We arrived at Great Sand Dunes National Park in the middle of the night so our first view of the dunes was when we opened up our tent the next morning. We thought for sure we wouldn’t be able to get a site since they were first come first serve and we were so very late. But once again we were blessed with a camp site in the park.
We left Canyonlands mid day on Monday and got a hotel in Montrose, Co. We were greeted with a fabulous view of the snow topped Rocky Mts. Scott took the kids swimming while I did laundry. Then we splurged and went out for dinner at Applebees. It was a welcome change from fast food/Subway. The next day we hit Black Canyon of the Gunnison!
This was a hard park to fully comprehend.
We arrived in Mesa Verde National Park a few hours before sunset. We had been hoping to catch the Twilight Tour of Cliff Palace but tickets are sold on a first come basis and, much like we expected, we weren’t the first to come. We opted for a sunset drive along the loop with some pretty overlooks and booked tours for the following morning.
The sunset drive was really fascinating.
11 years ago this month Scott and I visited The Grand Canyon. It was my first time seeing it and it took my breath away. Now, 31 parks later, it is still my favorite of all the National Parks. Many rank high on my list, but if you could only see one, I feel like this should be the one.
The day before we took the kids, I had a little fear, much like the fear I had before taking them to Disney World.
The highlight of our day at the Grand Canyon for most of the members of our circus crew was a short hike they took into the canyon.
We all started on the hike, but it was more than this “fraid’ of heights Momma” could handle. The plan was to go to the first tunnel and back, but after about 2 treks on the switchback, I was biting back tears and hating EVERY second of it.
Thursday we spent the day at Petrified Forest National Park, located in the painted desert of Arizona.
Here the kids worked hard to earn their Junior Ranger badges. We spent quite a bit of time learning and researching in the visitors center.
We also took a walk to look at the petrified wood.
We then drove through the Painted Desert. It was beautiful to see all the layers of colored dirt deposited.
The kids were so excited to finally get to go camping. Day 6 of our adventure and it was our first night setting up a tent. The kids LOVE the head flashlights I picked up before we left.
Unfortunately, we discovered we neglected to pack the poles with our tent. So we had a family meeting round the picnic table. We had 3 options. 1. Go to Walmart, get a new tent and come back and set it up.
Tuesday we left New Mexico and headed south west for Saguaro National Park in Tuscon, AZ.
We got to Saguaro National Park in time to explore a bit and then take in the parks beauty after the oppressive heat of the day was past. It really was perfect timing. We walked around a path near the visitors center which allowed us to see the cacti up close.
The cacti were much bigger than we expected and we were delighted to find some in bloom.
The first national park on this grand adventure was Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, AR.
It seems we are passing on the sign picture tradition… as everyone wanted a picture of the sign with their camera. The town of Hot Springs was built to capitalize on the hot springs of water coming out of the ground in that area.
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Numerous bath houses were built here in the early 1900s.
I know I’ve posted some of them before, but as we prepare to add 11 new pictures to our collection, I thought I’d post the pictures we currently have in our flip book.
2002
2003
2005
2006
2007
2009
2010
2011
I had so much fun looking back over these pictures and recalling the stories behind them.