Hiking shoes, a parking ticket and Boulder, Colorado hardly seem related but let me tell you the story.

Two weeks ago I mentioned to Stephen that he should consider purchasing a pair of hiking shoes..after all we will be climbing many mountains in the next few months. His response “Why should I do that, I just got a pair of Keen hiking sandals last year and they’ll be fine.” I tried to push him a little but he wasn’t interested.

Around the same time as the hiking shoe discussion,  I drove to an event in St. Paul and parked on the street using one of the pay by credit card meters. St. Paul is known for confusing signage and even after reading all the parking instructions, I still messed up. I returned to my car after the event and found a parking ticket slipped under my windshield. Glancing at it quickly I saw a $140.00 fine. OUCH!! Well…no need to mention hiking shoes anymore …I’ve already spent the money.

ConfusIng St Paul parking meter

Fast forward a week. We started our trek and as we arrived at Badlands NP Stephen had a sinking feeling that he forgot to pack his hiking sandals. Ugh! At the same time, I was logging into Minnesota Dot Gov to pay my parking fine. I entered my citation number and immediately my name, license plate and fine amount appeared. The fine listed was $36.00. Huh! It turns out I misread the citation amount as well as the parking meter instructions. Oh happy day!

So …back to the hiking shoes. We debated whether to ask a friend to ship Stephen his Keen sandals or purchase shoes. I researched the closest REI store on the next leg of our Journey and discovered one in Boulder, Colorado. This is a place I’ve always wanted to visit.

It’s settled…we found $100.00, Stephen needs shoes and I get to visit Boulder.  Win, Win, Win.

We enjoyed our visit to the Badlands. It’s a moonscape of windswept desert in soft tones of beige and orange. There are natural pyramids and buttes as far as the eye can see. Bighorn sheep cross the valley with no fear of tourists or their cameras. This is an interesting park and in my opinion underrated. It has some great hikes and beautiful scenery.

On our drive west we saw the ubiquitous Wall Drug signs and of course had to make the obligatory stop for five cent coffee (and a donut).

At the moment we are in Rocky Mountain National Park. The scenery is spectacular and our visit to this park deserves it own blog post.