We flew to New Mexico, where we met up with my GA cousins and visited with my sis and 2 of her kids for the night. It was great to be able to see them, too! The next morning, we were all up and at 'em and ready to hit the grocery store and get on the road for our adventure! We rented 2 cars, which was a good thing, with our BC and their 10-month-old, Mr. O. We headed first to Mesa Verde National Park, in southern Colorado. It was an interesting drive out of New Mexico...SOOOOO different than our Florida landscape! It's very dry, dusty and somewhat interestingly desolate. If that makes any sense... Pretty much as soon as we were in CO, the landscape greened up and I was happy to see some trees and grass once again! You can tell I'm a Florida gal and not so much the desert type. BUT...it is gorgeous in its own right!
Mesa Verde...home of some pretty ancient cliff dwellings, which was totally cool to tour. We camped for 2 nights there...in our little tent with the air mattress. I'm telling ya, this was ALL new to me! I was a bit nervous when I saw the camp site, but as soon as our stuff was out, it sort of felt like "home." And I was happy when I discovered the bathrooms (with real flushing toilets!) very close to the site. We hiked around and Bear Cub IMMEDIATELY found some prized horned toads (which are actually lizards) so he was good to go! He spent most of those 2 days wandering around with his bug net, hoping desperately to find something interesting. He found a few things! He was the dirtiest I've ever seen him and he loved every second of it! The sleeping was ok...but pretty chilly at night! I knew it would cool off, but I wasn't thinking of that chill creeping UP through the bottom of our tent. We were all snuggled in, for sure! Bear Cub was so excited each night going to bed, saying, "Let's go camping!" Kind of like, sleeping in the tent made the "camping" part come true for him. We did let him watch some dvds at night in the tent...it kept him clean before bedtime AND gave the adults some peace and a few moments to enjoy some relaxation. We did roast marshmallows and make S'Mores on the campfire. We did all of our own cooking and had a pretty good assortment of food. Our cars were packed FULL, so again, it was a good thing we had our own vehicles. LOTS of stuff to bring!
After 2 days in Mesa Verde, it was on to Utah. What a gorgeous drive that was!! Lots of farmland (beans) with the backdrop of mountains. I swear, it looked fake half the time! Like a backdrop just dropping from the sky. Beautiful! We made it to Arches National Park and it was H-O-T out. It had been hot in CO, but with the cool nights and mornings, it was pretty pleasant. But, wow...Utah was like an oven. And unlike Florida, you don't sweat in that heat...it's so dry. We all drank tons of water and Gatorade...it was a constant in our hands! You'll see how amazing Arches was and the camp site was great. Lots to explore right there - rock climbing, discovering more arches in the rocks, lizards, and TONS of red/orange sand. That was everywhere too! (I found sand everywhere in our suitcase once we were home!) Unfortunately, the gnats were awful at Arches and we all got bit up. Including poor Mr. O, so much that he looked like he had a case of chicken pox! We hiked around and did some good exploring, but instead of camping 2 nights, we only did the one. It was on to a hotel the next night...and I can't tell you how AWESOME it felt to take a real shower and sleep in a bed. :)
On day 5 of our trip, we split from our cousins (who are still out there...) and headed back to CO. We spent the night in Durango and fell in love with the town! Lot of interesting eateries, people, and awesome mountain views all around. I'd love a house right up on the mountain...just need to win the lottery first! Ha! Our little family then headed back to Santa Fe, where we were able to spend some more time with Aunt J and then it was on home the next day.
Bear Cub had a blast and says he can't wait to go camping again. I enjoyed it too -- but it was a lot of work with some hard, tiring moments for (and with!) Bear Cub. He did awesome with all of the driving, but it was sometimes stressful just keeping track of Mr. Explorer and making sure he wasn't going to fall off the edge of a cliff or anything! He and Mr. O played some together, but at times, it was just too tempting for BC to not kick a little sand around baby or just be a bit pesty. What do you expect from an almost-4-year-old, I guess?? It was a fun family vacation...our first real adventure together...and I do look forward to more in the future! But for now, I'm happy to be home, have the clothes all washed and clean, and be able to take a hot shower each day! Lots of great memories made...for us all! :)
Amazing and beautiful!!!! What a great adventure!!! :) (glad you are back though!)
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