Roadtrip Through Five States: Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, California and Nevada

We left Davis, CA and started driving to Colorado for a family wedding. As we drove up to Tahoe it started snowing.



We took three days to make the drive. Some of the most beautiful scenery was in Utah.



This photo was taken near Green River, Utah.



Then as we drove through Vail and the White River National Forest in Colorado there was plenty of snow. Luckily the roads were clear so this didn’t slow us down.



Even Denver had received three inches of snow the morning we arrived. There was still snow on the front lawn of our Airbnb when we arrived.



After settling into the Airbnb, we went out for dinner at Watercourse, a vegan comfort food restaurant. Happily we found vegan food everywhere we traveled on this roadtrip. We started with grilled carrots.



We came to Denver a few days before the wedding so we could take Bowspring yoga classes. Sol Movement yoga studio opened earlier this year and they are still getting fully set up but they had lots of great classes. Kristina is out front by their temporary sign. 



We took five different classes, got really sore and learned a lot.



One evening we drove down to Colorado Springs to visit cousins Cherry and Les. Whenever we're in CO we love visiting the Fenczik cousins. It was great to catch up with them over dinner.



We ate dinner at The Burrowing Owl, a vegan restaurant so named because burrowing owls are very social. Their nachos with cashew cheese were quite good.



Next we left Denver to stay with family in Castle Rock for the wedding festivities. We stopped to visit cousins Diana and Alex, and their kids. This is Bailey in her room posing with her stuffed pig collection. 

We had a lot of fun hanging out with them at their home.

Bailey also shared her report on pigs with us. She is quite a pig enthusiast!



The Browns don't have any pigs but they do have six hens who enjoy roaming around the property.



Both Everett and Bailey play piano and they both played a piece for us. Pete caught Rett in action.



We were glad we had brought our tandem bike so we could ride from the townhouse where we were staying. We enjoyed the blue skies and nice weather.



We rode along mostly ranch land and pastures.



We spotted these alpacas as we rode by and were happy when the four of them ran over to check us out.



They were friendly and curious.



We wished we had brought some carrots to feed them.



When a group of cyclists rode by, the alpacas raced after them. Perhaps the lovely spring weather had made them extra frisky.



We rented a VRBO townhouse for the weekend with Pete's Mom Csilla (OC) and his sisters Denise and Csilla (LC). As we got ready OC modeled her dress for the wedding.



And here are LC, OC and Pete in their wedding clothes.



Colorado weather is pretty changeable so we were wondering if it would rain on the outdoor wedding ceremony. Luckily it was just windy. The groom, cousin Sam, walked in with his parents Kathy and Larry.



They were followed by cousins Alex and Diana. (Diana is Sam's sister.)



Everett was the ring bearer and Bailey was the flower girl. She was serious and focused as she tossed the sunflower petals.



Bride Melissa is to the left of Larry, who was the officiant of the ceremony. Diana shared Kathy and Larry's thoughts about marriage during the ceremony. 



As Sam and Mel kissed as husband and wife, Bailey and Everett headed up the aisle to pass out the bubble guns to shoot the newlyweds.



Afterwards we told Larry he did a great job as officiant. 

Here's a closer look at the pretty bride Melissa.

The party took place inside so we all rushed in to get out of the wind.



Here are cousins Les and Cherry's daughter Annie (left), Kathy, Kristina, Diana and Bailey.



The balcony was sheltered from the wind, so we hung out there and took some photos. Here are Pete's sisters Denise (left) and Csilla with Kristina.



Pete liked how his Allbirds shoes matched Denise's blouse.



Pete is looking distinguished in this photo, which perhaps catches LC by surprise.



What a cute shot of Csilla.



Csilla and Kathy love to laugh and be goofy together.



Sam and Pete were discussing their mutual "haircare regime". 

Then it was time to cut the cake!

Mel and Sam are animal lovers and they have several cats and a pet bunny. The wedding cake had bunny decorations.

After toasts it was time for dancing. 

Everett and Bailey were cute dancing together.

Denise photo bombed this shot as Bailey and Everett ate ice cream sandwiches. 

Denise did a good job of taking selfies with most of the cousins. This is cousin Sue with Denise. Sue lives in Chicago.



The next day we went to a cousin reunion at Kathy and Larry's. Here are Sue's daughter Kate and her boyfriend Malcom. They live in Brooklyn.

Csilla is next to cousin Rick who lives in Seattle. Rick doesn't have kids but he likes being an uncle.



Even the newlyweds came to the party, as they hadn't left yet for their honeymoon in Montreal. 

Kathy had this great old photo of her parents Les and Vivian's wedding. Les and Pete's Dad Jeno were brothers. In this photo Pete's grandparents are on the left and his Dad is on the right.



