Huge Sand Dunes and Colorado Springs

If you look really hard you can see the people (no they are not ants) climbing the dunes.

Todays aventure is the Great Sand Dunes ... they are pretty amazing.. and huge... there was no way Missy and I were even going to try to tackle them.. it was already hot.. before we got to the sand.. and anyone who has been around sand knows.. it just sucks in the heat and cooks you with it. Now the guys... they could care less... they see those other people at the top who look like ants from here.. and off they go.. to tackle the pile of sand... did I mention you have to cross a few miles ( so it seems ) of desert to get to the hill... oh yes you do.. and the little creek that runs through it has dried up by this time of year... so off the guys go.. I am thinking they will not even make it across the miles and miles of desert to the bottom of the hill but I am armed with camera and ready to take pictures of their adventure... it is nice watching them have one together.. Missy is in the motor home painting her toe and finger nails..and I am running back and forth between the edge of the sand and the motor home for different lenses.. because.. I am sure just to prove me wrong.. the guys have made it across the desert and have started up the hill.. and they just keep going.. they made it at least 3/4 of the way up... then started back down... when they got back I could see why they headed back... the sand had melted their shoes... you could smell the rubber.. on Daves it clear melted the top and bottom layer apart and the strap fell out. I am proud of them.. and I took a million pictures so they can never forget the adventure. Dave and John are out there.. crossing the desert and starting up the hill.

Now we are back on the road to Colorado Springs... hoping if we make it in time we will be able to go to the Seven Falls and see the night show.. which is all lite up at night. The flyers about it look amazing... 224 stairs that you can climb right next to the falls... and/or an elevator... thinking I can ride up and then walk the stairs down... I can't wait.. sounds so great... and we get there in time... it is open until 10:30 and we get there at 8.... the drive up to it is through a canyon and it is all lite up... it is so cool.. hard to see in the motor home though.. we pay... get a dollor off each ticket because the elevator is closed... we park.. almost at the bottom... since we have the motor home.. and then we hike up to the base of the falls... there is crazy lightning and thunder.. so far no rain... so we are good to go. By the time we get to the bottom of the stairs... they have closed them... and won't be opening again tonight... and now the rain starts... and yes it POURS in this part of Colorado too. We did bitch about it and one lady gave us four comp passes to come back again.. and the people at the gate gave us a rain check.. had to be used within 14 days... as if we would be able to hop up here to see it next weekend.... we were NOT happy... and we had never been so soaking wet before in our lives... not even when going swimming. We did end up getting to watch another huge lightning storm.

Looking up the falls and the stairs.. sure I do not want to do this.

We got up early in the morning so we could go take the cogway train to Pikes Peak. We had coupons for the 8 am train... $5 off per person.. wooooohooo... drove through a small little town called Manito Springs, very artsy crafty and fun looking. We parked the motor home and got in line to buy tickets... well... it was full.. next one was at 2:45 so we bought tickets for that.. and headed out ... decided to use our rain check and go check out the falls..... all I can say is that those waterfalls were not impressive... and I can not believe we paid $10 a person to climb the 224 stairs.. oh and the elevator was still down.. which was ok with me because it did not even go to where the falls are... it just went to a place that you could see the falls from... we even went on a half mile hike at the top of the falls to see another falls.. it was blah too.... so I would not suggest this to anyone... unless you like to climb stairs.. that part was pretty amazing :)

We made it all the way up.. this is the landing half way up.. looking down on our way down.

Back to Manitou Springs .. going to walk around here a bit and then head back to Pikes Peak to catch the train. Every thing was going great.... and then... lightning... thunder.. and omg.. yes POURing rain...it was flooding the streets... bouncing off cars like super balls...and we were stuck in the stores ( thankfully they have awesome stores... we found ourselves stuck in a chocolate one.. oh so sad ) A break in the rain and we run for the motor home.. make it without getting too wet... find out we left the vent open and the center console was a bit wet.. including my phone.. but all is well... head up the street to park for the train and have some lunch... we got parked.. in the pouring rain... and I am making lunch and notice that across from is a jeep commander and the sun roof is open... the rain is pouring into the jeep....We feel so bad for them.. trying to think of something we can do but we have nothing to cover it with that would not make the problem worse :(

Headed up the mountain... that is the car in front of us.

