Winter Storm Tritan Plan B: Geeky Science Snow Day!

One thing I love about Colorado is the local reaction to the announcement of a snowstorm.  Washingtonians freak out, buy bread and milk (or booze), and plan to hole up until the storm passes.  Here, people pack their 4WD vehicles with snowboarding and skiing gear, go to bed early, pray to the snow Gods for 12" - 14" of sweet powder, and race to make the first chairlift.  Despite the joy of Winter Storm Tritan, it was pretty much unanimous that it would be foolish to attempt the near blizzard-like conditions with a fully loaded rental car with no snow tires and front wheel drive.

So instead of heading across the pass to hang out with my Mt. Kilimanjaro climbing partner-in-crime Lauren, we decided to stay another day in the Boulder area and make the drive when visibility was more than a foot.  

After brunch with a friend of mine from law school, we decided to explore museum at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  Fortunately, Gonzalo and I are both slightly obsessed with geeky science things, and an otherwise disappointing cruddy weather day was saved (even if we discovered how little we know about cloud composition).

We thought the museum fit the weather conditions.

The cool spinning globe that allowed us to simulate the surface of a gas planet.

This museum had the BEST interactive exhibits. 

It's pretty much sacrilege to not spend at least some time outside in the Boulder area, so we headed out to the trails behind the NCAR to play in the snow before heading back to the house for hot chocolate and a nice group dinner with Kiki and Emil.

The architectural genius of I.M. Pei, better known for the Lourve Pyramid and the Javitts Center in New York.

Taking in the "view".

The next day, the clouds parted to give us sunny blue skies and clear roads.  The drive across the Rockies was beautiful and we rolled into Grand Junction, Colorado with a warm welcome from Lauren.  After a tasting of various craft brews I have managed to collect along the way, we caught up over a huge hunk of local free range magical beef and apple pie.

Exhibit at the potty n' Nutella and banana break in Georgetown, Colorado.  Not to be mistaken for any other Georgetown.

Snack break!

Reminiscing about my last trip to Colorado to visit Lauren.  My beer tasting glass magically turned into a wine glass.

Today, we are off to the Moab area where we will spend the next couple of days camping at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks before heading a bit south towards Zion National Park.