July Camping: Day Four Continued

 

After we finished in Four Corners, we took our trip north to Moab, Utah.  Arches National Monument was the last place on our "things to do" list.  We were hoping to get a campsite in the park but were told that most of the sites are taken online well before the date of arrival.  Meaning, if you don't reserve a spot in their 51 site campground months in advance, you don't stand a chance of finding a place to camp.

Oh well.  We did some of the easy hikes and had a great picnic dinner.

Kelsey's Jackrabbit

Kelsey found a jackrabbit enjoying the evening on our hike to see a lookout of Delicate Arch (across the canyon).  The rabbit just sat and watched all of the hikers go past.  On our return trip back to the truck, we noticed he'd had enough people watching and left his spot.  But I have to commend Kelsey for spotting it.  John took awhile to notice it.  Good eye, Kelsey!

Balanced Rock was a formation that puzzled the kids.  John couldn't understand who balanced the rock like that and if it was going to fall.  It was almost impossible to explain erosion and how the rock really isn't "balanced," it's part of the rock formation.  Well, this was one of those hikes that everyone decided they wanted to try to hike--even Joe.  But we carried him because the stairs were a little much for him at times.

  

Sand Dune Arch was our last one of the day.  Everyone had sand in their shoes (some a lot more than others) but they thought it was fun to wade through the sand.  We even got to see the bats out early as the sun was setting.  That made the kids even happier.

 We made it to Green River before we all tuckered out.  A stay in a hotel for one night was welcome.  We didn't have as much to pack up the next morning and got home before naptime.  The kids enjoyed the hikes and the camping, but I think they enjoyed getting home to their beds.  I think the adults did too.  Shower and clean clothes never felt so good!

July Camping Day Three & Part of Four

I am not quite sure why I didn't get very  many pictures of the stuff we saw on day three.  Oh wait, because they were mostly pit houses and John took a ton of pictures that didn't quite turn out.  We did find some ruins of houses that had been built on previous sites.  Meaning, people built a house, abandoned it, and fifty years later, someone else built on top of it.  It was pretty interesting.

  

We were still wondering "why?" but no one seems to know.  The kids quickly went through the houses and were mostly eager to ride the Wetherill Mesa tram.  They enjoyed the little bus ride through the remains of several forest fires.

This was the day we saw the famous Long House and had lunch at the top of the trail in a covered pavilion.  We didn't know what else to do for the rest of the day so we decided to go back to camp.  We arrived just before it started pouring.  The kids enjoyed watching a movie in the tent on the portable DVD system.  The rain stopped as the movie ended.  Good timing!

 

Well, in the morning, we packed up and headed for Four Corners. The kids didn't really understand the significance of the site and it took some encouragement for them to do anything other than stand around looking confused.  But that's another moment we may have to revisit when they're older.  For future knowledge, it cost us $3/person (for those 6+) to enter the monument.  Didn't know that when we started out.

And it was off to Arches for the rest of the afternoon.  We'll get to that in the next post.

July Camping: Day Two Part 3

So we did a lot on our first official day of sightseeing.  We saw a lot of stuff, mostly from overlooks.   But that's alright.  It got the kids pumped up and excited for all the walking they did.  They even were excited to go back the next day.  But that's another blog entry.

We saw some famous tour houses like Cliff Palace from overlooks.  We didn't do the mile or so trek out to see the Balcony house from an overlook.  That was nearing the end of our day and those who hadn't taken a nap (namely the adults) were a little pooped.  The kids were nearing the end of their interest as well.  So, we missed that one.  I guess we'll have to do a return trip when they're older and actually go through Balcony House.

One of the canyons we took pictures of had so many different cliff dwellings that every crevice in the south facing cracks seemed to have some sort of ruin in it.  It was amazing!  Some of them were pretty big too!  One had a large fire pit that the description said it might have been used as a gathering place rather than where people lived all of the time.  We dubbed it "Party Central."  It was pretty cool!

We briefly circled the Sun Temple and were amazed by the fact that the structure, although unfinished and never used (according to archaeologists), had water downspouts built into the walls.  So, when the rains came, they had a way to channel the water.  Pretty cool.  You can't tell me these guys didn't know much about "technology."

Anyway, it was pretty interesting.  We were left wondering, after seeing all of these cliff dwellings and pit houses, why someone would choose to live in cliffs and on the tops of mountains when there was a green valley just to the north.  Why?  Maybe we'll never know...but I'm sure intrigued.

Camping Trip: Day Two Part 2

Okay, so we saw Spruce Tree house and it was great!  We piled everyone back into the suburban and off we went to another set of sites.  It was time to do the Mesa Top Loop.  We noticed that the loop was going to be closed at 7 pm the very same evening.  What luck!  We were already planning to make the drive and see all the overlooks we could.

Well, that's when we noticed the two little boys had fallen asleep in the back seat.  Great!  They needed it!  Poor Joe was all tuckered out after his long "hike" in the toddler backpack.  Jack had a reason to be tired:  he hiked the steep 100 foot descent/ascent on the 1/2 mile trail.  He earned his nap.

Anyway, we stopped by several quick pithouses that the Pueblo people had used before their time in the famous cliffhouses.  Although somewhat impressive, the kids were not as interested in holes in the ground.  They skirted the covered pavilions with the houses in quick succession.