We got on the cogway in the pouring down rain... once it started up the hill it started getting really nice... we rode all the way up with our windows down just getting as many photos as we could. At the top we were with limited time and in a cloud bank.. so no real views from the top... kids headed out to get some of the high altitude doughnuts and we headed out to grab a couple of caches :) Trying to do things in a hurry on our limited time and being at an altitude of 14,110 feet... lol the hurry part did not work so well... I was out of breath with just three steps. We did manage to get two caches and a bunch of photos. The doughnuts were ok but as far as I could tell.. nothing special. It was very cold up there... The only part of me that was having problems though was my fingers.. I had worn jeans and boots and my rain coat so I was good to go.. all but my fingers.. they were so cold I thought they would snap off.

John and Missy at the top of Pikes Peak.. getting a shot for a virtual cache.

When we got back to town it was nice out again.. so we headed to the walmart and camped there.. made some nachos for dinner and played games... Missy was not feeling so good so she hit the sack early.

Durango and Thunder Storms

Well.. I am a few days behind when it comes to blogging.. have spent some time without computers or internet even on my phone.. and well.. have just been so super busy. Last time I wrote we had visited Mesa Verde and Silverton.. and for this post it will be about our trip to Colorado Springs.

We got up early at camp and went over to have breakfast... all you can eat pancakes :) then we wrapped up camp and headed into Durango to return the rental car on our way out of town. We ended up spending a couple of hours just hanging out in Durango.. visiting the train depot and the muesum...walking around town and doing some window shopping.. Dave and I can not wait to go back to that area.. can see us moving there at some point

We then headed towads Colorado Springs... our plan was to spend as much time on the road as possible and get as far as we could. We had one kid with a crappy attitude... seems there is always one.. I think they plan it between themselves that at least one of them has to be giving attitude .. for the most part they have been wonderful... and I know that the adults on this trip have also had plenty of attitude.. lol I always do... It is my job! Being all stuck together in a motorhome for over 2 weeks does have some challanges... for the most part it has all been great. .

One of the best things about this day was Wold Creek Pass it was a long hot pass... but.. driving up there was a turnout for a waterfall.. and it was so pretty... said there was a look out up 200 feet on a trail.. so up we went.. funny how 200 feet does not seem like a lot until it is straight up. It was the most worth while thing though.. it was a beautiful waterfall.. and we were standing right at the base of it.. could play in the pool it made... took lots of photos... and stood in the spray and laughed... so much fun... and then by the time we were back down we were all dry and hot again.. but it had been so pretty. When we got to the top of the pass we pulled over to have some lunch... made some cheese and crackers and stuff up and we ate and looked out over the field where the continental divide is.
By the time lunch was over everyone had a better attitude... I think it helped that we had fallen off the grid... phones no longer worked.... so no texting messaging with friends... funny how that works... ( yes mom I hear you laughing at me ) at the bottom of the pass we pulled over to do a cache... it was on a dirt road with a big parking spot... right on a small river.. so we pulled in and Dave and I set off to find the cache while the kids threw rocks in the river. It was so pretty there... found out the little side roads off the parking area all had camping spots on them... then we headed back down the road to Colorado Springs... we got a few miles down the road and pulled over at little store for a few supplies... Dave and I decided to head back to the dirt roads and camping spots and have a phone free fun night with the kids. We drove up the dirt road for a bit.. finally found a spot that would work with the motor home.... got it all set up... a little fire going.. and the lightening and thunder started... hot dogs on sticks... sitting around the fire..and the rain starts dumping.. and it does not rain in Colorado like it does in Washington.. I know I have said it before..and I will say it again... it POURS in Colorado. We went inside to eat our hot dogs and ended up pulling down to the turn out to park for the night.. just to be sure we did not get flooded out and end up in a boat that looked like a motor home :) It was a great night.. played games with the kids... laughed... checked out lots of bugs... ask one of the kids about the million of bugs..... and had a good time.

