People are people

Mesa Verde National Park is a series of Native American communities that were built in 1200AD in southern Colorado. The amazingly well-preserved ruins are built into the rocky overhangs of cliffs. I saw some pictures and thought “Huh. That looks cool. Maybe this will be educational for the boys.” I didn’t realize visiting Mesa Verde would leave us all so moved and humbled.

Our first stop was called Spruce Tree House where we got an introduction to how the structures were built and some of the common elements, including the kivas—round rooms built into the ground with seating and room for worship and socializing.

From there, we drove to an overlook to view Cliff House, one of the best preserved ruins that remain. Seeing the building from further away gave us an appreciation  for how well the structure is integrated with the mountainside.

Our final stop was a tour described as “strenuous” and not for the faint of heart. Balconey House is only accessible by tour with a ranger, and involves climbing two ladders, including one that’s 32-feet tall, squeezing through small tunnels, and standing precariously close to the Cliffside with no railing. Dave described it as the “Indiana Jones tour” and said many people change their mind when they see the ladder.

It was a tight squeeze and a bit nerve-wracking, but being able to walk inside the ruins, peer inside rooms, and see evidence to people living and working there, like the soot on the ceiling and the handprint in the clay, made it worth every skipped heartbeat.

But what really made the tour special was Dave. Dave is part Native American, part Caucasion, and he spoke with such a tenderness for the ruins, the land around us, and the people who lived there before, that we were all captured by his stories and his life lessons. He was able to bring the ancient people who lived there to life for us in our imaginations and left us with the message that “people are people” and we have different ways of doing things, but it doesn’t mean one is better than the other.

I wasn’t sure how much of Dave’s talk really sunk in with the boys, but a few days later, when we asked the boys what some of the highlights of the trip were so far, they both said “that really good tour guide.”

Huh, pretty cool.

                                   

Yeah, we're not paying that

Glenwood Springs was recommended to us as a good stop to enjoy some hot springs and take a break. The hot springs were great, and it was a nice break, but for a bit, we weren’t sure we were meant to stop there.

·         The woman at the visitor’s information centre didn’t have any information on campgrounds in the area. “Yeah, I don’t know anything about that.”

·         We went back to a campground we’d seen as we were driving into town, only to get a bad feeling and be reminded of what we affectionately call the “Deliverance” campsite from our previous trip—minus the stunning views.

·         The GPS led us 22 minutes outside of town and up a mountain to the supposed location of another campground. When “our destination” was on our right, all we saw was a cliff.

·         We backtracked another 20 minutes to a campground that offered a spot right on the Colorado River—for the not-so-low price of $65+$5/child+$5 for the dog+someothercrazyfee. No thanks.

Finally, at 4:00, by backtracking yet again, we managed to snag the last site at a charming campground, for the much more reasonable price of $30, with full hookups.

Undeterred, after securing our campsite for the night, we headed back out, made a stop for slurpees, then went to the hot springs.

And the hot spring were impressive, being the largest hot spring in the world and all. We soaked up the warmth, went down  a few waterslide rides, had supper (spaghetti in the motorhome, because, as we found out at 6:15, the concession stand closed at 6:00. Ah well, spaghetti was awesome), then soaked some more.

Certainly not the way we planned the day, but a good day nevertheless.

 

Riding high in Telluride

One of Gerry’s co-workers, who is originally from Colorado, told us Telluride was a must-do on our trip. He promised gorgeous scenery and great camping. He didn’t tell us we’d discover one of our favourite towns we’ve visited to date.

Telluride used to be a mining town, but now, sitting at about 10,000 feet above sea level, the remote mountain town is now a ski resort, with ski runs used as hiking and biking trails in the summer.

We got a campsite right on the edge of town, right next to the narrow, crisp river that gave us a cool breeze during the hot afternoons. The campground was actually next to a major park that had a swimming pool, ball diamonds, picnic areas, and a fishing pond, yet we were in such a forested area, you would have thought we were far from any stores or businesses.

One of our favourite things about Telluride is the way it feels like a community. The whole town somehow seems built with the purpose of getting people outside and talking to their neighbours.

