Roadside Stops

There's been a lot going on since we got back from our trip, but I've been wanting to post a few more photos. These are some of my favorites from roadside stops. 

This first one is from somewhere in Nebraska- still our first day on the road. 

 These are from somewhere on the fourth of July- after we left Denver, on our way to Ridgway. At this stop we enjoyed looking at the lake...

 but what attracted our attention was the signs saying we might be able to see some bighorn sheep. There were telescopes to look through at the hill across the road, but we weren't able to see anything. 

 Pete took this picture at another roadside stop. This was after the kids had started having fun with the giant box of pipe-cleaners.

Finally, shortly before arriving in Ridgway, we spied Frosty the Sno Shack and turned the car around to go have a taste. These kind of spontaneous stops are my favorite part of road trips, and also illustrate one way in which Pete and I are very compatible in our travelling styles. "Hey! Wanna make a u-turn and go get some shave ice at that funky little place?" "Heck yeah!" 

Haven't posted for a couple days. Poor reception at Tom's, but we had a great couple days with Tom and the girls. Got a 9 AM start this morning, a bit later than hoped. Have been on the road about 10 hours now. Having dinner in Ogallala, then getting kids in jammies and heading to Kearney for our last hotel night!

Utah

I'm pretty sure yesterday's post was also called Utah.
Utah is weird.
But we're here with Uncle Tom and we're having fun! We went to the new natural history museum, which was very cool. Emily and Alex were both here for dinner at Tom's house, but they vacated to make a little more room for us.
Not sure what's in our plans for tomorrow, but I think we'll start with a little time in a coffee shop.

Utah

We did sneak in one last view of the canyon this morning, since we had to drive back through the park anyway. Then we drove through all sorts of differing and beautiful terrain in the way to Utah. We are finally here, enjoying our $60 hotel pool. After this we plan to find a decent dinner then head to the lawn show at the Shakespeare festival. Tomorrow we head up to Tom's!

Another long day

I didn't take any more phone photos until this one today, but it pretty well sums things up. We spent from about 9am-5pm at the park today. We started at the visitor's center, but left early to catch a bus over to Shrine of the Ages where a ranger program was going to start for the kids. Before it began I had a chance to wander around the park cemetery a bit. I saw the grave of Emery Kolb (and his wife and daughter, Edith-didn't see his brother, though he's supposed to be there too) also Widforss (an artist, I think?) and several long-time rangers.
Henry and Clara enjoyed the presentation given by Ranger Bob (who used to be the principal at The Grand Canyon school) and when it was finished they were sworn in as Grand Canyon junior rangers. After that we had a little lunch, then rode the shuttle bus all the way out to Hermit's Rest, another building by Mary Colter and a cool view of the canyon. When we took the shuttle back we hopped off at Powell point to see the Powell memorial and get our last great view of the canyon. It was a cool stop, but the sun was SO hot. Henry had done really well all day, but both kids were getting pretty tired and we were feeling a little cautious with him. Unfortunately, we had to wait through two full shuttle buses before one let us on (thanks, Bus Driver Patsy!) I was a little embarrassed that people kept feeling the need to offer their seats to me, but I did accept the offer once or twice. When we finally made it all the way back to the visitor's center, it was a lot more crowded than before. We enjoyed the movie in the cool theater, then visited the bookstore where we grabbed a condor mobile, but we're out of luck for the Grand Canyon poster we wanted. We decided to order one online. After a final bathroom stop we said goodbye to the canyon and got in the car. After our ten minute drive to the pizza place for dinner (Pete loves the name-We Cook Pizza and Pasta) Clara was asleep and I took this photo. She rallied for dinner, and the pool and now we are all in bed. Fingers crossed for no puking tonight!

Smokey

So, Henry puked again last night. Not sure if it's altitude, dehydration or excitement...? We've been really good about staying hydrated, actually, (Mom!) Anyway-we're not letting it slow us down today! He had half a bowl of Cheerios and a shower and is going strong so far. We're heading in for our last day at the park. Hoping to spend time in the visitors center, take the bus to Hermit's rest and join a ranger program.

One more

One more pic from our sunrise tour...

Sunrise

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but all of the blog posts I'm doing are from my phone, with phone pictures. I have better and more photos on my actual camera.
So, right now it's 12:55pm. Everyone has been out cold for at least an hour now, and I'm hoping they'll continue to sleep a bit more. We awoke at 3:30 this morning in order to get to the park in time to catch a sunrise bus tour. It was harder than anticipated to find our way to the correct parking lot and bus in the dark! After first parking in the wrong lot altogether, we ran the kids back to the car and got ourselves to the correct spot just before the bus pulled away! Yikes. We had a very nice guide who stopped us at Hopi Point to watch the sun come up. We also made a couple other stops afterwards, for great morning views. On the way back to the village area she drove past the sweet female elk grazing here. We also saw a mule deer and then drove past the canyon mule enclosure. It was fun to see some of them all saddled up!
The tour was over by about 6:30 so we went into the beautiful El Tovar lodge to have a yummy breakfast. We had a canyon view from our table. We visited Hopi House, then walked the rim trail to Lookout Studio. Then we took a short hike down the beginning of the Bright Angel trail. We went down just far enough to see some Native wall art, and then came back up. It was the perfect amount of walking for all of us-there are no railings along the trail. The kids were great about holding on tight, but the heights especially made Pete nervous. I was so glad we went at least a bit below the rim. Back up, we stopped in the Kolb studio. We got to see a crazy movie the Kolb brothers had made-probably the first motion picture of the canyon ever made. Pete bought a book about them. By then it was almost 10am. We had had a full
visit and were ready for a treat. Ice cream at 10 in the morning? Of course! We're on vacation!
Our plan for the rest of the day is to maybe take a swim in the pool, then buy some sandwiches to take back to the park for an evening picnic. Hopefully the weather holds off. We've been taking the rain with us and it's looking a little cloudy out there right now. We were so glad to hear the heat finally broke back home!

