Summer 2016 Road Trip Stage 3

CANYON LANDS NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

One of the places I really, really wanted to visit on our road trip was the Pueblo cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde.  Leslie and Scott let me add it to our itinerary, totally expecting me to have checked into it before hand.  I had no idea how unprepared I was for this stop. It was one of those times in life when you learn that lack of research and preparation can lead to disappointment. I naively thought we could drive into the park, grab a map at the visitor center, and drive right up to the dwellings. Nope; not at all! It is one of those parks that has strictly protected access; which in hind sight, makes sense. How else can the site be protected from the masses of people that visit there? We arrived at the visitor's center a little before noon and discovered only one tour was left for the day, at 2:00, and it only had a few seats. What?? A bus tour, only one left for the day?? See what I mean by my lack of research?? So, we decided we would find something else to do. We drove through Canyon lands and probably ended up having a much more enjoyable time. We were able to drive through in our own vehicles, stop at NUMEROUS easy access scenic overlooks, and let the grands climb to their heart's content.

I think Ryan is the only member of the family to ever visit Utah. He went while in college as part of a geology field trip. We were all delighted to find that the landscape is indescribably breathtaking! I realized I should have visited much sooner. As you look at the pictures, please realize that this is one Mimi who only has a point and shoot digital Cannon so the pictures do NOT do the beauty of this place justice. 

Thank goodness Scott thought to bring his little tripod along. 

Our first sight of a rock formation. We were split on whether it looked like Buda or a fat poodle

I think this was the time I started wishing Ryan was there. It's nice to have a geologist in the family, but he doesn't always seem to be around when you need him.

This was the first arch we saw. 

We took a quick hike up to get a closer look. Amazing!

Seth and Mimi

Seth

This is one picture that helps put the size of the canyon in perspective.

This is the other one. I don't know if you can see it or not, but on the right side, there is a tiny vehicle driving along the trail into the canyon. Not for the faint of heart!

Another tripod shot. Some turn out better than others. 

Maggie was fascinated with the cairns. She would add a to the existing ones and built a few of her own.

I loved how well the grands got along. Seth was such a good big cousin.

The way the sun and clouds cast shadows on the canyon was gorgeous.

                     

I love wildflowers. It was amazing to see them growing in the most unexpected places.

Wishing for a really nifty camera and the skills to use it.

Maggie building another cairn.

Before long, Sophie was building her own plies of rock at each stop.

                                      

Sophie, Maggie, Seth, Leslie, and Scott

This is the first place on our road trip where Scott and I started talking about buying an RV. We had plenty of snacks with us to keep from getting really hungry; but, if we'd had the ability to stop and actually make lunch, have a bathroom on hand, and possibly spend more time in this park it would have been an even more enjoyable visit.  There were several places that Scott and Leslie would have taken off and hiked on their own. But, the grands and I weren't up to it. If we had been in an RV, the grands and I would have spent some time playing board games while Leslie and Scott took a longer and more strenuous hike. And so the seed was planted.

Summer 2016 Road Trip Stage 2

The second stage of the road trip took us to planned and unplanned stops. We just happened to hear about some Aztec ruins that were near the hotel we had stayed in. Our only plans for this day were to go to 4 Corners so that Scott could have his Birthday Burrito Bonanza.  Only people who watched David Letterman in his early days will know what that's all about.

Anyway, we decided to stop at the ruins just to check them out. It was really fascinating! It is an ongoing excavation site with a top notch visitor's center and beautifully maintained ruin displays.  It was a very pleasant surprise and I think we all really enjoyed it. In fact, one of the rangers told us about another site that was in the opposite direction that we had intended to travel. We debated whether or not to go, but decided it could wait for another trip because we had a full day ahead of us.

Scott with the shirt Leslie made him

The following pictures are random shots I took at the Aztec Ruins. We got there just when it opened and the girls signed up to do a junior ranger challenge. We discovered that the ranger challenges at each national park can run from a basic scavenger hunt to actual GPS challenges. It is a wonderful program that educates and entertains the kids while they visit the parks.

Sophie at one of the museum displays

Maggie learning about the site

Seth, Scott, and Leslie checking out some artifacts 

Most of the site provides visitor access. They ask that you stay on the marked paths, but, the paths take you through many of the ruins. There were several groups actually working on dig sites but they were cordoned off so we couldn't see what they were doing.

Maggie

Seth, Leslie, Maggie, and Sophie 

Mimi and the grands

Scott, Seth, Sophie, Mimi, Maggie, and Leslie

Maggie with her Jr. Ranger medal. 

The next stop on this leg of the trip was 4 Corners. It's another spot like Roswell. If you are near, you really should go just because you can say you've been there. We probably wouldn't have gone if Scott hadn't wanted to eat a burrito in each state.

Maggie met a new friend.

The weather was beautiful and the clear sky was amazing. It is a well maintained spot but not much to see or do.

There was a long line of people waiting to have their picture taken on the  metal plate that marks the location
where the 4 state meet. It moved fairly quickly. 

In the time that Leslie and her girls spent waiting in line, I followed Scott around and took his picture eating his burritos.

