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.
How many times have you wished you could be in more than one place at a time? I know there’s been many a time that I’ve had that thought….
And Saturday, I had my wish. We were in four places at once.
The circus family stood in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado at the same time.
We goofed around a bit and then the big kids got to strike their favorite pose in 4 states at once.
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.
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.
While planning our trip, I was searching for some sort of fun diversion for our long car ride day. I wanted something free, fun, and not out of the way.
Cadillac Ranch fit the bill perfectly.
Cadillac Ranch is a wide open field on the side of route 40 with 10 old cadillacs stuck in the ground. People can come and spray paint on them. It’s a “changing art exhibit” as people are continually coming and adding to and changing it.
Sunday was one of the few days of our trip that we spent entirely in the van. While we will be in the car for portions of almost every day of our trip, Sunday was a day when the event for the day was driving. For over 11 hours. We left Ft Smith, AR around 9:45AM5am CT, quickly entered into Oklahoma, drove the top portion of Texas, and arrived in Albuquerque, NM a little after 11:00pm MT.
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.