Quintessential College Experience

Recently, a friend and I took a road trip to Arizona to watch the Gophers football team lose to Kansas State in the Insight Bowl.
Having never been though any of the states we went through, with the exceptions of Iowa and Texas, it was most definitely an interesting experience. A rough overview of our trip follows:

- Iowa was boring, we were thrilled to make it to Nebraska and away from the Danish Windmill.
- Lunch with Tyler in Omaha, after that Nebraska sucked and we were happy to drive through most of it in the dark.
- Colorado is not a magical place where the terrain instantly changes to mountains, however we were able to finally see the Rockies in the distance for a couple hours as we drove towards them.
- Stop at Mile High stadium, I unsuccessfully attempt to break into the stadium. We manage to break into the hall of fame.
- Stop at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, thanks to a hint from a friend. Best. Stop. Ever. Absolutely gorgeous, we contemplate going hiking in the Rockies instead of going to the football game.
- Made it south to Albuquerque, drove through potentially beautiful landscape in the dark.
- Driving through New Mexico was also boring, with the exception of the "Indian Village" tourist trap, with reminders every 0.2 miles, and the multitudes of casinos.
- There was snow in Arizona, we weren't sure how that happened until we realized we were at altitudes of about 6000 feet.
- We decide to take a picture with a cactus, we find one however a low lying barbed wire fence stands in our way. I make the brilliant decision to jump the fence.
- Cacti hurt. Also, their needles are hell to take out of human flesh without getting it stuck to other parts of one's body. Cactus: 1, Beth: 0.
- Shortly after taking said picture with cactus, we realize the low lying barbed wire fence ended about 20 feet from where I made friends with the cactus. We walk around the fence.
- The decent into Phoenix was gorgeous, amid palm trees and cacti.
- We check into our hotel, and nearly get lost on our way to battle of the bands. Turns out that about half of the streets are apparently not important enough to be put on maps.
- After battle of the bands, we make it to a brewery on the ASU campus. Two guys buy us drinks all night. Later, we ditch them. girls:1, men:0.
- Bowl game day: we go to the tailgating party and realize not many college age students made it down to Tempe. We go to the game and miss the student section. We do the cheers by ourselves anyway.
- Minnesota loses. Big surprise.
- Block party afterward, we begin our quest to find cute boys to kiss at midnight.
- Styx was awesome, period.
- We wish everyone back home a Happy New Year at 11 PM
- Begin the trip home, again reminded of all the casinos and indian villages.
- Texas can't pronounce Spanish correctly, makes Ruth angry.
- Oklahoma sucks almost as much as Nebraska. Also, Oklahoma City is a dump.
- We are astounded and confused by crossing the "North Canada River" in Oklahoma. Three times.
- The Ozarks were kinda pretty, would be better in spring or fall due to the multitudes of deciduous trees.
- Called Heinzen in Arkansas, didn't reach him until Missouri, for the sole purpose of making fun of the South.
- Drive home found the only precipitation we saw on the entire trip: freezing rain. 7.5 hours into a 6 hour trip, we finally make it back to Minneapolis, hoping to never hear Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Lady GaGa, or Nickelback ever again.

The trip was amazing, and I'm so happy that I went. It was nice to see the interior of the country, and make fun of some of the quirks we found in each state. I can see now why a long road trip is the "quintessential college experience".