Mesa Verde and Silverton

The last two days have been filled with running around and seeing as much as we can. Thursday we headed to Mesa Verde amazing!

The Long House ...... took a guided tour through it

When we woke up there was a huge thunder storm... lightning and thunder and lots of rain.... I took a video... not sure how it turned out yet...if it is any good I will be posting it on youtube.....as we took off for Mesa verde the rain kept coming.. and the thunder and lighting.. thought for sure we would be seeing the sights in the pouring rain... oh well.. we are from Washington and use to that... but.. the closer we got to the park the more it cleared up.... the day was warm... but not too hot.. well it stayed below 90. I did get a bit of a sun burn.. which mostly pissed me off.. since I was the one being so careful ( I thought ) to put on sun block.. and lecturing the kids... turns out I missed a spot :(

Cliff Palace .............. another guided tour.

I was really suprised at how green everything was... in a lot of the photos I had looked at everything was brown.. even with snow on it... so I was so happy to see so much green. We did two of the three guided tours... both were amazing... you go straight down 100+ feet... walk through the ruins and then straight back up... most of the up is on wooden ladders. I had spent some time in the weeks before vacation.. walking straight up hill on the treadmill... trying to get ready for this sort of thing... but.. I had not practiced with the heat and the altitude and had not practiced stairs... this about killed me.. but I did it :)

The short ( 8 feet high ) ladders.

Yesterday we drove up to Silverton... and fell in love... with everything between Durango and Silverton and beyond. It is only 40 miles from our campsite to Silverton but it took us almost 2 hours. We ended up taking some side road.. totally 4x4ing along a river and into the woods and some beautiful meadows.. for a cache.

There is a cache down there.. had to drive around and 4x4 to get it:)

Oh and by the way.. we were in a rental 4x4 and not in the motor home for this part :) While we were there we saw a beautiful wolf... yes we took photos...will have some up later on flickr. I noticed so many camp sites...the kind where you just pull out into the field or under a tree along the river.... little rock circle fireplaces... but the coolest thing I noticed... was NO garbage.. any where... these camp sites were so clean... You never see this anywhere in Washington... Everywhere we have gone in Colorado you can feel and see a respect for the area. ( I also learned there is a highly enforced 1,ooo dollar fine for littering in the state....Yay! )

The Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Steam Train

We hung out in town for a bit... so much to see and so little time... we have already decided we are coming back and spending at least a week just in Silverton.. so much to do there... lots of mines to explore... and so many trails.. and the wildlife... it is all amazing... the town itself could take three days to explore... it is an old mining town with a train station.. and it has not been built up for tourist.. it has.. but the bones of it are all there because it is what it was.. and what it still is... it was not built to look like a town out of an old west movie... it is an old west movie.. and the people are so polite and calm and nice... it was relaxing and exciting all at the same time.


We had lunch at a wonderful BBQ place... called Thee pits again great food and wonderful service... the link is for their other restraunt... they just opened the one in Silverton not too long ago.. they were even featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives.. on the food network. Then we walked around town.. checked out the train depot and found a couple of caches.

There was a cache in this little park area.. was a bit hard to find without being muggled

A guy sitting outside the reastraunt ( who worked there ) had told us about a ghost town just outside of town a few miles... so off we headed.. down a dirt road for about 12 miles... it was one of the coolest things.. an old mining town.. the buildings still there... there is a self guided map you can get and you can walk through the buildings and read about each one... it was fun.

Animas Forks.... founded 1880 ...elevation 11,160

There was also a cache out behind town near an opening to a mine shaft... it was a lot of fun. On the way back to town we saw a family of moose playing in a field where the river had made a marshy area. we stopped and spent about 30 minutes just taking photos of the moose. If you know us you know we LOVE moose... our whole home has the log cabin feel based on a lot of moose things. We can't wait to download the photos and see what we got.

