USA Road Trip - Days 8 to 10

Days eight and 9 were spent mainly on the road.  We travelled from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Grand Island, Nebraska.  There wasn't a whole lot to see along the way but before leaving Cedar Rapids we did stop in at Usher's Ferry Historical Village to check out life in a small town at the turn of the 20th century.

Enjoying a sarsaparilla in the Usher's Ferry Saloon

Once we left Usher's Ferry it was pretty much endless cornfields.  We had a brief lunch stop in Des Moines, Iowa and drove through Omaha, Nebraska before setting up camp in Grand Island, Nebraska (which is nothing like an island and very much like a land locked small town in the middle of America, in case you were wondering).

Random plane on a post in a field.

On day 9 we left Grand Island, Nebraska and headed for Denver, Colorado.  It was a rather long and uneventful drive.

There was a lot of this along the way.

Us leaving Nebraska....

...and entering Colorado!

Luckily we were staying with friends in Denver for a few nights (thanks Cate, Kevin, Charlie, Jack and Joe) and were able to get many hot tips on things to see around Denver and the rest of the states.

After a couple of days of pretty boring driving we were excited to be in Denver for a few days and to have the chance to do some sightseeing.  Day 10 we headed up into the mountains, Mount Evans to be exact, which lays claim to the highest paved road in America, if not the world (it is 4,348 metres above sea level)!  The drive to the summit was amazingly beautiful (even with a slight touch of altitude sickness) and we were lucky enough to see some wildlife along the way.

Rocky Mountain Big Horned Sheep

First elk sighting!