Day # 56 - Colorado Springs

Got ourselves over the Rockies and made it to Colorado Springs. One more shining example of my husband’s towing prowess and a sigh of relief from me that I didn’t have to be behind the wheel! Slept in a little bit and then grabbed a bite of breakfast.

We had to go in search of new shoes for the boy. He actually wore a hole in the bottom of his sneakers and the toe seams are starting to give. Luckily, we are back in civilization and there are about half a dozen Kohl’s in the area. We managed to get AJ to hold still long enough to measure his feet and encouraged him to pick the shoes we liked (nice black Sketchers that will hide dirt instead of the cheaply made pair sporting Lightning McQueen). We made our final selections and proceeded to the checkout, then the happy little man proudly wore his new sneakers out of the store.

We decided to not push ourselves too hard today as everyone was still recovering from the drive and Tony was finally starting to feel better again. We thought we would check out the lay of the land and plan the next few day’s worth of activities. We headed into downtown Colorado Springs. Tony remembered that it was a neat downtown area from when he was here on business years ago. It’s more metropolitan than the towns we’ve visited recently, but it still had a small town charm.

The main section of downtown had several sculptures and a few nicely manicured parks. We were looking for a park with a play area for the kids to run off some steam because we were tired of hearing Abby chastise us that we weren’t making full use of the playground at the campground. I don’t know how many times this trip we have had the discussion that we can play at a playground at home. That we want to do things on this trip we can’t do at home. After 2 months, you’d think it would sink in.

Anyway, Tony happened upon Acadia Park. There was a very interesting fountain spouting water that local kids were playing in along with a small but nice area with a jungle gym. We hopped out and were surprised that the fountain was staffed with 2 young men to watch over the play area. Having park staff there made the play seem that much more orderly. The kids in the fountain were certainly having a good time, but it wasn’t a free for all. Our kids were disappointed that we didn’t have extra clothes with us so they could get wet too. They enjoyed playing on the playground for a while. Suddenly, the fountain seemed to come to life. Music started playing and the water was choreographed to the beat. The center part of the fountain rose up displaying a comical figure named Uncle Wilber playing an enormous water spouting sousaphone. Apparently the fountain’s “show” happens every 30 minutes and at night there are lights as well. It wasn’t a Vegas fountain, but it was entertaining and we enjoyed watching it. We took a stroll around town to get a closer look at some of the statues, stopped by Mrs. Field’s for some cookies, Starbucks for iced tea and then walked back to the park to watch another show before heading back to the campground. It felt good to just be out walking around. The temperature was perfect – in the low 70’s!

We headed back to the campground for lunch. After the kids took their rest, we headed for the campground’s playground before dinner. We grilled out for dinner and then everyone got cleaned up and ready for adventure tomorrow.

Day # 55 - Colorado Springs, CO

Today is not going to be a fun day. It is raining and we have to climb over 6000 feet in elevation to go over the Rocky Mountains on our way around Denver to Colorado Springs. We left Grand Junction at a reasonable time, but the GPS wanted me to take the back roads over the mountains. No matter how many times I made it re-calculate, it would never pick up on the fact that I wanted to stay on the Interstate. Ain’t technology grand!?! Finally I just switched it off. After all, I made it almost 40 years reading maps the old fashioned way. Sarah takes great delight in asking me if “Hallie is getting us lost again” (why the GPS is named Hallie is a long story. The short version is that when I first got it, I thought the female mechanical voice sounded like the sister of the computer voice in the movie “2000 A Space Odyssey”. That computer was named HAL2000 so his sister would have to be…yea, you guessed it) after a trip she and Missy took through the corn fields of Indiana because they were following Hallie’s directions.

Technological malfeasance aside, we did make it to I-70 and started east. It took about an hour to reach Glenwood Springs and for the climb to start. I had thought we might drive out of the rain because it was slowing down and the sky was getting lighter, but as soon as we started to go up, the rain got harder. By the time we reached the Eisenhower Memorial tunnel about 45 minutes outside of Denver (the highest vehicular tunnel in the world with an elevation of 11,158 feet according to the sign) the temperature outside had dropped to 39 degrees. Yea…39 freaking degrees at the end of July!! I guess I should be thankful that it was raining and not snowing.