There was very little traffic, and lots of bikes and people walking. The gondola, a free service connecting the main town to the mountain village and other stops, offers stunning views of the mountain, plus a chance to get to meet locals and tourists in town for the wine festival. Many people took their bikes on the gondola to ride them on some of the mountain trails while others (like me) left them locked up at one of the many well-used racks at the base.

There are several plazas in the villiage with cool things like giant Scrabble boards and Jenga blocks, bungee trampolines, obstacle courses, and climbing rocks. It felt natural and pleasant to stroll around and relax. Amazing, eclectic restaurants, watering holes, and art galleries felt welcoming and natural.

And though the town’s architecture reminded us of Whistler, it also felt rich in history and much less crowded and commercial than Whistler. We were told that aside from when some of the festivals are on, the town is never really busy, even during ski season when lineups at the lifts are short and pleasant.

In short—we loved this town and have all said it’s a must-return destination.

People are People

Mesa Verde National Park is a series of Native American communities that were built in 1200AD in southern Colorado. The amazingly well-preserved ruins are built into the rocky overhangs of cliffs. I saw some pictures and thought “Huh. That looks cool. Maybe this will be educational for the boys.” I didn’t realize visiting Mesa Verde would leave us all so moved and humbled.

Our first stop was called Spruce Tree House where we got an introduction to how the structures were built and some of the common elements, including the kivas—round rooms built into the ground with seating and room for worship and socializing.

From there, we drove to an overlook to view Cliff House, one of the best preserved ruins that remain. Seeing the building from further away gave us an appreciation  for how well the structure is integrated with the mountainside.

Our final stop was a tour described as “strenuous” and not for the faint of heart. Balconey House is only accessible by tour with a ranger, and involves climbing two ladders, including one that’s 32-feet tall, squeezing through small tunnels, and standing precariously close to the Cliffside with no railing. Dave described it as the “Indiana Jones tour” and said many people change their mind when they see the ladder.

It was a tight squeeze and a bit nerve-wracking, but being able to walk inside the ruins, peer inside rooms, and see evidence to people living and working there, like the soot on the ceiling and the handprint in the clay, made it worth every skipped heartbeat.

But what really made the tour special was Dave. Dave is part Native American, part Caucasion, and he spoke with such a tenderness for the ruins, the land around us, and the people who lived there before, that we were all captured by his stories and his life lessons. He was able to bring the ancient people who lived there to life for us in our imaginations and left us with the message that “people are people” and we have different ways of doing things, but it doesn’t mean one is better than the other.

I wasn’t sure how much of Dave’s talk really sunk in with the boys, but a few days later, when we asked the boys what some of the highlights of the trip were so far, they both said “that really good tour guide.”

Huh, pretty cool.

                                   

More adventure in Moab

Moab was full of rugged young guys and women who seemed to always be on the lookout for the next big adventure—rappelling down into a deeper canyon, climbing a higher arch, biking a narrower trail, or riding a bigger current. I spent most of the time feeling like I wasn’t quite bold enough to be there, but wishing I was.

Our campsite was gorgeous. It had a swimming pond—not pool—in a picturesque setting, shaded by trees, and with a canoe that the boys (ahem…Gerry) managed to flip a couple of times.

On the semi-adventurous side, we did do a river rafting tour. Well, it was more of a river floating tour, with a few rapids thrown in for good measure. Just to add some excitement, one of our tour group members went for a swim a little too far from the boat, ended up riding the waves with his lifejacket, and had to be thrown a rescue rope and pulled in, where our guide gave him a tongue-lashing about “putting the entire boat at risk.”

Overall, it was a really relaxing, pleasant day, with a stop for a picnic lunch on a beach part way through.

Later that night, we went for a jet boat sunset tour. Our guide was hilarious, and, with no other boats on the water, we felt like we had the entire river to ourselves. We even saw a beaver (“Justin Beaver” our guide told us. See? Haha.) As part of the tour, we finished off with a cowboy buffet back on land, with barbecued pork, beef, chicken, and all the fixin’s, including cheesy potatoes. Yum.

So maybe I didn’t earn my Adventure Woman cape this time. That’s OK.

