Bob and Connie's home in Snowmass... and John Denver country - by all 3

After Mesa Verde we headed north on our way to returning the RV in Denver. We stopped by a National Refuge named Two Ponds. (You can guess how many ponds there were.) Closer to Denver we went on a Gold Mining Tour and panned for gold. Zaddek found a jackpot of pyrite but it wasn't in the water, it was on the hill where we were sliding down trying to stay on our feet which didn't happen much. We had fun but Mom was upset with how dirty our pants were.

On our last night in the RV we stayed at a cool campsite with a playground and cool crystals in the gift shop.

The next morning we said goodbye to the RV and said hello to our good old van. It felt even more cramped then before. Then off to Bob and Connie's.

We arrived to Bob and Connie's who have an amazing house with lots of green grass, a pond, horse fields all around them, mountains in the distance and a dog haven. Their foos ball table was great fun and we had a private concert when Ellen came over to dinner and played guitar for us.

Bob and Connie took us for hikes in the mountains and showed us around Snowmass and Aspen. We went to John Denver's Windstar Foundation land and had a picnic at the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen. The sanctuary had rocks with songs engraved in them and gardens with rivers and waterfalls. It was very pretty and we had fun there.

Bob and Connie were very kind hosts. They made us great meals and had lots of treats for us. Connie took us to her friends to see the horses and we got to ride in Bob and Connie's SUV a lot.

We went to a concert at a chapel in the mountains that was a tribute to John Denver with singers who knew John. Unfortunately they didn't sing John Denver songs so we wished we had tomatoes.

After staying an extra night it was finally time to start our journey back to Florida via the Great Sand Dunes and Diamond Mining.

The Cliff Dwellers - by KT

                                        Today we arrived at Mesa Verde National Park.

 To start we visited the visitor center where we figured out how and when we could get to go into a cliff dwelling. We learned that you needed a guided tour and that they left every hour. We pulled up in the RV but sadly Sage was too young so dad had to sit this one out with her.

        Our guide told us about what we would be doing and then we started our tour. It was a little hard getting down and then we had to climb a 32 foot tall ladder.

         When we got up to the dwelling they talked about the life style of the Pueblo. A cliff dwelling like this one would have held about two to three extended families. They then showed us their older homes and how they got in and out of them. You had to climb through a small rectangular hole and some of the homes were up high so you needed to climb up a ledge to get to them. They made the ledges so strong they are still standing today 1000 years later.

      The Pueblo built their homes out of a tough sandstone they found and carried up. They then shaped the blocks and put them into place with a mortar made of sediment and water.

We had to do a little more climbing before arriving at the more recent part of the dwelling.

There we learned that the Pueblo people started to make more advanced homes with places for worship called kivas. 

A kiva had pillars along the walls to hold up a brick coated wooden roof. It had space for a fire pit along with some shelves for putting their art and jewelry. They also had a protection wall so the ladder out wouldn't catch on fire and a ventilation shaft for fresh air and to let smoke out. The hole in the middle of the kiva floor was how they connected with their gods that they believed were in the earth.

Sadly Zaddek fell off the cliff and now it is just the two of us.

The Grand Ride at the Grand Canyon - by ZT

We arrived to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon just in time for dinner. We decided to get a special treat of dinner at the famous Grand Canyon Lodge. Inside the dining room we were on the very edge of the canyon. It had a great view of the canyon but unfortunately it was really foggy when we ate. For dinner I had a quesadilla, my brother had prime rib and the other had chicken. It was a fancy restaurant and probably the best quesadilla I've ever had.

After dinner we found a campsite on the edge of the park but there was no electrical so it got pretty cold. You could see your breath.

In the morning we went back to the lodge and took a bus to the stables. We were each given a name of a mule to ride. Mine was named Ben.

 Bodhi’s was named Flex.

Kaden had Vivienne.

Mom had Beatrice. A mule is the hybrid of a horse mom and a donkey dad. Mules can’t have kids. They use mules because they have stronger footing along the edge of the canyon. They were as big as horses because they have a lot of traits from their moms.