Hauling the trailer up the incline really sucked. About as fast as we could maintain was 40 miles per hour. If I tried to go any faster, the transmission would drop into first gear and the RMP’s would shoot up above 5000. Better to keep it in second gear and take our time. A hill like that is one of those rare times you are thankful you cannot afford a larger trailer.

We did finally make it around Denver and decided to stop at a Chili’s for dinner. After a nice meal we piled back in the truck and drove the last hour to the KOA campground in Colorado Springs. Most KOA campgrounds are pretty nice and because of that they tend to cost a bit more than other campgrounds. This one is very average and given the price, not a very good value. But, at this point, I am not willing to go through the hassle of finding another place, so we decided to just stay put. It was getting late when we arrived, so we finished setting up the camper and got the kids right to bed. Since I am still not feeling 100% and it was stressful day, I was asleep on the couch shortly after the kids were down.

Day # 54 - Grand Junction, CO

Originally we were going to push all the way from Moab, UT to Colorado Springs today. That was before I got so sick. I’m not so sure I want to go 400+ miles today when some of those miles are arguably the hardest towing miles in the country. The drive on I-70 from Grand Junction up and over the Rockies to Denver is a well known truck killer when you are towing. In addition to the steep climb, there are the cross winds that can push your trailer into another lane very easily. So, we decided to break the drive up into two days and stop around Grand Junction today. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling better and can tackle the trip over the mountains.

During our hike in Moab at the Copper Ridge Dinosaur tracks, Sarah found a billboard that listed all of the other dinosaur related activities in the region and she saw a Museum in Fruita, CO called “The Dinosaur Journey Museum”. She really wanted to stop there so Missy and I decided this would be a nice activity for today and we could stay in one of the many campgrounds between Fruita and Grand Junction, CO for the night.

So this morning we left Moab and headed north. My time in Moab was pretty frustrating. If seeing National Parks and hiking are things you enjoy, then Moab is someplace you really want to visit. But since I was sick much of the time we were there, it felt like I was a kid who had my face pressed up to the glass of the candy store window but could not go inside. The things I did get to do were great. So we will definitely be returning for another visit. I will say however, that it would be nice to be able to visit in the spring or fall. Moab is very dry and very hot during the summer. It is true that the parks are much less busy in the summer than the fall or spring. But the hikes would be easier, especially on kids, if the weather was cooler.

We stopped in Fruita to visit the Dinosaur Journey Museum. The cost was reasonable at $20.00 for the whole family. The museum is small, but they have several very interesting displays. And several of the displays use animatronics (robot) dinosaurs. They even had one that you could control using a joystick to move the head back and forth and the arms up and down. It was pretty neat and worth a visit if you are on I-70 at the western border of Colorado.

Another display they had was an Earthquake machine. All the kids thought it was great to “feel” how an earthquake feels and watch the display as the tectonic plates shift. I was less interested in the robot dinosaurs (I saw plenty of robots in my previous job) and more into all the fossil skeletons that had been found in Colorado. I guess I thought most of the dino-fossils that were found in America came from Wyoming and the Dakotas. But there are many archeological sites in Colorado too. I learned something new.

After 2 -hours we had seen the entire museum twice and it was time to go. After rides on the dinosaur in the gift shop we headed for one of the campgrounds in Grand Junction. Since we have stayed at so many KOA campgrounds during this trip, we had accumulated some bonus points good towards $25.00 off a nights stay. So I called the KOA in Grand Junction and they had a spot right across from the playground. It was a smaller campground than most of the other KOA’s, but it was clean, the people were nice and the girls liked being able to go to the playground on their own since I could watch them as I got the camper set-up. Tomorrow will be a long day for me, so I am heading to bed early.

Day # 53 - Moab, UT

Okay…I thought yesterday I was getting over being sick. It had been 2-days since I got an allergy shot and that is usually is how long it takes to feel better when I have gone too long between shots. So imagine my disappointment when I woke up today feeling worse and with a 102 degree fever to boot. We already extended our stay in Utah a day so we could see more of the sights and now I feel terrible.

Since we needed to pack-up for the move to Colorado anyway, we took it easy this morning. We made breakfast and AJ (who is feeling better but not yet well) and I played in our bunk for a while. By 10:00AM we were at that point that I have come to recognize during this trip. The point where it will be easier to take the kids out of the trailer to do something, than to stay in the trailer with them driving me crazy because they are cooped up.