 

 

Hiking Capital Reef

June 22

The morning we left Lake Powell, we decided to stop at the Glen Canyon dam and do a tour of it. This is the third time I’ve toured a dam, and every time, I’m amazed at the engineering that went into designing each dam.

Afterwards, we continued on to Capital Reef National Park for more cool canyons and rock formations. One of our first stops was to see some pertroglyphics on the canyon wall. The carvings were over 600 years old, and luckily hadn’t been defaced.

From there, we went for a four-mile hike called Grand Wash, where the further we went, the narrower the gap between the 80-story canyon walls got. As the sun got hotter, and our water lower, we decided to turn around and head back before the end.

For lunch, we stopped in a picnic area next to the Fremont river and ate under the shade of several cottonwood trees. It was a refreshing break after our grueling walk, and it was made even more pleasant by the sight of four deer walking by and grazing on the grass.

The highlight of the day was our afternoon walk though. It was a .7 mile hike in Sulphur Creek through red, occasionally muddy water that offered welcomed relief from the heat. At the end was a small but strong waterfall and a swimming hole that we had fun dunking ourselves in and soothing our tired bodies. There was no one else there, so we felt like we’d discovered our own private spot to enjoy.

We capped off the day with a fabulous Mexican feast at a local restaurant in honour of Father’s Day.

Let's all go to the lake

(June 20)

Most of this trip has been unplanned. We came with an idea of a few places we wanted to make sure we got to, but only a couple of reservations, and nothing set in stone. That way, if something cool struck our fancy, we could easily make a detour and not worry about needing to be somewhere. Lake Powell was one of those detours.

The night before we were planning to head to Capital Reef National Park, I happened to read an article about Lake Powell—a cool oasis in the middle of the desert. Figuring it would be a refreshing change from the hiking and dirt of the past few weeks, we decided to hop over and spend a night there.

Lake Powell is the result of the Glen Canyon dam being built on the Colorado River. After the dam was built, it took 17 years to fill the lake to capacity, meant to provide enough water to 250 million people in places like LA, Phoenix and Las Vegas for 10 years of drought. Because it fills a canyon, it actually has more miles of shoreline than the entire Pacific Coast of the States.

When we got to Lake Powell and saw the deep blue water surrounding mound after mound of rock jutting out from it, we quickly decided to stay two nights instead. Our guide book gave us two options for campgrounds: one on the beach with no set sites or services, known for parties, and one a “posher” RV park, resort and marina. We decided to treat ourselves and stay at the more upscale one.

Shortly after settling in, we took the shuttle bus over to the hotel part of the resort, which the kids quickly declared made them feel like they were rich and famous. We spent hours in the gorgeous pool overlooking the crisp lake dotted with houseboats, yachts, speed boats, and jet skis. We had slushy drinks, we sat on couches in the shade, we chatted with other travelling families, and we get treats from Starbucks. It was a lovely escape, like we’d been transported into a tropical resort in the Caribbean, rather than an RV campground in Utah.

The next day was more of the same, with a boat tour of the lake between the Canyon walls, down narrow passages, and up to the dam. It was gorgeous, and Aiden declared he’d already learned more on this trip than he would have at school.

And after dinner, when the boys were asleep, I finally got the laundry done between sips of wine and sitting around the campfire enjoying the stars.

 

Yes, it was grand

I was afraid that after spending a week going from canyon to canyon, the Grand Canyon would be a bit of a letdown. Plus, the boys were already saying they were canyon-ed and hiked out. However, since we had white-out blizzard conditions the last and only other time we’d been to the Grand Canyon, we knew we had to go.

There is no way the Grand Canyon could possibly be a letdown. It was gorgeous, yes, but what really struck me is just the sheer size of it. We stopped at the visitors’ centre and did a short hike where we oohed and ahhed for an hour or so, then drove some more, got off at another stop, and oohed and ahhed even more. Just when we thought we were done, we did one more stop, and got, as our brochure promised, a “spectacular view” with yet some more oohing and ahhing.

I left feeling utterly humbled.

One of the cool things about doing a trip like this is discovering cool and unique campgrounds. On our last major trip, we nicknamed one scary, yet amazing spot the “Deliverance” campground, and we still laugh about the deck precariously dangling off the side of a cliff, ready to fall into the ocean.