First Look

We made it!!

Mesa Verde

Henry started to feel better last night and we all slept well. We were able to leave Lisa's by 8 this morning. We had a beautiful drive through the mountains. We tried a short side-trip to Telluride with the intention of purchasing bananas, but the power was out in the whole town. We continued on to Mesa Verde and got to the park just before 11:00. We stopped at the fire lookout, then went on to the visitor center where we picked up Jr. Ranger booklets. After a short picnic lunch we visited the museum where we watched a 25 minute movie about the park. We decided the rain was going to hold off, so we continued on the half-mile 'hike' down to the Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling. We were wrong about the rain. At first it was just a sprinkle, when it seemed to get heavier we waited it out a bit in a nice, dry overhang. Deciding it wasn't going to get any worse, we continued on. We were wrong again and got pretty well soaked. The kids didn't like it any more than we did, but they were incredible about not whining, and continuing on, since we had no choice. Just before turning the corner to the dwelling (where we were sheltered) we hustled past a rushing little waterfall that splashed down right next to us and ran under a little bridge-step. If it weren't for the heaviness of the rain, we would have never known that little fall could exist!
At the dwelling the kids were adventurous enough to suggest going down the ladder into the kiva. They also spoke to a ranger and asked what birds we had spotted while attempting to wait out the rain (turkey vultures).
After that excitement we visited the bookshop where we got a couple postcards and a traditional-style black and white mug. I opted for the more expensive one made by the local Utes, not the less-expensive made-in-China reproduction. We had purchased a photo/informational book about the park earlier. While Pete stood in line to pay, I took the kids over to be sworn in as official jr. Rangers. They got little plastic pins for their backpacks.
Finally we got back in the car and drove the Mesa Top loop, making a few stops-like the one pictured below where we saw the beautiful square-tower house.
After a twisty drive back, we checked into our Cortez hotel, had a Mexican dinner at Tequila's, Pete took the kids for a short swim and now they are finally cashed out. I'm about to fall asleep myself...

Ridgway

We got to Lisa's house in Ridgway yesterday afternoon. There's a fire and fireworks ban in Colorado, so we just stuck around and played in their backyard. Lisa and Roger had filled several water balloons. Between those and the bubble wands Mon sent with us the kids had a great time together. They put on a circus for us in the evening. Unfortunately, Henry got sick during the night. Did a little vomiting, but is rallying now after some Gatorade and a 2 1/2 hour nap. It's been a rainy, quiet day anyway, so we've been taking it easy. Right now Henry and Autumn are playing a little bit of 'would you rather'. We're hoping for it to dry out enough for some music in the park later. Tomorrow morning we leave for Mesa Verde.

Parachute

At a rest stop in Parachute, CO.

Where we are now

In case you were wondering where we are now... Henry is enjoying watching the elevation change.

Colorado

We started our day with some donuts from a shop around the corner from our hotel. Drove about 4-5 hours to Loveland to see Pete's Aunt Vivian and Uncle Ken, who treated us to a lovely lunch. We learned that, in honor of Grandpa Herr, we're supposed to say "this is the best ham I've ever had!" when we have a Herr family ham dinner. We even got a tiny downpour during our visit, which cooled things down considerably. After the visit we got back in the car, the kids conked out for a bit and we drove to Denver. We found a nice hotel a bit out of town, took a swim, washed up, and then went back into town to meet my dear long-time friend Brent for dinner. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and the burgers definitely made up for the sad burger Pete had at the Depot grill in North Platte last night. Tomorrow it's on to our friend Lisa's in Ridgway. A little sad about the fireworks ban, but it sounds like there's still plenty of fun times planned for the 4th.

*pregnancy travel update: it's not so bad! We stop more than we otherwise would for bathroom breaks, but with all the snacks/sandwich makings we have packed, we only have to stop for bathroom needs. Other than that I'm plenty comfortable-just need to put my feet up when I get the chance in the evenings.

Day one

We're sitting in the car while Pete checks us in to the HoJo's in North Platte. It's been a pretty good day for so long in the car. We stopped at Warp's Pioneer Village (first photo-Google it) and just spied our first Muffler Man of the trip (2nd photo) at 'Fort Cody' which we did not actually go in. Pete is now going to take the kids for a swim in the saddest indoor pool ever. The car said the temp was 105. Then we'll have dinner somewhere local and probably all pass out early.

JazzFest

We had a great time at jazz fest! Got to see lots of great family and friends. We celebrated Eleanor's 5th birthday. We met Darcie's new little guy, Raiden. We heard some good music and ate a lot of good food.
This morning we got up and out the door (with kids' teeth brushed!) before 6am. We are officially on our way west!