Missy had wanted to go back into Arches N.P. and take a look at the most famous arch in the park…Delicate Arch. The problem with Delicate Arch is that from the lower overlook you can only see the arch from a distance. If you want to get up close to the arch, you have to hike a pretty difficult 3-mile trail up to the upper overlook. If I had been feeling well, it would have been possible for me to carry AJ on my shoulders so we could get to the upper overlook. But that is not going to happen given the fact that I have a fever and the temperature outside is 95 degrees. Not a good recipe for a moderately difficult hike.

So we drove to the lower overlook for Delicate Arch with the intention of finding the ranger who was supposed to be there. Yesterday when we were in the visitor’s center, I noticed that there was a “Family Ranger Talk” scheduled at Delicate Arch for between 11:30 and 12:30 today. The Park Rangers at most of the national parks we have visited will give different talks out in the park. Sometimes it is on geology, sometimes wildlife, or whatever other feature is unique to the park you happen to be in. When it is a “family” talk, there is usually some kind of activity for kids. So after checking out the arch from the lower overlook and not finding the Ranger, we headed back to the trailhead for the upper overlook hike which is also called Wolfe Ranch. According to our Utah guide book there was supposed to be some very interesting petroglyphs on the rocks behind the ranch. This particular grouping is called the Ute panel. And since the ranch is also the trailhead for the upper overlook trail we had hopes of finding the Ranger there. As luck would have it AJ fell asleep in the 10-minutes it took to drive from the lower overlook to Wolfe Ranch. Since I was feeling crappy, I volunteered to stay in the truck with AJ so Missy and the girls could check out the petroglyphs and find the ranger. They were able to do both. The pictures they took of the glyphs were very interesting and they got to listen in to the last half of the rangers talk on protecting the parks and the environment at large. After the talk and reciting the Jr. Ranger Pledge the girls both got Jr. Ranger Badges that they proudly showed me when they got back to the truck. It worked out well for everyone. They had fun and I got a nice nap.

It was time for Abby to lay down for a nap so we took one last cruise through the park and headed back to the camper. Since AJ had slept in the truck he and Sarah used the wireless headphones to watch a movie in the camper while Missy, Abby and I all slept. After everyone was awake, Missy drove into town to get fast-food for dinner since neither of us felt like cooking. After my nap, I felt a little better so I did all the usual outdoor stuff to get ready for the move tomorrow (dumped the holding tanks, filled the fresh water, put away all the outside tables and chairs, put up the awning and cleaned the grill) while I felt up to it. After dinner I helped with the kid’s bedtime a little but mostly I lied in the bed and went to sleep.

Given how I feel we have decided not to go too far tomorrow in hopes that we can delay the long drive over the mountains a day and give me time to feel better. I know for a fact that Missy would rather hang out in Western Colorado until I am well than have to pull the camper over the Rockies herself.

Day # 52 - Arches N. P.

Tony was feeling better today and AJ’s asthma has quieted down so we are up for adventure today. Our first stop is looking for dinosaur tracks.



Abby has been on Tony’s case about the fact that he promised to take the kids to find dinosaur tracks. She was very excited to get going today. We headed north up State Route 191 from the campground to Copper Ridge Fossil Bed. The pamphlet Tony picked up at the Moab Visitors Center was very specific about the directions: Turn right just past the microwave tower that is ¾ of a mile beyond the mile marker and cross the rail road tracks. Why didn’t they just tell us to look for the church tower and the three-legged dog?



Anyway, we did manage to find the right road and were pleased to see a very small wooden sign with an arrow pointing the way. There was a small parking area and an information sign. The sign said that there were fossilized tracks of a few different dinosaurs including what were thought to be those of an Allosaurus (meat eater) and a large sauropod (veggie eater). We headed uphill a few hundred feet to a small ridge. We weren’t exactly sure what we were looking for, then we spotted the cairns. Cairns are rock piles used to mark trails. In this case, they were used to mark fossilized dinosaur tracks. At first some of them were a little difficult to see. There was another informational sign off to the side that discussed the tracks and types of dinosaurs and once you orientated yourself, you could begin to pick out the tracks without the use of the cairns. They were freakin’ cool! I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was standing in actual footprints made by dinosaurs millions of years ago. These weren’t molds or objects in a museum, they were actual tracks. Pretty impressive! (Yeah, I know that I am a dork!). We all had a good time tramping around for a bit and looking for more tracks.

