazy Saturday night! Heading to Des Moines in the morning 🙂