While not even close to Deliverance, the campground we stayed at after the Grand Canyon was certainly memorable for the boys. I should have caught on when the receptionist told me three times on the phone that “There are absolutely no refunds.”

The spot promoted itself as an RV park, which, in our minds, comes along with certain amenities. It also promoted itself as being “On the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.” When we passed it about 45 minutes before the entrance to the park, we realized the mistake we’d made in not confirming its location.

The rough, gravel road we had to take to get there was our first sign that something wasn’t quite right. The extensive list of rules was another. The boys read them all over and were aghast at how many there were. One of the workers escorted us to our campsite and watched to make sure we didn’t put our sewer line down on the ground. The gravel spot was on a major slope, so it took awhile and a lot of effort to get it level.

Then the boys came back from the bathroom, which turned out to be an outhouse with a sink outside warning it was for drinking or washing dishes only—NOT for washing hands. There was a series of communal firepits in the middle of the campground.

Finally, when I went to the laundry room to do much-needed laundry, I was dumbfounded to discover that the laundry room closes at 7:00 (most RV parks’ laundries are open until at least 10:00, if not 24 hours).

At least it was in a lovely, shady location, with a forested field of horses adjacent.

I should say none of this really would have mattered much, had it been what we were expecting based on its website. Clearly, they took some creative license.

Theatre under the stars: desert edition

Every summer, Gerry, Jaxon and I got to a musical at Theatre Under the Stars in Stanley Park. It’s become one of our favourite summer traditions, something we look forward to every year. When I learned there is a similar theatre in the middle of the desert near Zion, and it was showing a Disney production called “When You Wish,” we jumped at the chance to go.

The amphitheatre is built at the base of a red rock mountain, with the back of the stage open to use the rocks as part of the stage. It’s in the middle of the desert outside of the city, with very little fanfare—there are no giant billboards advertising the shows, and no

The show was a collection of songs from favourite Disney movies over the years, with choreography, special effects, and costumes—all done to Disney’s usual exceptionally high standards.

In one scene, actual horses galloped across the back of the stage through the rock. In another, a waterfall built to look like part of the mountain burst, releasing a flood of water onto the stage, setting the scene for Pocohontas to ride her canoe across the stage. In still another, a curtain of rain (with real water) poured down as giant fish swam behind in and mermaids glided across the water for “Under the Sea.” There was a flying carpet, Mary Poppins descended from the sky, and a shooting star and fireworks closed out the show.

Absolutely amazing. Totally worth going to.

Kind of pink sand dunes

(June 16)

When we did our last major road trip to the States in 2010, one of our most memorable stops was White Sands National Monument in New Mexico where we went sand-sledding. Jaxon still talks about the time Gerry and Muppet slid down the dunes in the sled together, wiped up royally, and ended up with sand in both their mouths (especially poor Muppet).

So when we heard you could go sand sledding in Utah at Corral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, we were ecstatic and added it to our must-see list. Unfortunately, the sand dunes, while kind of pink and cool, weren’t nearly as impressive. Also, our sleds kind of sucked. We got a few good runs in, but it wasn’t nearly as awesome as we hoped. The sand was incredibly soft though, and we quickly abandoned our sandals and walked barefoot up and over the dunes in the desert.

The campsite, right in the state park, was large and gorgeous, with a fabulous view of red rock mountains in the distance, and the dunes in front. And in the evening, Aiden chopped the firewood for his first time, Jaxon built the fire, and we roasted marshmallows. Any day that ends around a campfire is pretty spectacular in my view.

Wordless in Zion

(Written June 15)

When we first got sight of Zion National Monument a couple of days ago, our jaws all dropped and a series of “wows” came from each of our mouths. We remained pretty much dropped-jawed and in awe for the rest of our visit.

I can’t even begin to describe the beauty of the area. The canyon walls are a mix of creamy white, hypnotic crimson, mystifying black, and calming greys. There are juts, crevices, mounds, and overhangs carved out of the rock. If Red Canyon was almost cartoonish, Zion is perfectly, elegantly chiselled.