After we had our fill of tracks we headed back to the car. Sarah and Tony stopped back by the information board. There was a large map on it displaying the Dinosaur Diamond pre-historic By-Way. The Dinosaur Diamond is a 512 mile loop through Colorado and Utah that contains several sites/museums of pre-historic and archeological significance. Check out the website: http://www.dinosaurdiamond.org/ We found a couple of places that looked like they might be worth a look on our way to Colorado Springs.

Next, we headed for Arches National Park. We were really anxious to get out in the rocks again. We started at the very modern visitor’s center so we could stamp the family “National Parks “passport. There was a nice gift shop and some very neat displays. Next, we headed for the windows section and chose to take the North and South windows trail. It was a moderate climb, but very doable for the family. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery all around us. It truly is impressive just how many arches there are in this park. They are a wonder to behold. We made it to the first arch (North Window) and actually climbed up inside the arch. Lying on your back looking up from below gives you an entirely different and amazing perspective of the arch. We continued down the trail and opted to skip the South Window in favor of the nearby Turret Arch. As we approached Turret, we turned around and had an awesome view of North and South Window together. This park is relatively small and some of the arches are large and easily seen from a distance. This gives you many different angles from which to view the arches. It is pretty cool. We met a nice family from Bakersfield, CA who offered to take a few photos of the whole family. After a short while scrambling around on the rocks we were all getting pretty hot, tired and hungry so we headed back to the car for lunch. I had packed in a lunch. There are absolutely no restaurant/snack bar facilities in the park. I think it kind of adds to its charm.

A few words about Arches National Park – it is pretty incredible. Because it is relatively small in size, it is easy to navigate. You may think it would make it unbearably crowded, but we didn’t find that to be true. The landscape is almost surreal. The rocks are strikingly red – more so than the red rocks of Sedona. The smooth surface of the rocks (slick rock it is called) gives the arches and rock formations a totally different look. The vast number of arches in such a small radius is impressive. The petrified sand dunes were also very neat. The thing we liked most about the park was its accessibility. The trails took you out into the thick of it without the pavement and handrails and a “Disneyesque” quality that some of the other National Parks have. Here, actually walking under and through the formations really let you feel like you were part of the experience, rather than watching it from afar. This is definitely a place I would like to visit again.
We left the park and headed into town to a local drug store. Tony had called home to our doctor and filled him in on how he was feeling and the lack of competent care in town, so he called Tony in an anti-biotic just in case. We headed back for the camper for a quick rest and to clean up for dinner. We felt like a steak and were directed to Buck’s Grill House in Moab. Dinner was very good, even though it was a bit pricey. The steaks were tender and the kids well behaved so we were all good. After dinner we headed into town to walk off dinner and to buy the kids dessert. We had put in a full day so it was off to the camper and to bed.

Day # 51 - Moab, UT

In addition to Tony still feeling pretty crummy, it’s raining! It’s not the normal pop-up summertime thunderstorm either. It is a constant downpour! There have been quite a few pop-up storms that have been very isolated and as a result, we have seen a number of rainbows. No luck with those wily leprechauns today though.

With all of the rain, I would love to get the kids out of the camper (and out of Tony’s hair) for a few hours, but there’s really no place to go. Moab has no shopping malls, no Super-Wal-Marts and AJ is not quite ready to sit through a full length movie in a theater, so we are cooped up inside watching Disney’s "Cars" and "Air Buddies" for about the millionth time this trip. Thank goodness for wireless headphones! After naps, the rain did stop and the boys were feeling a little better so we decided to venture out into town for dinner. We really just wanted to get out of the camper. That is one downside to camping in a small trailer – if the weather is bad or someone is not feeling well, there’s nowhere to go. Fortunately, we haven’t faced that problem very much.

We went to the Moab Brewery for dinner (another recommendation) and were again pleased with the food, the price and the service as well. The kids were a little antsy after being cooped up for most of the day, so we took them to a small but well appointed city park. Tony had stumbled upon it on his way to the local hospital to get his allergy shots last night. The kids had a great time running off a little steam. It was starting to get dark and storm clouds were heading our way so we decided to head over to the local City Market to pick up a few things. After shopping, it was back to the camper for bed.

