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Not every UPS Store is open on Sundays, so we made sure to find one the day before that would
be open. On our way to the UPS Store, we drove through some very nice neighborhoods near
Broodmoor. We thought they would be very expensive, but were amazed at how the prices compare
to the Bay Area. One home we saw was indeed expensive, $2.7 million, but it does have 6
bedrooms, 10 baths, and nearly 12,000 square feet on a 35,000 square foot lot! The house
next to it, which is 5 bedrooms and 4 baths in 5000 square feet on a 32,000 square foot lot
is "only" $1 million. Almost makes me want to leave the Bay Area and move to Colorado.
We arrived at the UPS Store just after it opened. We dragged a bunch of gear from our
car -- sleeping bags, pads, folding chairs, pillows, even our cooler, which we had stuffed
with other things we didn't want to bring on the plane. We packed it all up and shipped
it home via UPS ground.
Afterwards, we drove toward the Denver airport. One interesting thing we saw was a huge
coal train. It may have been the longest train I've ever seen, maybe 200 cars, and every single
one of them was piled high with coal.
Google maps directed us onto E-470, which is
a toll freeway. The bad part is that, because it's not a bridge, there are multiple toll
booths along the way. The first one asked for $1.75. The next one, a few miles away, asked
for $2. The last one before the airport asked for another $2, so we ended up paying $5.75 in
tolls. That's fine, but I wish we could have paid it all at once (you can buy an electronic tag
if you use it often). The other strange thing is that many of the exits required 75 cent tolls
to get off - and only exact change was allowed. Thankfully (since we didn't have any change),
we didn't need to get off for any reason.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to return the rental car, go through
security, and arrive at our gate in time to see that the flight was delayed by nearly 2 hours.
We did eventually make it back. A few days later, our packages arrived from UPS without a
hitch.
Just a brief mention of the logistics of the trip. Sending our camping equipment ahead of time
worked out well. In fact, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have shipped more stuff
in advance. Sure, it costs a little more, but you avoid the aggravation of carrying it through the
airport (important if you have kids), and you avoid having to rent unfamiliar gear on the other
side. I also made sure to ship stuff that wasn't completely critical; i.e., if it didn't
arrive on time, we could resort to renting it. UPS is pretty reliable, though, so I wasn't
really worried.
That being said, the hassle of lugging two car seats and having our flights delayed left
a somewhat sour taste for air travel. Not to mention the hassle of getting a rental car.
For closer trips, like Utah, I'll seriously consider driving instead. For Colorado, I'll
probably still stick with flying, since it's a long 18 hour drive away.
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