Taking a Road Trip During COVID-19: Pennsylvania to Colorado
To start off our last year of college at Penn State, my friends and I did something a bit… unconventional, as some might call it. When COVID-19 forced our university to partake in a mix of remote and in-person classes, my friend Zianna asked if anyone would make the drive with her to Denver, Colorado to drop her brother off at college. My friend Becky and I agreed to go with her. We decided were taking a road trip during COVID-19, instead of attending our first week of senior year!
Taking I-80 was our shortest option, in regard to driving time, and would let us pass through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska; our final destination would be Denver, Colorado. We decided to drive straight through without an overnight stop, but with short stops in both Chicago, Illinois, and at the World’s Largest Truck Stop, in Iowa.
Chicago, IL
We stopped in Chicago, Illinois, around dinner time. There, we were able to see the sunset from the Dearborn Street Bridge. For dinner, we ate at the Emerald Loop, Bar & Grill. I ordered their Smoke House Rules mac & cheese. They had outdoor dining which I appreciated, as the weather was perfect.
We also stopped at Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, a.k.a. the Chicago Bean! Due to COVID-19 regulations the Bean is gated off, and you cannot get as close to it as would have normally been allowed.
Moving on from Chicago, Illinois, we drove through Iowa where we saw the World’s Largest Truck Stop.
Iowa's Worlds Largest Truck Stop
With multiple HUGE signs out front it’s hard to miss while driving down I-80. There were snacks, restrooms, and touristy items to buy inside. There was also an array of items you could buy for you’re very own semi-truck in the store.
We drove straight through Nebraska throughout the night, and arrived in Colorado by morning.
If you’re considering taking a Road Trip during COVID-19 keep in mind that different states have different laws regarding masks and PPE guidelines right now. Iowa has no state or local policies that allow law enforcements to enforce wearing masks. No one was really wearing a mask in Iowa except for us. For those of you that this would make uncomfortable, consider passing through elsewhere, or filling up your gas in advance!
Colorado
We arrived in Colorado early, and went to Chipotle for lunch. But not just any Chipotle… The original Chipotle, located in Denver, CO.
We visited Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Denver, CO. as you can see from the photos, the park was beautiful! They have a few main attractions there, including: a gondola over the gorge, ziplining over the gorge, and a sky coaster that flings you over the side of the gorge.
I did both the ziplining, and the sky coaster, but skipped out on the gondola ride because the line was incredibly long. Both the sky coaster and the ziplining had to be paid for separately, but the gondola comes included in the price of admission to the park.
At the time (this is subject to change, consult with local law enforcement for updated rules and regulations**) masks were not required to be worn outside in Colorado, but my friend group and I chose to keep ours on regardless.
I would recommend visiting Royal Gorge Bridge and Park if you have the time in Colorado!
We also visited Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The theatre area itself was closed off due to an event being set up, and new COVID-19 guidelines. It was still an awesome sight to see though!
We visited Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs next. Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark of cool rock formations. You could spend a whole day exploring the park, and professional rock climbers with proper equipment may even take their gear out onto the rocks!
Again, masks were not required at the time* so many people were walking around the park with their masks off.
Taking I-70 Home
We choose to take I-70 rather than I-80 on our way home just to drive through different states. Again we tried to stop for every roadside on our way home, but were unsuccessful. A few that we did get to stop at will be pictured below!
Some of them were placed very in very inconvenient locations where we were genuinely unable to get out and take a photo. Keep this in mind if you are hoping to take a photo with state border signs, and plan on stopping at locations with a better pull off area.
On the drive home we passed through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and finally were back in Pennsylvania.
We stopped in Missouri for an hour to take a break from driving at my friend Dylan’s house. The three of us took turns driving throughout the night, and slept in intervals. There was no desire to make any major stops like we did in Chicago, as we passed through all the cities in the middle of the night, and by the next day we were exhausted and ready to get home.
With only 5 days, we certainly used our time well, and took full advantage of the sites we got to see in Colorado. We had hoped to visit some hot springs during our time there, but sadly the wildfires in Colorado are so bad that town had to be evacuated and many of those were near the hot springs.
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