Stop #13: Grand Canyon N.P.- Camper Village

We made it to Arizona on Saturday July 7th. The road was rough across the state with very few towns to stop in for gas, etc. Most of the villages were crude houses or trailers that we assumed were Native American because of all the kivas next to them. There were many roadside souvenir stands selling turquoise and dreamcatchers.

Finally, we began to see the start of the Grand Canyon. It was amazing from the road and we couldn't wait to enter the East side of the park.  Once we got to the rim and looked over, you could see the Colorado River in the distance and layers of colors in the distance. We spent the day driving to lookout points around the South side until late afternoon.

Having made no camping reservations in advance, we started to ask at the various RV parks only to find out that they were all full. We drove South out of the park about 7 miles to Camper Village which had plenty of spots.
That night around midnight, a neighboring Mexican bar, started what sounded like karaoke. This lasted most of the night so we didn't get much sleep.

On Sunday, we asked to be moved to the other side of the RV park and informed them about the loud music. We were tired but had planned to hike into the canyon that day.

 Carrying two backpacks of water, snacks and other miscellaneous supplies, we started down the crude hiking trail that only was 3 miles roundtrip.

 
 Going down, it was hot and our packs were heavy but it wasn't so bad. The path was a little slippery due to loose soil and the steep grade. We passed Ooh Ahh Point (.9 miles) and headed around Windy Ridge then had to move aside for a tour group on donkeys. One donkey stepped right on the edge and we were afraid it would fall over the side of the steep cliff. Finally we made it to Cedar Ridge (1.5 miles) and sat down for some PB&J sandwiches. A begging squirrel quickly approached for a handout. 



Two female rangers were there to check on hikers and make sure everyone had food and water. One warned us that two storms were approaching from opposite directions and it would be wise to head back up soon.

The trip back up was very rough with little shelter from the sun until we got closer to the top. Jason Jr. and SamBob pulled away from us several times and it seemed that they could keep going all day. I had to hold Wesley's hand to make sure he kept away from the edge or didn't slip on the loose gravel path. Big Jason ended up carrying both backpacks to the top since I was so exhausted. A slow, steady pace and lots of water breaks helped us finish the hike. Once at the top, we all were relieved and proud of this accomplishment.



view going back up

  

That evening we were all tired and dusty so a trip to McDonald's and some quick showers were just what the doctor ordered. Our new campsite didn't have working electricity so we decided to leave that night and drive a few hours towards our next destination.

Stop #12: Mesa Verde N.P.- Morefield Campground

We left pretty early on Thursday morning to drive to our next destination. It was another long day on the road but many beautiful things to see along the way.

Just outside Mesa Verde National Park, was Cortez and it was nearing dinner time so we visited our favorite store.... Walmart for some groceries, etc. The Morefield Campground area inside the park was very basic. We were dry camping. No water, electric or sewer on the sites. Good thing we were self-contained for short periods of time!






We settled in for the night and actually slept without A/C. It was pretty cool outside which was nice. The next morning we were ready to check out the ancient cliff dwellings that were made by Puebloans. There were two tours that we signed up for, Cliff Palace and Balcony House.

Cliff Palace was the largest example of a cliff dwelling in North America and spectacular. We were asked not to touch anything due to how fragile they are. This tour was a little strenuous due to the stairs and ladders that we had to climb.

Next was Balcony House and it was supposed to be a lot more strenuous. The sky darkened and the rain started lightly as our ranger guide talked about the ancient people who had built this structure. Since it wasn't lightning, we continued the tour. This dwelling had lots of stairs and mostly ladders to climb as well as a tunnel to crawl through that was only 18" wide. When we exited, it was really starting to come down and Wesley had fallen asleep somewhere during the tour. Jason had to carry him out which was nerve-racking and dangerous!

 












The wildlife was really fantastic in the park. We saw lots of deer standing by the road and one even came on our site.



We left Mesa Verde and went to four corners which is where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah meet. Each state side has booths with items made by the native american tribes of that area.

 

 

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon...

Stop #11: Elk Creek Campground

Our next destination was just past Glenwood Springs in a little town called New Castle. We pulled into Elk Creek Campground around 11:30 pm and found our spot.

 

The next morning, the boys wandered around a little and went swimming in the Creek. It was icy cold but very beautiful with small waterfalls and lots of rocks for the kids to throw and climb. We chilled out for two days, doing laundry, swimming and getting caught up on business work.

