First summer vacation completed

I returned safely to my house today completing a week long trip which included stops in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Although the original purpose of the trip was Dad's memorial service, I decided to take some vacation time and see some landmarks/monuments that I haven't seen before in person or don't recall seeing them when I was a little boy.
After work on Thursday, May 26 I packed my car and drove over to C and A's place in Lawrence. They were sitting on their front patio drinking wine. I joined them for a glass. I am not a wine drinker but I must admit that the red wine had a relaxing affect on me. After C and I firmed up the order of things for the memorial service, I went to bed.
I took off for Colorado about seven o'clock in the morning. I forgot to pack some things so I had to make a stop at a Target in Topeka, KS. But after that, I drove almost non-stop to Colorado Springs--making gas stops only in Salina, KS and Limon, CO. As I approached Colorado Springs, I noticed the mountains were smothered by clouds. I noticed an occasional lightening strike on the east face of the mountains. The clouds would then dissipate as they went eastward toward the plains. I made the hotel at about six o'clock that evening. After getting settled, I drove around Colorado Springs--I wanted to scout out my route so that I could make my train time on Saturday and also drive quickly to other tourist attractions like the "Garden of the Gods" or the Colorado Springs zoo. I almost got lost in doing this. I found myself driving up a mountain on highway 24 and not seeing any guide signs. It seemed like I was a quarter of the way to Leadville, CO before I turned around.
On Saturday, May 28, I checked out of the hotel and managed to make the Cograil on time. There are two Cograils in the United States: one in New Hampshire and the other that goes up to the summit of Pike's Peak. I sat next to a pleasant couple from New Mexico. We discussed many things ranging from National Parks to our respective city government's progress-or-apparent-lack-of-progress (depending on the political point of view). It took the train ninety minutes to reach the top of Pike's Peak. I had to acclimate myself to the altitude once we arrived. We were allowed forty-five minutes to explore the top before our train took off for its decent. The whole trip took about three hours. Upon arriving at the depot, I spent thirty minutes in the gift shop.
I decided to go to the "Garden of the Gods" being that it was extremely close to the depot. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and could not do any day hiking here. What a shame--I was mesmerized by the Garden's rock formations. I ended up driving two circuits around the park. It started to rain on my second time around. At mid-afternoon, I hopped on I-25 North and began the drive to Denver and the hotel. One curiosity: biking was permitted on this portion of the highway. I made the hotel at about four o'clock meeting with my sister and her family. My Uncle B and Aunt P were resting so C and I decided to drive through our old stomping grounds in Arvada taking a look at a house where we once lived and the church where dad once preached. For dinner, we joined my uncle, my aunt, dad's long time friend at the Macaroni Grill. Don't let the name deceive you: the Macaroni Grill is a very good Italian restaurant.
On Sunday morning we drove up to Berthoud Pass for our Memorial Service for Dad. We used garden trowels for the dispersal of dad's ashes. Afterwards, we took some group pictures at the pass. The weather forecast called for rain or snow. We were grateful that it was mostly sunny during our service. As we drove back to I-70, we decided to drive through the Eisenhower tunnel. Although Uncle B had lived a considerable portion of his life in Colorado, the tunnel was not complete when his life took he and Aunt P to Portland, OR, so the tunnel was sort of a treat for him. When we got back to Denver, C and I treated the entire group to dinner at White Fence Farm. C made reservations for us in the "Library Room," a room small enough to hold a group of eight to ten people--perfect for us. (BTW, the KC equivalent to White Fence would be Stroud's Restaurant.)
On Memorial Day, we went our separate ways. C and A had to return to Lawrence because A had to work the next day. Uncle B and Aunt P had to prepare for a trip to see a grandchild graduate from high school. As for me, I spent the morning in Denver browsing the Railroad Museum in Golden, CO. I spent two hours touring the place. The highlight for me was the very large model railroad set they had in the basement of the museum building. It was larger than the area of my basement. After the museum, I drove to Boulder, CO to see if I could find a bookstore that was featured in a Fodor's travel guide for Colorado. Silly me. The city was running its annual Bolder Boulder run and traffic turned out to be a nightmare. So, I made the decision to set out for my next destination: Devil's Tower, WY.
The drive from Denver to Casper, WY was rather disappointing. It was rainy and foggy and cold. Visibility was poor. In other words, I could not see the scenic mountains and buttes during my drive. When I woke up on Tuesday, it was sunny--much better driving than Monday. It took me about four hours to drive from Casper to the Devil's Tower monument. For you movie buffs, Devil's Tower was the key piece of scenery from Speilberg's movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I was amazed by the monument's size and its history. I spent two hours at the monument and visitor's center before leaving for my next destination: Rapid City, SD and Mount Rushmore.
I arrived in Rapid City at six o'clock that evening. I had hoped to do something more than just visit Mt. Rushmore. I came across a brochure for a round trip railroad excursion through the Black Hills. So I made the decision that the next day, a Wednesday, I would first visit Rushmore and then take this train trip. Little did I know that Mt. Rushmore would be a fascinating stop. I ended up spending four hours there taking pictures, browsing the museum, watching the documentary on the monuments origins, browsing for and purchasing souvenirs in the gift shop and taking a hike along the Presidential trail. When I finally arrived at the train depot in Keystone, SD, the ticket agent informed me that I was ten minutes too late for the last round-trip train. Sooooo, I ended up browsing through the shops in Keystone which took about an hour.
I made the decision there that I had come and did the things I wanted to do and it was time for me to start driving back to Kansas City. So, I gassed the car and drove through the Black Hills via southbound US 385 highway. The drive took me to the western panhandle of Nebraska and eventually connected with I-80. I spent the night in North Platte, NE and drove through Lincoln and Omaha, NE on Thursday. I got home at roughly 4:30 in the afternoon.
I return to work on Monday.