The Cliff Dwellers

Mesa Verde National Park receives over a half a million visitors every summer. With that in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to head over there early and avoid the summer crowds. So we made it a day trip on Friday and visited the popular Cliff Palace and Balcony House dwellings.

They were old ... and they were fascinating! Even Tyson sat there and listened to the park ranger talk about the ancient puebloan people that inhabited these sites back in 1200 AD. But perhaps the most exciting part was climbing up the ladders and stairs that led in and out of the ruins. This was not a park visit for the faint of heart ... ladders ascending 32 feet up a wall for starters ... and then a chain to hang on to while you precariously place your feet into chiseled holes in the rock. Eek! 

Topped off by a nice picnic in the park, we had a great time. It's great to live just a few miles from the park too so we can go back again and again and learn more about the fascinating culture of those that used to dwell in the cliffs of Mesa Verde.

Climbing the ladder leading into The Balcony House.

... and another ladder leading up and out of The Balcony House.

It's not all ladders! We had to crawl through tight spaces too!

Ranger Rick describing life in The Balcony House.

Ticket required! 

Escaping the ruins of The Cliff Palace.

She makes climbing ladders look so easy!

The Balcony House.

The Cliff Palace.

For more pictures of Mesa Verde Nat'l Park (taken by Cody), click here.

Waterfalls and Ghost Towns

While Tyson had the opportunity to spend yesterday at the Monticello Temple with youth from around the SW Colorado area. After working in the temple, they assembled hygiene kits as part of a humanitarian project.  That was followed by an opportunity for flirting socializing. He had a great time.

Meanwhile, Paige and Cody spent the day with Kayla and Everett Cranmer exploring the nether regions of western Colorado. Kayla and Everett love the Naturita-Nucla-Norwood area and know every nook and cranny. So along with their two dogs, Georgia and Tinker, we played in waterfalls along La Sal Creek, 4-wheeled narrow canyons, and checked out an old mining ghost town.  No ghosts were found ... but the remains of a copper mining operation were amazing. 

For pictures of the waterfalls, ghost towns, and more ... click here.

Paige comes out of a mining tunnel ... with no spiders!

Kayla and Paige ... Cody and Everett (and Georgia)

Paige sitting behind a spring fed waterfall.

An old well (the non-wishing kind) in an abandon ghost town.

Exploring the abandon mining operations.

Camping ... Finally!

Finally ... after a two-year hiatus, our family was finally able to enjoy all the thrills of a camping trip! Yea! We headed over to Hovenweep National Monument for 3 days/2 nights of camping and hiking. That's the great thing about living where we do ... because you can go and enjoy places like SE Utah this time of year when there's too much snow in the mountains still ... and then this summer, you enjoy the mountains when places like Hovenweep would be just too darn hot to even think about!

Hovenweep National Monument is one of the few places within the park system that allows you to bring your dog. So Kallie got to go on all of the trails with us. She didn't care much for the ancient ruins, but she loves smelling every sage brush that she came across ... and there were plenty of them! Altogether she hiked 4-5 miles on her old "grandma dog" legs. She's slept ever since she's been home.

Quick! While It's Running!

Ty's RC Nitro Gas Engine car spends more time "in the shop" than it does running. He'll run it till either runs out of gas or breaks a part ... and it's usually the latter. Then he hops online, finds the part he needs, orders it, and then patiently checks the mail every day.  The car runs on nitro gas, which puts the price of gas that we pay in perspective - after all, his costs $15 a quart! That's a lot of floor sweeping around the house! But during one of those rare moments when his car WAS running, we got some video of it at his request ... just to show you how cool of a car it really is.