Lesie and the girls

I guess you could say our stops today were a good way to break up the monotony of driving from through New Mexico.

Summer 2016 Road Trip Stage 1: Carlsbad Caverns, Artesia, Santa Fe

Maggie was sitting next to me yesterday evening as we watched the Ohio State game and informed me that I needed to update the blog. After getting over the surprise that she had actually been looking at it, I asked her why. She said it was because I didn't have anything about the road trip on it. Sadly, I've failed to put more than road trip info on it.  But, in a renewed effort to use my Sunday mornings more productively, I'll try to rectify that.

SEARLS FAMILY ROAD TRIP STAGE 1 

Last year, our school librarian put fliers in our mail boxes about the National Park pass that's available for all fourth grade students. The pass grants anyone in the car with a fourth grader free entrance to all National Parks and some National Monuments.  I shared the flier with the family at one of our weekly dinners and we decided to make plans for a family road trip.
Originally, we were going to just drive up to Mt. Rushmore, but the more we talked about it, the more our trip kept growing. So much that we ended up driving through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and back to Texas.

We took 2 cars; mostly for comfort, but also to keep Maggie and Sophie from bickering the entire time. Seth had just got his learner's permit and we wanted him to get some road time in while we were traveling. I switched cars with Ron so we would have the cargo space his Jetta wagon offered, and Leslie took her "not a van" car.  Scott came in to Temple, we loaded our cars, then drove over to Gatesville to pick up Seth. Rebecca snapped a shot of us in our first road trip shirts just before we took off.

Mimi, Uncle Scott, Maggie, Sophie, Leslie, and Seth... ROAD TRIP!

First stop: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico!

When we lived in El Paso, our family had visited Carlsbad Caverns. But, that was a long time ago and we really didn't remember much about it.  The cavern tour we took was okay. I felt like we were being herded like cattle because there were a lot of people there. There were so many people stopping countless times to take pictures of the cave formations and that made our progress really slow. If I were to offer any advice, go during the week. Maybe the crowds wouldn't be as bad.
We had intentionally gone later in the day so we could watch the bats fly out. However, it started raining fairly heavily and we opted to leave early. We figured if we really wanted to see bats flying, we could go down to Austin and watch them fly out from under the Congress Street bridge.

We got strange looks, smiles, and compliments on our shirts 

Maggie filling out her Parks Pass application!

Leslie and the girls inside the caverns.

Seth and Scott

One of many beautiful road side stops near the caverns.

The facilities at the caverns are very nice. We learned a lot about the caverns and the geography of the area. The grands had several hands on activities to participate in. One area had mock tunnels that the kids could crawl through, It was a pretty tight fit and it looked like you could get stuck in it very easily. Maggie and Sophie went through first. I was watching them and said something to Scott about how tiny the opening was. He said, "I've crawled through way smaller places in buying buildings." He then had to show the girls that he could crawl through as well.

Uncle Scott impressing us with his fire fighter training by crawling through tight spots.

another road side stop for a little rock climbing

We stayed in a little town called Artesia. It was the cutest little place in the middle of nowhere. Of course, most things in Texas and New Mexico are in the middle of nowhere.  I loved this little place and if I had knows how cute it was, we would have planned to stay longer. I thought it might have originally been an artist colony because of the many art shops and sculptures. After looking it up, I should have known the name was a dead give away. It was founded because of artesian wells in the area. Regardless,  it had the most amazing collection of sculpture along the streets. I tried to get a picture of as many as I could.

The Arteisa High School mascot is the bulldog. 

The community has a history associated with the oil industry. The sculpture of the oil rig was pretty elaborate.

This one was outside the city library. Amazing art work.

The morning after leaving Carlsbad, we stopped in Roswell and Sante Fe. Roswell was downright freaky strange. The kids didn't know whether to be fascinated or creeped out.  The one thing I did manage to do here was help the grands decide on what kind of souvenir to collect. We found some cute penny press books and decided to collect pressed pennies. That in itself became a major activity for the rest of the trip! Anyway, it was amazing to listen to the conversations of visitors at the "research center." The place is a magnet for some strange people. Don't know that I'll ever go back but at least I can say I've been there.

Seth and the girls outside the "institute." 

I think Leslie and Scott's expressions speak louder than words 

Mimi and the grands

A kind stranger took our picture with this guy. Crazy!

On our way out of New Mexico, we stopped in Sante Fe to visit the old city center. It was really hot that day and because it was a weekend, the crowds were pretty heavy.  We saw lots of beautiful flowers, art work, jewelry displays, a mock gun battle, and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We trekked all over the place trying to find a penny press. When we finally found one, the shop refused to break a dollar so we would have some change. I ended up having to buy some candy bars so the kids could get their pennies pressed.
If I were to share my most vivid memory of Sante Fe, I would have to say it was the stench! There are many little alley ways between the old buildings and as you pass the entrances of the alleys, you get an overpowering smell of dirty bathrooms! It was horrible! They really need to do something about that!

The gang in one of the plazas outside a little market area.

Lots of cute little garden areas all over town.

Less than impressive Mexican lunch. Seth ordered a Mexican hamburger: a hamburger patty on a tortilla. Strange!