Day Seven, Colorado is heaven(ly)

Our final day in Colorado. We headed south to Silverton and on the way the temperature started to drop. Yes that says 44 degrees. As we were driving it started sleeting and then it turned to rain. We had it off and on while we were in Silverton.

This is a view of the main street in Silverton. After lunch we continued to head south to Mesa Verde. This would be our last stop in Colorado.
Here is a view of some of the cliff dwellings. There are several locations throughout the park that you can visit. We started at the Spruce Tree House. Up on top of the cliff is where they would plant and harvest crops. They would have to climb up and down carrying baskets of food. There was a steep hike down to the dwellings. Since it was paved we decided to take the Gopher in his chair.
It might have been easier in the backpack.
The dwellings were very well preserved. Once down at the dwellings they had a kiva that you could go in. The Goose and Bear really enjoyed going up and down the ladder.

Here is a picture inside the kiva. These were used for ceremonial gatherings. Each family group had their own kiva. The Goose and Bear had their own ceremonial meeting inside.
Up on top they had the stones where the ladies would grind corn. They had several together so that they could talk together while they worked. Inside the museum they had dioramas displaying how life at the cliff dwellings would be. The Bear teased the Goose that she would have to be naked (because the children in the dioramas were). She didn't like that idea and said that if she lived back then she would want clothes to wear.

The second site that we visited was above ground and the girls got to go inside the different dwellings. They really enjoyed playing in the different rooms and going in and out the little doors.

Well that's it for Colorado. We had a great time visiting the different National Parks as well as the Denver zoo and seeing the mountains. I think we will all miss the cooler weather. The video below is of the Gopher. The last day we drove from Mesa Verde to Albuquerque for our last night. We didn't arrive at our hotel until 12:30am. I think we were all a little delirious, but the Gopher would not stop laughing. So here is a little sample.




We finally made it home after 64 hours and 45 minutes in the car (yes that is actual driving/riding in the car time) and 3106 miles. I don't think the Gopher will want to be strapped into a carseat for a long time.

Day Six, almost the end of our trip.

Today we started our drive south as we start to wrap up our trip. We headed to Independence Pass and the Continental Divide.
The view of the mountains was spectacular.
It's hard to believe that we are standing on the top of a mountain.
The Gopher better hold on, or he could end up sliding down the mountain.
On our way south, we stopped in Redstone for lunch. We ate at a little cafe next to a river. The food was good and the scenery was excellent.
Our next stop was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We almost didn't go since it had been raining. But we decided to drive there and check it out. The canyon was carved by the Gunnison river.
We started at the Visitor's Center and then headed around the canyon rim. There were several stops along the way where you could get out and look into the canyon. This is from the painted wall. The family consensus was that it looked like Abraham Lincoln with a worm body. You decide what you think it looks like.
This is at the painted wall. You can see from the clouds that the rain is still in the area.
We saw a beautiful rainbow at our final stop of the day.
This is where we were supposed to hike to (next to that tree sticking out). It was our last hike of the day and I didn't pack any diapers or wipes, since I thought it would be a short one. Well, we made it almost to the end and the Gopher decided he needed a pit stop. Of course it was the runny messy kind and so we couldn't leave him in it. I know that whatever you pack in you are supposed to pack out, but we had to leave a little something on the trail (at least it is biodegradable). So we decided to turn around and head back to the car before we made it to the end. But overall the girls really enjoyed the Black Canyon and it was well worth the trip.

Day Five, will we survive?

We now leave Denver and head to the Rocky Mountain National Park. All the way up we had beautiful views of the mountains and the snow at the top.

Once we entered the park, we had to decide what to see. There are so many trails and interesting sites, it was hard to limit what we would do. With only one day and the Gopher, our options were a little limited. We decided to start with a short hike up to the Alberta Falls. It was certainly worth it. The falls at the top were beautiful.
We left the falls and had another lunch in the car of peanut butter crackers and Pringles, I think if the Goose has to eat another peanut butter cracker, she may protest. We decided to take the Trail Ridge road that goes over the top of the mountains. We stopped along the way for a photo op.
We stopped at another spot that had a short trail out to a beautiful overlook. We got to see a yellow-bellied marmot up close.
At the next stop there were elk just off the road. There was also a large area of snow just up the hill. Daddy took the Goose and Bear to check it out. They came back very cold and decided they needed to put pants on before the next stop.
Further down the road, we found another patch of snow just off the road. Now with pants on they could enjoy it a little better.
At the top of the Ridge was a visitors center and cafe. It's hard to believe that the snow is still this thick in the middle of July.
Across from the visitors center was a trail that led up to another overlook. Because there were a lot of stairs, the Gopher and I stayed at the bottom. This wasn't the highest we made it, but it was close.
On the way down from the Visitor's center we saw an elk cross the road. The question does arise, why did the elk cross the road...I'll let you fill in your own answers. After leaving the park we had a long drive to our next hotel in Silverthorn. We ate a light lunch at the cafe in the late afternoon, so we didn't eat dinner until 10:00pm. Each night the Gopher would get a little delirious and laugh histarically at just about anything. We're not sure if it was due to the high altitude, lack of oxygen or just frustration from being in the car for so long. But whatever the cause it was hilarious. We were only able to capture a little of it, but it went on almost every day of the trip.