To get up you put your foot in the foot hold and swung your other leg over until you sat in the saddle. They taught us how to ride, so we knew how to stop and start. Once everybody was ready we started out of the corral. I was the fourth from the back with Bodhi, Kaden and my Mom behind me. 

I was right behind the cowboy and we were chatting. He talked about the trees, his adventures riding bulls and calves and his horses back home in Bryce Canyon. He also told me about great cowboy movies to watch. It was really fun as we went by the edge of the canyon. There was a really good view on the way back and we even saw a coyote.

Once we got back on the bus Sage was really excited to see us. She had hot chocolate with Daddy in the saloon and kissed a donkey statue for good luck. In the store I found a turquoise gemstone egg for my collection.

On our way out we took some pictures and settled into the RV for a drive to Mesa Verde.

Our Trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks - by BT

 In the morning we went to Bryce Canyon National Park from our campsite which was just a little ways from it on the other side of Dixie National Forest. 

Bryce is famous for its hoodoos which are rock spires shading part of the canyon. 

We got to see Thor’s Hammer which is a hoodoo almost exactly like Thor’s Hammer. 

We had a fun time trying to make it look like we were holding the hammer for pictures. 

After a long way up we finally reached the top We helped ourselves to a nice lunch that mom had prepared for us in the RV.  A little more sightseeing and we headed off for Zion.

(I took this one.)

     On our way between Bryce and Zion we went into a rock shop. Mom and Dad spotted it and had to turn around the big RV because they knew we would love it. In the shop we got crystals: Amber, Blue Agate, Amethyst, Emerald Calcite and Zaddek got a galaxy stone. We don't have pictures of them yet though.

We also drove through wet snow coming down on the road in one of the canyons.

When we arrived at Zion we went into a big tunnel to get to the West side of the park. 

On the west side we saw Checker Board Mountain. It almost looked like someone spent a lifetime carving it, but it was not man made. 

We reached the sign in desk and got signed in to our RV camp at the gate. The next day we took the bus to Emerald Pools trail. 

                          We hiked to the lower pool and hiked right underneath a waterfall.

                                          We hiked up then down to reach the medium pool.

                                         At first when we saw the tarantula it was scary until
                                            I remembered that they aren't dangerous.  

                   We took the bus back around the loop and headed to the RV on to Grand Canyon.

Two National Parks in One Day - Arches and Canyonlands

We arrived in Arches National Park, Utah late in the afternoon on our sixth day. We had enough time to do a nice hike up to the Windows. 

At first we couldn’t spot the South Window so we went to the North Window. It was very big but it was hard to get a picture as there were many people standing by. Climbing up into the window with a high ledge on the other side we were able to take some amazing pictures. 

We were even able to get Sage up there and a kind gentleman took pictures of us.

 As we hiked down to Turret Arch we spotted the South window to the right of it hidden behind a rock wall. When we looked back at both of them it looked like a face with two eyes and a rock wall nose in between. 

Our family continued our hike to turret arch where we got some great pictures with the sunset behind. We agreed it was too busy to see the sunset at Delicate Arch and decided that we would go first thing in the morning.

After driving back to the RV park in Moab, Utah we set up for the night and fell to sleep after a nice hot dinner. In the morning we woke to a quick breakfast... 

and a family pic at the RV park...

before driving back up the twisting roads to Delicate Arch. Because Sage wouldn’t go in the backpack we couldn’t hike right up to it so we went the short hike to the viewpoint. 

It was very pretty but Sage wanted to sit on every rock along the way so it took a while. 

Back at the RV we decided we would try a different hike out to Landscape Arch. The arch was huge and you could see the sapphire blue sky behind. 

On the way back Sage had to play in the silky red sand and even made some sand angels. 

After cleaning her off we hiked back to the RV and drove around a little to see some of the other arches before taking off for Canyonlands.

We arrived in Canyonlands and drove out to the Island in the Sky. When we got out we realized we were surrounded by deep canyons on all sides. 

There wasn’t an easy hike for us to do so we decided just to drive around and stop at the viewpoints. After another great day we settled into the RV for a big drive down to a campsite near Bryce National Park.