Near the entrance, there is a tunnel originally carved when Model –Ts were the norm, and RVs hadn’t yet been thought of. Oversized vehicles, including ours, must pay an escort fee. The ranger shuts down traffic from the other direction so that you can drive through the tunnel safely, straight down the middle. It’s a long tunnel too—it took probably two minutes to get all the way through—and there are no lights, aside from the occasional opening for sunshine.

After supper the first night, we did the leisurely Riverside walk, a paved path that, as you might expect, runs along the river. At the end of the path, we continued on to another trail, The Narrows. This trail isn’t paved. Instead, you must actually walk in the river, sometimes up to knee-deep. The cool water was refreshing, and the canyon walls continued to get closer as we walked further. It was a lot of fun, and a good touch of adventure after the easy paved path.

Yesterday, we did another hike in the morning, this one leading up the canyon walls, with a series of three small pools along the way. The first pool was my favourite, because the path went behind a small waterfall and the mist was refreshingly cool. The other two were also gorgeous, and worth the uphill climb in the heat.

Afternoons here get unbearably hot, perfect for playing in the pool or reading indoors where there’s air conditioning—which is pretty much how we wrapped up our second day in Zion.

 

 

Red, red rocks

(Due to spotty wifi, I couldn't get the pictures to upload, but there are some over on our Facebook pages.)
After a few days of having extremely limited wifi and cell phone connection, we finally have good enough wifi to do a blog post (ironically, or perhaps appropriately, in the least scenic campground we’ve stayed in yet, behind the Best Western just outside of Bryce Canyon).

We left Mountain Home for Red Canyon, with a stop at the world’s first Atomic energy plant, just outside of Atomic City, Idaho. It was a long day of driving, but the kids were troopers, and never complained once—they’ve been awesome travel companions.

We spent a night at a gorgeous campground in the heart of Red Canyon. What’s really fabulous about the area is there’s a relatively flat, paved, long bike path that runs along the highway and leads to numerous hiking trails. When we got there, we rode over to the visitors’ centre, then to the start of a hiking trail and went for a short walk before it started to rain just a bit. It rained most of the evening, which made us a bit nervous, considering one of our biggest fears was that it was going to be unbearably hot the whole time.

The next morning, we got up and went for another hike up a trail that started at our campground. It led to the top of a hill that gave us an amazing view of the whole Red Canyon area. With an invigorating morning hike done, we drove the 20 or so minutes to Bryce Canyon, set up camp at the famous Ruby’s Inn, and booked a horseback ride for the afternoon. When we booked it, I mistakenly thought it was for Bryce Canyon, when it was actually for Red Canyon, but we decided to go with it anyway.

I’m glad we did. The horseback ride is probably my favourite thing we’ve done so far on this trip. The weather was sunny, but with a cool, refreshing breeze. Our horses, Warpaint (Jaxon’s), Target (Aiden’s), Frosty (Gerry’s) and Buddy (mine) were mostly content to meander along, but if there was space between them and the horse in front, they’d break into a quicker trot to close the gap. We spent about three hours blissfully trotting along, enjoying the vibrant red hoodoos jutting out all around us, the smooth, exaggeratedly rounded hoodoos and spires reminding us of a scene out of The Flintstones.

This morning, we got up early and got the free shuttle bus from our campground to Bryce Canyon Park. After a stop at the visitor’s centre, we settled on doing the Navajo Loop trail, which took us to the canyon floor and back up. Red Canyon was gorgeous, but you know those paintings you see of red and white spires and hoodoos jutting up from canyons? That’s what Bryce Canyon is.

Just as we were finishing up our hike, we started to hear thunder, so we made sure to catch the next shuttle back to the campground, just in time for lunch.

We’ve settled into a nice routine: hiking, biking or some sort of activity to start the day, then driving or playing board games in the afternoon, when it tends to be hottest (or raining). So far, the rain hasn’t stopped us from doing anything, and has mostly just been refreshing.

Last night, when we were in the hot tub (yes, last night’s campsite was awesome, especially after a horseback ride), we found out that school has been out here since last week, which was earlier than we expected. We thought we had a couple of weeks left when we didn’t really need to worry about reservations, but are realizing that’s not quite the case. We are booked for tomorrow and the next night at Zion National Park, then have laid out a rough itinerary past that.