Day # 50 - Moab, UT

We made it to Moab and were excited to check out Arches National Park, but no one feels very good today – especially Tony. We thought we would head into town to have some breakfast and to check out the lay of the land. We also wanted to pick up a travel book on Utah. Utah was not originally in our travel plans, so we didn’t research the area we are staying in or the National Parks located here. The poor quality of the wi-fi service we have had didn’t allow for us to research on line either, so we figured we would hit a bookstore in town so we could orient ourselves a little better.

There were 3 book stores on the main drag in town so we were confident that someone would have what we were looking for. The first store was a used bookstore that didn’t have what we were wanting, so they sent us down the street. The second bookstore didn’t have exactly what we wanted either, but they did have a really cool Cars book (from the Pixar movie “cars”) that contained movable cars on each page. AJ sweet-talked daddy into buying it despite its steep price tag – “dis AJ’s book…Daddy peas…dis AJ’s book.” There was another bookstore across the street, but our tummies were getting rumbly so we headed out in search of brunch. We were directed to try the Moab Diner. The food there was excellent. Since it had gotten late, we opted for lunch. Tony got a roast beef sandwich smothered in what was advertised as the best green chile sauce in the state. He concurred with their assessment. The bite I had was excellent. My chicken sandwich was good, but my onion rings were awesome. The kids meals were very reasonably priced, came with their drinks and ice cream for dessert was included in the price. Tony and I were impressed with the quality and the price – we’ve paid more on this trip for lunch at McDonalds! The service was the only downside – it was slow at first, but got better.

After we ate we headed over to the information center. The kids had been interested in fossils and dinosaur tracks and I wanted to see more petro glyphs. We picked up some information on where to look around town. Tony was starting to feel pretty crummy, so we made a quick run into the third bookstore and found what we were looking for. We thought we would head back to the camper for a little rest before heading into the parks.

Everyone took a little rest but Tony was pretty congested and AJ’s asthma was really flaring up. We were feeling pretty frustrated that it looked like the boys were getting sick. Tony thought that maybe getting his allergy shots would help him (he surprisingly hasn’t had much trouble until now). Tony has his allergy medicine (serum) with him but needs a clinic or urgent care to administer the actual shots. We asked in the campground office and found an immediate care facility in town. When we got there we were surprised to find a note on the door explaining that the office was closed until Labor Day because the doctor was delivering babies in Alaska. Small Towns! We found the town “hospital” and the ER department said they would give him the shots, but they had to admit him (instead of doing like an outpatient so he could just leave afterwards) and he would have to stay there after the shot until the doctor was sure he wouldn't have any reaction (even though he has been getting shots for 10 year with never having a reaction). With one vehicle, we didn’t want to leave Tony stranded and we didn’t know how long we would have to wait after his shots for the Doctor to dis-charge him, so it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time.

Since Arches National Park was only about 3 miles down the road, Tony thought we could drive in and take a quick look. We were in awe of what we saw. I think I was more impressed with the redness of the rocks and the formations here than I was in Sedona. The varied rock formations were indeed awe inspiring. My favorite formation on the drive in was definitely the Three Gossips. As its name implies the formation appears to be three women standing around doing what women are accused of doing best – gossiping. We continued on and stopped at balanced rock, but the “boys” didn’t feel like getting out and Abby couldn’t tear herself away from the movie AJ was watching, so Sarah and I stepped out for a closer look. Man it was cool. This huge boulder balanced precariously on a rock pillar. We went a short distance up the trail but didn’t get to actually hike around it. We hopped back into the car and drove a little farther into what is known as the Windows section of the park. We stopped at the Windows parking area. North and South Window Arches are surrounded by other incredible rock formations and numerous arches. When Sarah and I hopped out this time, Abby decided that she wanted to come too. We walked part way up the path for a closer look and were genuinely impressed at the sight of so many natural rock arches being visible from one spot. It was also a little frustrating that we couldn’t get out into the rocks and dirt to enjoy it.

We reluctantly headed back to the camper in the hopes that a good night’s rest would help set everyone on the road to recovery. After we returned and the kids were in bed, Tony decided to go back into town to get his allergy shot. The ER doctor took a look him and they only made him wait the standard 20 minutes after the shots rather than admitting him (after the hour they took trying to figure out what to do with him). We’ll wait and see if it helps.