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It's Saturday and we need to start working our way back to Indiana. We have one more major stop in Colorado for our white water rafting trip and train ride through the gorge but other than that, the stops are going to be brief just to stretch our legs and maybe see a few quick things.
We decided to head from Zion to Colorado via the Four Corners Monument where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado meet. The boys thought it was going to be cool to be in four states at once.... until we pulled up to this place in the middle of nowhere and it was raining. ha! The one good thing about the rain is that the place was empty. We quickly got in and took a few pictures around the monument, looked at a few of the stands selling items made by the local Indians (It's on an Indian Reservation) and made our way out. Check that one off the list. For anyone thinking of going, if you are driving right by- stop. If you have to make a special trip- don't. :) First though, we made a quick stop off at the Glen Canyon...
We drove by Glen Canyon on the way to Four Corners Monument and ended up parking there to make lunch. Even after all of the cliffs and things we've seen the last couple of weeks, they are still impressive to see!
Not quite the Hoover Dam, but still impressive! We walked out on the bridge after lunch to get a good view.
Now on to Four Corners:
We may be in four different states but all repping our 3 stripes of course. #threestripelife
They love when Mom wants to take pictures in the rain! Especially the one in the middle.
We hopped back in Stevie the Big Rig and got back on the road. Next destination, an hour or so away to the Mesa Verde Cave Dwellings. This was a suggestion by Tanya as she thought the boys would really like it and we were going right by the Mesa Verde National Park. I was driving by this point and for the first 40 minutes driving in to the park, I was convinced she was messing with me and just wanted to see me have to white knuckle up and down mountain terrain with the winding hills, curves, and rain in an RV. I was picturing her sitting at home giggling that she had sent me off on a wild goose chase for cave dwellers. At one point, we were eye level with clouds and it was super eerie! We arrived at the Cliff Dwelling museum just in time to find out..... it was closed for the night and the trail was closed because of falling rock. Lovely. But, we could at least still see some from afar and with the rain, I'm pretty sure my travel-mates weren't that disappointed that we couldn't go any further on the trail.
The oldest known preserved cave dwellings from 1190. Crazy!
We're up in the clouds on our way down from Mesa Verde. Bryce was the photographer.
Bryce also caught a rainbow on our way out of Mesa Verde.
We spent the night in another Walmart parking lot (#2 for those keeping track) in Durango, CO. The wildfires going on in the San Juan National Forest were only 10 miles north of us. Luckily it was raining and our waiter said they were hopeful this rain would help them get it under control now. We didn't see any of the smoke with the rain and dark but we did the next morning.
Happy Father's Day.... now drive:
AFTER the foggy, rainy, smoky, crazy morning drive through the Colorado hills.... Father's Day we spent celebrating Jeremy at the Cotopaxi KOA campground with no phone service and lots of swimming for the boys! We did take a hike down by the Arkansas River and found an eddy that the boys could wade out in and catch minnows and tadpoles. Jeremy loves the Colorado streams and rivers with the mountainous terrain so this was a good activity for our Father's Day afternoon!
Bryce wanted me to mention that he caught more than 10 tadpoles here.
Monday we were finally to the activity that Jeremy was looking forward to the most on this trip. White water rafting on the Arkansas River! It was great! Perfect for the boys as it was more intense than the Family Float we did on the Snake river in Wyoming but not so intense that they were terrified and never speaking to us again. The boys LOVED IT! Bryce's facial expressions are the best....
This one in particular was a class 2, maybe 2.5 our guide Maggie said. She was great! Made the boys feel very comfortable about this and was a fun free spirit! She was living in a tent in Colorado for the summer and sleeping in a hammock!
After the white water adventure, we had a steak lunch grilled out by the river and just relaxed before we headed into Canon City for the train ride. It was the Royal Gorge Railroad and was restored years ago for scenic tours through the Royal Gorge. So awesome and I highly recommend for kids of ALL ages! We did one of the vista dome seats so had a great view both up and down the gorge, a table for ordering an appetizer and drinks, and could go out to the open air car to see some views outside (it was HOT!).
For those thinking I'm an amazing photographer... while I am (ha), these were professional pictures we got with our family pic.
The bridge 1500 feet up at the top of the Gorge. It was built by a man that just wanted to say he built it but lead to nowhere on one side. I thought that was hilarious.
On the road again (see what I did there??) we go! Indiana or bust!