{"id":6201,"date":"2026-07-22T00:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=6201"},"modified":"2026-07-22T00:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:57:34","slug":"america-the-beautiful-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=6201","title":{"rendered":"America, The beautiful – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Day 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Started with some thunderstorm in the mountains<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Started to clear up a bit, still like freezing cold<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s a museum of recreation how things were like back in the 1800s wild west<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keg back then<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Casino back then <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later I detoured to see some fussils <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course a fox (my English name)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old mines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At this point I was a bit tired and decided to head back to a hotel early in Colorado Springs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some happy hours and a soccer match now it’s time for some InAndOut burgars! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Garden of Gods<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now it’s the Incline (hike)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Milestone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last step!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the way down (a different path)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then it’s the drive up to Pikes Peak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the peak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later I settled in a Hostel in which I am genuinely impressed with. Didn’t know we had great hostels in the USA. Had I had a bit more time, I think I can easily stay for a couple of days there. Good vibe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WW2 aircraft time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then a short hike to break up the drive to Great Sand Dunes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Really windy so I didn’t do the entire hike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turns out I had visited the park back in 2021 before. I guess I wasn’t too impressed then so I didn’t have any recollections<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Settled myself in a motel that’s owned by Korean and went to have Chinese food next door. Wild to see Asians running business in small rural town<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 4<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Driving towards the Million Dollar hwy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stopped by Durango for a ride<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A random “hot” spring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got some road sign saying road closures. Was a bit scared to have to drive 3hrs back down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cause of the closure is the wild fire <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fortunately, there’s a county road to detour out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got to the Black Canyon NP but it’s very smokey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Being so hot also drained my energy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Smoke cleared up a bit. Drove on the Grand Mesa byway<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now it’s the Colorado Monument<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s really underrated comparing to all the famous canyons in Utah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Longhorn sheep!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Revisit Moab!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Was a bit tired so settled in Moab instead of driving further north. A nice town, cheap motels, great brews!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Driving back to Logan to pick up my car!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drove to Idaho Falls for the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Funny how I almost forgot how to drive my own car after driving my rental for 16days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If I arrived earlier, I could have done a bike ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Visiting Craters of the moon National Monument<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My park was really busy even in the early morning. I think approach the absolute peak of the travel season didn’t help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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US93 turned out to my favorite scenic byway. (Salmon River)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Little hike to a Hot Spring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Decided to settled in Missoula, MT for the night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Happy hour to see USA won!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 8 (Home)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Did an early run before headed back home. Long drive though<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old train depot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now it’s the long i90 drive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A gas station has salmon fish tank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A train museum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last city (I think if I had more time, it would be cool to stay near the lake) before leaving Idaho<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All the way home!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Week 67<\/td>Currency:<\/td>USD<\/td>1<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td>Day total<\/td>Country<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$10.82<\/td>$136.00<\/td>$46.14<\/td>$15.75<\/td>$208.71<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>$39.17<\/td>$88.27<\/td>$49.14<\/td>$18.00<\/td>$194.58<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>$63.23<\/td>$109.62<\/td>$91.38<\/td>$24.00<\/td>$288.23<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>$30.05<\/td>$90.87<\/td>$78.39<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$199.31<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>$23.26<\/td>$63.70<\/td>$78.23<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$165.19<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>$35.84<\/td>$195.73<\/td>$347.89<\/td>$8.00<\/td>$587.46<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>$38.26<\/td>$210.00<\/td>$15.42<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$263.68<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>$240.63<\/td>$894.19<\/td>$706.59<\/td>$65.75<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Total<\/td><\/td>Grand Total:<\/td>$1,907.16<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Week 68<\/td>Currency:<\/td>USD<\/td>1<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td>Day total<\/td>Country<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$19.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$2.35<\/td>$5.00<\/td>$26.35<\/td>USA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 1 Started with some thunderstorm in the mountains Started to clear up a bit, still like freezing cold There’s a museum of recreation how things were like back in the 1800s wild west Keg back then Casino back then Later I detoured to see some fussils Of course a fox (my English name) Old… Continue reading America, The beautiful – Part 3<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vacation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6345,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201\/revisions\/6345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}