 

 

 

On our top 10 campgrounds list: Lava Flow campsite in Craters of the Moon

Our campsite

(Written June 9)

As I write this, I’m sitting in my Tshirt and shorts, sipping a cold glass of white wine, listening to the boys giggle in bed and the crickets singing their night song, and watching the dog sigh and shift contentedly in her crate outside, right beside me so she can keep guard if something sneaks up on us.



We’re camped for our second night in Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, and this is possibly the coolest campsite we’ve ever stayed at. There’s no wifi or phone service, which just makes it seem that much more surreal and other-worldly.

Our motorhome, seen from the visitor's centre.

There are giant boulders of volcanic rock all around us, right inside our campsite, splattered black icing across the earth’s surface, like Mother Nature puked up tonne after tonne of rock from deep inside, and never bothered to tidy up. From the visitors’ centre, where we watched videos and checked out exhibits about the history of the volcanoes here, you can see the tents and campers peeking out from the rubble, tiny against the giant black landscape.

To my right is a tiny mountain, a hill really, with short green shrubs dotting it, topped by a wall of rock. The boys climbed it by themselves our first afternoon here, the pride virtually bursting out of them when they came running back to camp to tell us about the “ruins” they could see from the top.



The boys climbed to the top of the tall peak in this photo.

In front of me is a slightly taller mountain, a smooth mound, also freckled with short green bushes. The boys, armed with walkie talkies, water, and hiking poles, summited it by themselves last night. Gerry and I sat in our campsite and watched their ascent, then cheered over the walkie talkies when we saw them reach the top, mere specks jutting out from the top, arms raised high.

Our fearless adventurers.

This morning, we did a seven-mile loop on our bikes, stopping to see, hike, and explore various attractions along the way—fissures, cones, tubes, spatters, and our favourite: caves. There was a tiny one, only a few feet deep that I hunched and scrambled into. Then a bigger one, with three wings to explore and vaulted ceilings, some of which had collapsed, letting the sun shine in.



By noon, the sun was beating down, and we were relieved to make it back to the RV, refill our water bottles, and devour lunch. We spent the afternoon lounging around, trying to stay cool, playing board games and reading.

Oh, and we made the boys write in their journals. It is a school day, after all.

Stop before this: Mountain Home, Idaho where we went for a bike ride on their fabulous paved trail system, and stopped in a park to watch the ducks.

Tomorrow: driving as far as Provo, Utah where we’ll stock up on groceries, do some laundry, swim in the pool, and connect a bit more to civilization again before heading to Bryce Canyon.

 

 

What more do you need?

After our first day of driving, we stopped at Lake Easton campground, south-east of Seattle. It's a nice little spot, but the best thing is it has a pool, which was perfect after being cooped up in the RV all day.

The boys and Gerry went for a long swim, while Muppet and I went for a walk along the lake.

And supper? Hotdogs over the fire, of course.

Just in case we hadn't already tired out the kids, we all went for a bike ride. A rough, bumpy bike ride darting through the trees lakeside and ducking to avoid branches.

The dog and the kids are all in bed, utterly exhausted. I think we broke them. Oops.

Water, trees, hot dogs, fire, bikes, walks, family and a good friend--what more do you need in life?

The next big adventure

In 2010, Gerry, Jaxon, Muppet and I went on an incredible, five-week trip in our camper van. It was awesome.

Not an exact replica.

So awesome, that for the past five years, we’ve been trying to figure out how to do it again and see areas we didn’t get to see the first time around.

And so, we traded in our camper van for a larger motorhome, closed our eyes, crossed our fingers, sprinkled fairy dust, and somehow, the stars magically aligned. I’m totally ecstatic to be leaving Saturday for another five-week adventure, this time to Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.

And, because things are more fun when you share them with friends, we’re bringing along one of Jaxon’s oldest buddies, Aiden. I anticipate a lot of Minecraft talk.

Here’s hoping this trip once again brings stories of cauliflowers, white-out blizzards, and Deliverance-style campgrounds. Or not.