Moose family

Now we are back at camp and it is Saturday morning.. we are packing up and getting ready to take off for Colorado Springs...then after that we start the trek home.

Arches National Park

Yesterday was amazing.. we went to Arches National Park and the kids Loved it... I was really suprised how much they got into it... they were taking off on all the hikes into the rocks that they could find.. and reading about what things were and how they came to be.. and it was great. We took maybe millions of photos... we have been taking photos with 2 different cameras and 4 different phones.. so there are a LOT of photos to go through... until I get home and can really take some time to look through and sort I am only posting a few photos onto my flickr account... once I get home I will be posting a lot more of them.

Last night we ended up finding a great camp ground.. it is right on the river.. and has a pool and a big game room.... has great showers and a big laundry room. The spots are pretty squished together.. but the people who are all here seem to be really great.. very friendly and nice. Last night everyone got showered up and this morning we did laundry.. it has been years since I have done kids laundry.... the kids have spent the day off running around and now we are getting ready to go into town and pick up a rental car for the next two days of adventures. We will also stop at the grocery store and pick up a few things.. and.. I think maybe we will do steak on the bbq for dinner tonight :)

We are here until Saturday morning... then we will head towards Colorado Springs... another mountain we want to see.. a train we want to ride... and the kids found a thrill ride park they want to visit.

Salt Lake City

Is not my favorite place to hang out.... but it could be worse... yesterday we went out to the salt flats and over to Nevada for lunch and to grab a cache... we headed back to Salt Lake City and were on our way up to the copper mine... in fact.. we were at the gate... shut off the motor home to pay the guy... and then it would not run.. it started.. but did not even want to move out of the way of the gate.. Dave was able to move it just barley out of the way... and that was it... it just had to sit for an hour to cool down... totally frustrated the guys at the gate... they did not like us just sitting there... brought back our money and took our ticket.. no way they were letting us up the hill... it was another 4 miles straight up.... which we knew better than to even try.... when we changed the fuel filter the other day in Buhl.. in the parking lot of the auto parts store...we had hoped that was the problem and that it was all fixed... but... today we are sitting at the ford dealership ( will be getting a rental car soon) and the motor home is getting a new fuel pump... which is inside the gas tank.. which is a lot of work and a lot of money... will hopefully be back on the road tonight and only out $1,500 we did not plan on spending.

I do have to give credit to the ford dealership, Larry H Miller, for being totally awesome... they were about 3 days out on service schedule but were able to make some calls and move things around and get us in today... and they even had the pump we need... so this whole thing could have been a lot worse, knock on wood since it is not done yet. Dave is off picking up the rental car...and then I am hoping we are able to head up to the mine and then get some lunch and hopefully be back on the road by dinner time.

We know that owning a motor home.. and an older one.. that each year we have to put some money into fixing it up... every year we pick something big and something to prettifiy it... this year we did new tires for it.. and made cool arm rests and a console station for the chargers and drink holders and stuff (still hoping to do a blog post about all that since it turned out awesome and is working great) last year was brakes and we redid the benches at the table... next year we were thinking about redoing one whole wall of the motor home.. taking it off like we did the roof a few years ago and redoing the whole thing... but now that we have had this nice little suprise that might just wait another year and we can get away with calling the fuel pump next years project.

Off in the rental car to check out the copper mine and hopefully find a few caches for Utah... because as soon as we get this fixed... we are out of here and headed to Colorada and hopefully some trees and a bit cooler weather. Thinking since the four corners is under construction and we are tired of hot.. that we will skip the lower part and stay to the mountains a bit more.. we can do mesa verde and the four corners some other time.

~Michelle

We have been taking photos.. there are some on the flickr site... since being on the computer while we are driving is limited ny my tummy I am putting pictures there when I get a few minutes and some on facebook and twitpic.... once we make camp somewhere for a few days I will be able to do a few more.