Durango, Colorado/Mesa Verde National Park

Friday, August 12

Papa drove the RV from Silverton to Durango by his self as the rest of us rode the train.  On the way, Papa saw this Rocky Mountain Big Horned Sheep at an overlook.  He stopped to take pictures and the sheep bounded up the rock ledge on the side of the road.

Now today was a really really good day. We started it out at 1:30 this morning to watch the Perseid meteor shower (it’s one of the biggest in years.) It was all of 51 degrees with a ton of wind, but it was gorgeous. We saw so many shooting stars… it was unreal. We tried to get pictures, but there were too many lights in the park, so it didn’t turn out.

Around 2:45 we headed in and went to bed- for real this time. We were all up at 8:45 this morning (Papa was nice enough to let us sleep in.)

Once we were all up and ready for the day, we went downtown to go shopping… I found a real pair of cowboy boots that I absolutely love, I think we’re going back to get them tomorrow! Update: I got them :)

We came back to the RV for lunch and to change into bathing suits for rafting! Around 1:45 we made our way downtown to catch the bus to the Animas River with our rafting tour. Our guide Koby, was just out of college and had been a rafting tour guide for 3 summers, so she really knew what she was doing. Most of the ride was pretty chill, we would hit a few rapids, and then there was this calm area where we were allowed to jump in. Long story short, I may have squirted Dad so he tried to push me in, so when he dunked me, I grabbed his life jacket and pulled him in with me.

Now let me tell you. The water here is cold. I don’t know the exact temperature, but it was cold. Once we all finally got back in the raft, we hit some real rapids. These things were the kind that sprayed water up your nose at a force that I didn’t know water had. It was AWESOME.

After 2 hours of rafting, they dropped us back off downtown and we headed home to change back into normal clothes, this time warmer, because we were headed to the Bar D Chuck wagon show with Chuck and Cheryl.

We got to the grounds around 7 and explored the shops and playgrounds there before finding our table and getting ready for dinner. They started serving at 7:30, and our table was dead last. All 500 people were served before us, but we got our food around 7:55 so they were pretty efficient. For dinner we had beef, biscuits, applesauce, beans, spice cake, baked potatoes and other things that I can’t remember. It was delicious.

Once the show started. Now that was something else. So much music today is technology playing sounds and singers being auto tuned, but this was real talent. These five guys were outstanding. With guitars, a fiddle, and a thing that we think might be a cello (don’t take my word for it.)

They played for a little under an hour, and I was sad to see them go. Chuck got us front row seats so we could see them and they could see us. I cheered a lot at the beginning and more throughout the show so I was referred to as ‘Carolina’ (they did a state's roll call.)

The show was so good. 10/10 would recommend. We even got their CD. It was that good. Definitely a highlight of the trip so far!

Tonight we’re turning in early, first night of no stargazing since Moab, but I think last night kinda counted since it was technically this morning.

Saturday, August 13

Today was Mom and Dad’s last day with us… very bittersweet; bitter because duh, they’re leaving, sweet because Evan and I get out beds back tonight!!! No more cold floors!

We spent the day with Chuck and Cheryl touring Mesa Verde (because they’re experts and know all the cool stuff to do.) Papa, Mom, Dad, Evan and I met them at 8:15 to head to the park all in one car. After a 45 minute drive to Mesa Verde we headed into the visitors center to stamp our books, check out the scenery area and buy postcards.

Chuck gives us an overview of the park

After the visitors center we had another 45 minute drive just to get to the other side of the park. We made it more bearable by stopping at all the secret overlooks that only Chuck and Cheryl know. We were able to see Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado (duh) and Utah all from one overlook! It was awesome.

Our first tour was at 11 of Cliff Palace. This one was super informative, we learned a lot about how these Puebloan people lived. We got to see a Kiva (yes we made the connection to Snow Mountain Ranch) and hear Ranger Jan’s interpretation of the pueblo creation story.

Cliff Palace

I can climb this ladder

After that tour we had lunch at the Museum, everyone got their own food and then we watched a video on the history of the people that lived there.

From there we took a tour of Balcony House. This tour was more on the fun side, it focused on experiences in the ruins. On this tour our ranger set up a fun role play between 2 kids explaining what they would do if they lived in that time period. We also got to climb 6 ladders, one being 32 feet and the rest being 15 or so. The last part of the tour and the only exit was a tunnel only wide enough for your shoulders. We all had to crawl through, definitely not an easy feat, but a lot of fun.

Some of the tunnels were very small and we had to get on our hands and knees to crawl through them.

Yes, I can do this!!

Another tunnel, but we could stoop and walk through this one

We ended the day having dinner with everyone at Serious Texas BBQ and listening to some live music. It was an awesome way to wrap up another week here!