Heading home

Left Colo Sprngs at 9 pm elavation 6800
Filled yank last night at 2:00 am for$3.59 / gallon
Left Hays KS at 8:30
Elavation now 1500
Be in green IN tonight

Dudes and Dudettes at the Dunes

We got an early start this morning because we had about a five hour drive to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We drove through more high desert country which has predominately
been what we have seen since we left the Tetons. We arrived at the visitor's center and proceeded to make our children miserable (like all good parents) by making them watch the 15 minute video on the park. We found it interesting and informative. It also proved to be entertaining. (We had no idea a movie could produce such gutteral sounds and contorted faces from our children) We wish we could have taken some pictures of them but it was too dark in the theater.

We then proceeded to hike out on the dunes. The highest dune was 750 ft. tall. We had plans to hike to the top but quickly realized that we should have started earlier in the day and we should have toted more water. It was difficult ascending but rather fun descending. You really didn't have to worry about falling because your feet sink into the sand. While standing on one of the ridges, the wind picked up and the sand was really blowing. It was a bit uncomfortable when it hit the skin. Could only imagine that a sand storm in shorts would not be fun! It was an interesting place to visit and worth the trip!

We left the park and drove for about 2 hours to Pueblo, Co. We found a Cracker Barrel and felt like we were home. This is the only one we've seen since we've been gone. After dinner we drove to the KOA. Katelyn and Landon had to try out the big bounce pillow they have here. Lincoln was afraid he would bounce out his dinner so he opted to relax in the RV. While bouncing, Katelyn landed funny and bent her toe nail back. Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad had to get out the first aid kit. It bled a lot but with TLC, bandaids, Ibuprofin and some ice cream Katelyn is doing much better!

Everyone is watching a movie in the RV at the moment. We are looking forward to going to Pike's Peak tomorrow. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day of vacation before
heading home. It has flown by !!

Silver Jail and Gold Mountains

Thursday we left Durango and drove to the mining town of Silverton. We had to cross two mountain passes over 10,000 feet to get there and so the drive was pretty slow. We visited the Mining Museum and Jail. The jail was a very interesting and the museum was full of mining history and information. From there we drove on up the mountain to see the Old One Hundred Mine. The mine had a very interesting history, but never really produced any gold. However, our tour guide had been the mine engineer when it was last used. The mine had been sold to a Texan who was fooled by the owner when everyone around knew the mine was worthless. He was what you would expect a miner to be like and made the whole idea of being a miner come to life. I'm glad I'm not a miner. It was 52 degrees in the mine and water dripped all the time. We had to wear raincoats and hardhats. At the end, we panned for gold and found a little bag full.

We continued north through the town of Ouray. It is called the Switzerland of America and it lives up to it's name, even though I've never been to Switzerland. The road was slow due to the curves, the grade and the mountain pass above 10,000 feet, and road construction which held us up for about a half hour. The town itself is very quaint and I would like to go back sometime when we have time to piddle. We stayed in Montrose and plan to head east today. I guess we are sort of heading toward home.

A Little R&R

The kids requested a slow down to our hectic pace, so Wednesday we hung around Durango to let everyone rest a little. We did do a short whitewater rafting tour, but I didn't take the camera. Last night we took in the camp movie, The Incredibles. We leave this morning to go up to Silverton and Ouray and will likely see a gold mine and some other stuff. We only have a few days left...

Four States In Just a Second

Tuesday we drove from Moab to Four Corners. I didn't realize it was run by the Navajo Indians. This meant we couldn't use our National Park Pass and had to pay $15 to enter. The area is surrounded by "flea market" booths selling the Indian's wares. Missy and Katelyn bought a few things and the boys had snow cones.

We continued on to Mesa Verde National Park, driving to the top of the Mesa which was again a lot of fun in the RV. I never thought about the desert having so many mountains. We got our ticket for a ranger guided tour of some ruins that was to start in an hour. As we were leaving we noted a park ranger watching a small fire to the south of the visitor center and we all thought that was pretty cool since we never see fires that much. We drove on towards the start point of the tour. (About 8 miles or so) We we took the turn to go to the tour and immediately noticed a lot of vehicles coming toward us. We were about to make the final turn when we saw a park ranger directing traffic. He stopped us and apologized, but told us that part of the park was closed for the remainder of the day due to the fire. So we improvised and saw some smaller ruins that were still open.

We drove on to Durango, Colorado, to stay for the night. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Tequila's, but it was not like our people.

Arches National Park

Monday we visited Arches National Park. We had hoped to take one of the ranger guided tours of the Fiery Furnace, but none were available until Tuesday afternoon. Not wanting to spend another day, we decided to guide ourselves. We spent the most time at the Windows area and looked at Twin Arch. I was amazed at the sheer size of the arches and how hard they were to climb and then get down once we got up.

In the heat of the afternoon, we hiked to Landscape Arch in the Devil's Garden area. We all think it should be called delicate arch instead of the one that is called Delicate Arch. Landon and I continued on another 1.2 miles to Double O Arch. It was a very difficult hike that was uphill all the way and crossed over some scary ledges. We were all worn out when we got back to the RV.

We finished our evening by eating dinner at the Moab Cafe. It was excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the surprisingly pleasant Moab, Utah.

Driving and Driving

We have now driven around 2,500 miles. Today we did more of that as we drove from Wyoming to Moab Utah. Tomorrow we see Arches National Park. Trying not to kill each other...