Day 4, what's in store?

Day four was spent at the Denver zoo. We always visit a zoo on our trip, so this year it was Denver. We started at 9:00am, even though we were running late and we didn't make it to the zoo right when it opened.
The exhibits at the zoo were very good, but the Gopher wasn't really interested because the animals were too far away. At the penguin exhibit they were right by the glass, so he could see them swimming.
They had a great elephant presentation. They brought both elephants into the holding area and then gave them each a bath. The keeper explained what they were doing and talked about the elephants. This was Dolly a 50 year old elephant. After the bath was finished they had her step up and show off.
Here is the Gopher on his first carousel ride I'm not sure if he liked it or not, but he watched the other animals moving as we went around.
Here is the most unique animal that we saw at the zoo and a new one for us, the giant elephant shrew. It's nose looked like an elephant trunk and it would raise it up and down like an elephant does. It was very interesting to watch.
The Gopher was playing the drums outside the gorilla exhibit.

Here is the Goose feeding the Lorries. She wasn't too sure about it to start with and she didn't like it when it spilled on her, but I think she enjoyed it.

The Bear really liked feeding the birds and wanted to keep going until all the nectar was gone.
The red panda was the Bear's favorite animal and she ended up getting a stuffed one. This was the first time we had seen an active one. He was very cute.

We had a great peacock show. They were just wandering around the park and this one showed off for a really long time.
They had several giraffes and when we saw them at the end of the day, they were all in their inside pen. It didn't smell very nice, but they were so interesting to watch so close up. You don't realize how big they are until you are standing right next to one. Overall we had a great time at the Denver zoo. We stayed until they closed at 6:00pm and then drove around downtown Denver. We wanted some local flare for dinner, but we had a hard time finding something that wasn't a pub or tavern. We ended up at Woody's Wood fired Grill and the food was good. At least we ate before 10:00, like we did the night before. Now what will tomorrow bring.

Day 3, what will we see.

Day 3. We spent the night in Colorado Springs and then after actually eating breakfast we headed over to the Garden of the Gods.

This is from the balcony at the Visitor's Center.

From the Garden of the Gods you can see Pike's Peak.

The Kissing Camels.
Sentinel rock. This is where the two different types of rock can be seen together, conglomerate and sandstone.
After a long morning of walking and hiking at the Garden of the Gods, we headed into Denver to the Apex center for some fun water play. They have a great indoor water center that is perfect for kids. The Goose really liked the whirlpool that took you around a circle. The Bear liked the two tube slides (not pictured), and we liked them too.

They also had a water playground with a zero foot zone that the Gopher really liked. After three hours in the water, we were all exhausted. We checked into our hotel and then drove over to Boulder for dinner. We found that Boulder has a very unique night life. It was quite interesting to watch. We ended up eating at the Cheesecake Factory and had Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake for dessert. It was fantastic. What will the next day bring?

Day 2, so much to do.

We started day two at 6:30. We were going to have breakfast at the hotel, but they were really slow, so we opted for food in the car. As you can see from the temperature it was a cool 50 degrees. It was 49 when I started to take the picture, but it changed by the time it took. We had a long drive to the Great Sand Dunes.

Who would believe that in the middle of Colorado is a giant pile of sand. The dunes don't look that big from a distance, but once you get close they are enormous.

This is a picture from the visitor's center. You drive down to the dunes and then hike across a small creek before hitting the sand.

The water was cold, but it felt really good. It was even better after hiking up and down the dunes for a few hours.

We talked the Goose and Bear into rolling down a dune. The Goose didn't quite get the hang of it, but the Bear did.
Afterward she was covered in sand. I think she needs to work on her rolling technique. After climbing around on the sand, we stopped to play in the creek to cool off for a little while. We were supposed to eat lunch on the way to Cripple Creek, but they don't believe in fast food in the mountains. We couldn't find a Mickie D's anywhere. So again we opted for food in the car. Peanut butter crackers and Pringles make a great healthy lunch.

But we made it to Cripple Creek in time to ride the train. It was a short 40 minute ride, but we got to see the scenery and ride a real coal fired train.

After the train ride, we headed into town. We stopped in at the Cripple Creek candy store for a selection of goodies and then dinner at the Hometown Cafe at one of the local Casinos. I was able to loose $10 in record time and then we had a nice dinner. The Gopher got a soda spilled on him, so we got a free meal. He certainly took one for the team. After that we headed to our next stop in Colorado Springs.