After driving all the way from Nashville, with a lot of detours to collect new states, we’re now in Denver. We’re here to attend the GeoWoodstock 14er mega, and other events in the area.

After driving more than 600 miles in a day, we arrived in Denver in time for the midnight event at the State Capitol. So we didn’t get up before around 8am the next day, first time we’re up this late on this trip.

We started the day by heading towards the welcome event, stopping to get a couple virtuals along the way. Just as expected, we weren’t the only ones going for those virtuals.

We made it to the welcome event about one and a half hour after it started, and we were not alone! Parking was almost full, but we managed to find a spot in a corner. The line to get inside was long, and we heard people saying it was more than an hour to wait.

Since this was our first GeoWoodstock, we went all in and had VIP tickets. After waiting for a few minutes, everyone with VIP tickets were taken through the back entrance – awesome! Still a long line inside, but much shorter than the one outside.

We eventually got our stuff, and wow – the geocoins look awesome!

We also met PodCacher, and got our supporter pathtag.

We also met our Norwegian friends Imit42 and Nja42. After we were done at the event, we decided to head towards Pikes Peak together.

Even though the road was closed, we decided to just drive and see what happened.

The weather wasn’t too bad, and we even got to find a few caches along the way to south.

After a quick stop to get something to eat (and find a couple caches), we stopped to do an earthcache in Manitou Springs. GC2176K 7-Minute Spring (of Manitou Springs) had us tasting the water. Tasted kinda strange, not sure I liked it 😛

While in Manitou, we got the notification about the road opening. So to get to the event in time, we just had to head straight to the top.

We were not the only ones going to the top this day, so we had to wait a bit at the entrance station. But it wasn’t too bad, and suddenly we were on our way back to the top of Pikes Peak.

It takes a while to get up, and the last part took some time as the parking was packed – but we made it! And we found a parking spot almost right away.

Cars and people everywhere! The parking was full and the gift shop was full. Wonder how many that were not geocachers here 😛

It was foggy when we got here, but the weather cleared during the event – and the view just got better and better.

After the event, it was time to head back down. We did just as last time, drove all the way on the 1st gear. The car in front of us did not, so he had to wait for 30 minutes at the brake check station…

We stopped in Manitou Springs once more, to visit the arcade. After having fun there for a while, it was time to head back to Denver.

We didn’t get to attend the event at Casa Bonita, so we had planned to eat there today instead.

The food wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t bad either. It was fun being there, and I guess that’s why people go here.

Once we got back to the hotel, it was time to get some sleep before the big day.

We thought we were going to be clever, and drive early (but not early enough for the morning event) to arrive at the event before the place filled up. So did everyone else, apparently.

Long lines of cars on both sides of the road. The event parking was closed… So we just had to wait. Eventually the parking opened, and shortly after we were on our way to the event area.

We spent the entire day at the event location, looking at stuff in the shops, shopping, checking out the Visit Utah GeoTour, hanging out in the VIP lounge and finding the caches in the area.

We met up with our Norwegian friends Imit42 and Nja42 today as well, and we really enjoyed our visit to GeoWoodstock!

It was eventually time for the closing speech and the announcement of next years event.

While listening to the speech, it was easy to understand how much JoGPS have done for the community, and how much he have affected people around him.

We owe a huge thank you to JoGPS, and all the wonderful people that keep this event running year after year!

I’m glad we’re a part of this wonderful geocaching-community!

We stayed at the event a bit longer, doing a final walk around the vendor area, VIP lounge and getting some more ice cream.

After the event was over, we headed towards the area east of the airport. Lots of caches out there, and we’ve spent a couple hours there every time we’ve visited Denver.

The weather was nice, and we managed to find quite a few caches before it was time to head towards the hotel.

After finding a lot of caches, and doing a quick stop at Walmart to get some supplies, we arrived at the hotel relatively early. Our visit to Denver is almost over, just one more event left tomorrow (we’re not doing the really early one).