It was nice to have a whole afternoon to hang out with the cousins.

Last month Pete's Mom's best friend Sybil had visited her in Las Vegas. We loved these photos of the two of them that Denise shared with us.





We left Colorado and took two days to drive to Boise. We like to stay in the historic North End of the city.

We spent two nights there, and each evening we strolled around the neighborhood. We admired this garden. 

It's a treat when we meet a friendly cat who wants to be pet.





He was even willing to be held if it meant Kristina would scratch his head.



The next day we took a ride along the Boise River Greenbelt, as we had done in the summer of 2017 during a previous visit.

 

It felt like spring and we saw lots of goslings in the park.

The greenbelt park includes a forty mile cycling path. Behind Pete is the Boise river.



We rode out to the reservoir. The scenery includes some rocky peaks that we liked looking at.



This visit we checked out the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial which is also an educational center.



This sculpture of Anne Frank shows her at the window of her hiding place in Amsterdam, peeking out with curiosity.



Sculptor Ken McCall created Spiral of Injustice for the memorial. 

"The Spiral of Injustice is a model we created for discussing the Holocaust, the attack or harassment of an Idaho student when he or she is viewed as “the other,” or the marginalization of any group within the fabric of our community."

From Boise we drove to Portland. The City of Roses was filled with colorful blooms.



Here you can see the uniqueness of variegated roses. 

The dogwood trees were blooming too.



As were the poppies.



And the peonies were spectacular.

We found another friendly cat who wanted some affection and we were happy to oblige.



The magenta peonies were our favorite.

We bought a bouquet of peonies so we could enjoy them in our Airbnb.



We always visit our friends Lance and Laura when we are in Portland. This time Lance wowed us with his new Thai charcoal grill by making a meal for us.



He used a wok over the hot coals to cook amaranth greens (upper right) and oyster mushrooms (middle). He also made cucumber and radish salads, which were perfect for the warm evening.



Both Lance and Laura are happy to be living in Portland and celebrated their third anniversary in their home while we were there. Laura has been taking lots of Iyengar yoga classes. This photo shows her and her friend Colleen at a yoga retreat.

Another evening Pete enjoyed a 'bandit queen', cucumber and lemon juice with soda and a chili salt rim, while waiting for dinner to arrive.



At The Sudra we ate (clockwise from top) jackfruit vindaloo, roasted Brussel sprouts, tamarind curry beets with coconut yogurt and collard greens. We liked the Indian spices.

We rode most mornings and a highlight was riding on the bike path along the Willamette River.



This mural had a vertical garden for the woman's hair.



We liked the regal crow in this mural.



We had oolong tea at Ichiza Kitchen in downtown Portland.



Then we enjoyed lunch there. Ichiza serves vegan versions of Asian classics like noodle soup, radish cakes and Bibim Dangmyeon (Korean yam noodles with gochujang sauce).



We left Portland and drove to Corvallis to have lunch with our friend Peter. It was great to catch up with him about all the interesting solar projects he's been doing.



We ate at Nearly Normals for more tasty vegan fare, including their take on Gado Gado.



In San Francisco we met our friends Pat and Sarah at Shizen restaurant for fabulous vegan sushi.



Pat suggested we get the pickled mango nigiri and we really like it. It looked almost like salmon.



Shizen also makes elaborate rolls, like this Peacock roll with more pickled mango and avocado.



We stayed in Oakland and rode our tandem up into the Oakland hills. On a clear day we could see the City and both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.



We watched The Last Black Man in San Francisco at the Grand Lake - highly recommended! It was Saturday night, so we heard the mighty Wurlitzer organ before the movie.



Then we left the Bay Area and drove to Las Vegas for our final stop on the road trip. We stayed with Denise and Csilla, who started living together in a great house in 2017. We were happy that cousin Peter from Brazil was also visiting. The five of us went out for a delicious Turkish lunch.



We were excited to see Denise’s new Schipperke puppy named Misha again. In this photo he’s about seven weeks old, which was when we met him back in February.



Denise shares photos through Instagram so we had been keeping tabs on how he was changing and growing. In this photo our nephew Jeremy was visiting and they are playing by Denise’s pool.



Our nephew Spencer was also visiting so he got plenty of playtime with Misha too. During the visit Denise jokingly told us she was afraid they were going to steal Misha when they left.



Ready (right) is Denise's original Schipperke dog who's 13 years old. Misha and Ready were hanging out while chewing on bully sticks.



Here’s how big Misha had grown by the time we visited. He recently learned to bark and now has become the house watchdog. He stole our shoes and socks when we weren't looking but he’s also a love bug so we had fun playing with him too.



Next we head to Europe for two months to explore new places for us, including London, Scotland, Iceland and Berlin.