Note: This post is from September 2, 2008

We woke in Oakley and headed to the local coffee shop, then headed off. Our first stop was a little ways south along Rt. 83 at the Monument Rocks. The Monument Rocks are a collection of chalk formations, about 70 feet tall, in interesting shapes. To get there, we had to drive for six miles on a dirt road through somebody's farm. The formations are interesting and beautiful, and they are made the more so because of their location. If they were in the mountains, they would be nice, but nothing all that special, but here in Kansas, surrounded by miles and miles and miles of fields and flatness, they are very curious, especially because of the seashells embedded in them. Yeah, seashells, 1500 miles from the ocean. Apparently, there was a huge inland sea covering the whole Great Plains 40-60,000 years ago, and that's what formed the Plains and these rock formations. That may also explain how the Plains got shaped into their undulations -- they make more sense as an ocean floor than as land.

The seashells may have been fossils. I don't really know how to tell the difference between a seashell and a fossil seashell. More on that later.

An unexpected high point of the side trip to the Monument Rocks was driving through the farm itself. We got to see how the fields stretch out in every direction, the barbed wire fences that looked as if they had been there since the days of the wild open range, and of course the cows. We even saw a couple deer on the way out.

Our next stop was in Burlington, Colorado, where they have a replica of an old town. It's called Old Town, and it's a recreated frontier settlement. Many of the buildings and artifacts are originals. My favorite part was the saloon.

Finally we made it to Denver. It seems like a pretty nice city. Safe, probably not all that exciting. We went to a brewpub across from Coors Field, the baseball stadium, and we did not see a single person in a baseball uniform, hat, or T-shirt, even though there was a game going on at the time and the Rockies made it to the World Series last year. Still, just because it's not a sports town doesn't mean it's not nice. I haven't really seen enough of Denver yet to make a judgement. I plan on doing some more exploring tomorrow, so stay tuned.