We did get to see Square Tower house from a lookout (see photo at top of post).  That was fun.  Macher and I traded off going to see the sites.  She'd see some with Bekah and then come back so I could take Kelsey and John to see the houses.  I think the older kids enjoyed running ahead to see the sites without having to worry about how slow Jack was going...or if Jack was going to stay on the trail.

July Camping: Day Two Part 1

Day Two was wonderful.  The rain we went to bed with the night before stopped sometime during the night. We woke to cool weather and relatively clear skies.  It was almost perfect.  We only had a few random puddles in the tent, but nothing a day full of sunshine couldn't dry out.  It was great!

One of the highlights of the day was the discovery of the tunnel!  It's not a short tunnel, either.  The kids loved it!  They "honked" their horns from their seats.  We even got a semi truck to honk a couple of times with us.  They were delighted!

We turned our attention to the little hikes we could take the kids on.  It was decided fairly early that the tour hikes that cost money would be something we'd have to do once the kids were older.  We couldn't take the risk that someone would get scared in the middle of a climb up a ladder, or get too close to the edge of a cliff.  They enjoyed what they could see!

First house was Spruce Tree house.  The kids didn't mind the short hike down to the house.  They even waited relatively patiently for their turn to descend a short ladder into a public kiva.  Joe wanted to poke every nook and cranny in the darkness.  It was cute.  We did have to remind Jack to stay off of the walls.  Everyone loved seeing the old houses.

  

This was one of many kivas we saw during our trip.  We enjoyed the opportunity to crawl down inside one kiva at Spruce Tree house.  Even Joe had to get in on the action.  He didn't want to be left behind (no offense, Macher).

John was so proud of the picture he took of the grinding stones at Spruce Tree house.  Pretty good photo!  There were a few extra ones that he took pictures of, but he was so excited to be able to take a few pictures of the sights.  Thanks, John.

This was one of the few group shots we got of everyone.  The kids didn't seem to mind the hike down to the house.  The return trip was a bit more tiring but nothing strong kids like mine couldn't handle.

Since we did so much on the first day...I think I'm going to break this up into a couple of different entries for Day Two.  Hope you don't mind.  We just had a TON of pictures of this awesome national park.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to share.  Thanks for following our trip!  Enjoy the next couple of blogs!

July Camping Trip: Day One

This past week we decided to join my mom (Macher) in a camping adventure to southern Colorado and then eastern Utah.  It was an adventure to remember.  There was lots of laughing and giggling; there was also a lot of whining and complaining (and not all by Mommy!).  But that's to be expected with little people who are out of their element.  At the end of the experience, the kids learned something and will be happy to share all of their excitement for "Indian" houses with you.

 

Day one consisted of leaving for Colorado around 0930.  We set out in good spirits and stopped in Moab, Utah for lunch.  The kids loved the park.  Mommy and Macher noticed the dark clouds and wondered if we'd be camping in the rain.  Well, we've been praying for rain to ease the drought.  I guess you can't be too ungrateful when you get it.

Joe wasn't too sure about some of the equipment.  He preferred throwing the dirt.  What you also can't see from the picture is that he has only one sandal on his foot.  He just couldn't seem to keep both shoes attached.  We got around to calling him "Cinder-fella" because we had to get his shoe just about any time he was walking.

All of the kids enjoyed drawing in the dirt or picking up rocks.  It became a regular theme with all of the kids during the entire week.  Everyone got good and dirty.  But that never hurt anyone.

Jack wanted his picture taken from every angle on every part of the jungle gym.  It was like he was in heaven.  There are more pictures of him at this park than any of the other kids.  I guess he'll have a special page in his scrapbook of park poses that he loved.  What a crazy monkey!


Anyway, the kids played in the gravel and climbed on the equipment for nearly 45 minutes before we got back into the truck for the final drive to Mesa Verde National Park.  That went through rain and sun before we arrived at the perfect campground.  It was beautiful!

We made plans for Day Two and then the rain we thought we outran pushed us all to bed early.  Well, that's okay since we were all tired from our drive.  Ah...sleeping to the pitter patter of rain drops on the rain fly.  Blessings that we set it up before the downpour!

Jack Jack Turned 3!

Jack had lots of help picking out his birthday cake.  He switched between wanting a car or dinosaurs on his cake.  But I think he preferred the big, bulky dinosaurs to the little flowery VW bug.  He REALLY wanted a firetruck cake but I couldn't find one.  Maybe he'll be okay with the toys he got instead.

Anyway, we did a simple party and it turned out well.  Jack's happy and grateful.  Maybe now he can get out of the "terrible twos" and be just as awesome as he can.  Maybe.  :-)

I think Joe had a lot of birthday fun with the cake.  He ate all of his and guaranteed that no one else wasted any cake.  And look!  It makes great hair gel too!

Jack crawled into my camping chair and put the bag's shoulder strap around his middle.  His reasoning,

"So I don't fall out."

Okay.  That makes sense.  On to presents!

He loved his train coloring pages.  They matched the train set he got!  He got to work coloring a page after he'd played with the trains.  I'm sure these will come in handy...especially as we get on the road for a long drive to Texas.

Train set!  Additional curved tracks will come in handy.  There never seemed to be enough corners before.  Thanks a bunch!

He got all of his new trains together and made quite the "train" of cars.  It was wonderful.  We had so many friends and family come by.  It was great seeing so many people come out to support our family.  Thank you!