Since there was a statewide ban on fireworks, we had a very relaxing 4^th of July. Jason and I agreed to stay in camp and not run around town looking for festivities. The boys played with their new friends all day. One very cool thing we saw was a Bull snake catch and eat a chipmunk. It was so neat to watch him kill and eat it then slither away to digest it.

Later, the kids caught a baby bull snake and put it in a box. They made a little habitat with dirt and water although I don’t think he liked it too much because it started looking a little sick. After dinner, all the kids in the park had water gun fights until it got too dark to see.

We left on Thursday morning and headed west towards Mesa Verde.

Stop #10: Littleton, Colorado- Chatfield S.P.

On Saturday, June 23^rd we pulled in to Chatfield State Park a day earlier than our reservations. They were totally booked so we found an RV park in Golden, CO for the night. Dakota Ridge RV had a pool and laundry facility so we were set. We ate dinner at a biker bar across the street named Susie’s that had live music. The service and food were great. Soon, lots of bikers started to show up and the boys’ eyes got wider and wider as the language got more and more colorful. We quickly finished up, paid the bill and hurried back to the camper. After the little guys were settled in, I took Jason Jr. and Nathan to Wal-Mart. They each got a new MGP scooter.

                                                                       

Sunday we went to Greenwood Community Church with our friends, the Wittenbergs. It was so nice to get plugged in even if it was brief since we hadn’t been to church in 4-5 weeks. That afternoon, we hung out at Chatfield State park and grilled out. The temperature was close to 105 degrees but no humidity. 

Monday it warmed up quick and our A/C wasn’t keeping up. The truck also had been running a little rough so Jason took it to a local mechanic to be checked out. The Wittenbergs (Doug, Jen, Stella, Louise, Jacob, Andrew, Micah and Luke) came over and hung out at the campground with us and brought dinner again. It finally cooled off when the sun started fading. Tuesday morning I jumped on the internet and started looking for RVs in the Denver area.  We had been looking to trade ours in for at least 6 months but nothing had met all our needs yet. We found a Jayco class C motor home with bunk beds that looked like it had everything. The Camping World in Longmont, CO had 2 in stock.



new camper



 The Wittenbergs kept Nathan and SamBob for us while we went to the dealership to look at it. It was perfect except for a smaller kitchen area which we decided was not as important as everyone having their own beds. After a quick deal, (almost too easy) we had signed paperwork to trade in our 5^th wheel and truck for the new motor home. Funny thing, they gave us exactly what we wanted for the two of them without any fuss! The bank approval for the loan difference was done and then we were back on the road to pick up our kids. We had to drive an hour back to Centennial in rush hour traffic. We picked up pizza along the way for dinner and headed to the Wittenberg’s house to hang out for a bit. It was $1 scoop night at the local Baskin Robbins so we enjoyed some ice cream and let the kids run around the parking lot. There just happened to be a hair place next door so I dragged the boys in for much needed haircuts.

Wednesday morning we got up and prepared to take our old camper and truck in for the swap. Jason cleaned out a lot of the storage and placed it under a popup tent at our campsite so we would save time at the dealership. The Wittenbergs kept all our kids so we could be more efficient. Little did we know that the process was going to take so long. There was several hours of paperwork and signing plus the walk-thru and cliff notes of how to operate the new camper. We didn’t even get to transfer our belongings because it was getting late and everyone was ready to leave.

 On top of that, the Wittenbergs had secured 14 tickets to the Colorado Rockies baseball game downtown and it was nearing game time. The dealership let us take the new RV anyway and we promised to come back the next day and move everything over. We drove around the stadium looking for a place to park the RV. Had we been in a normal vehicle, we could have parked in the garage but the clearance was low and we ended up parking with the buses because of our size. The Wittenbergs couldn’t fit everyone in their suburban so they ended up going by light rail and city bus to get to the stadium. It was funny to see Doug and Jen crossing the road with 10 kids. I am sure they got plenty of looks from people along the way! We missed the first three innings but there was still plenty of time to grab some snacks and enjoy the game. We loaded up on hotdogs, burgers, fries, nachos, popcorn, icecream and sodas. It was a beautiful stadium and they even had a waterfall in the outfield. Even though the Rockies lost to the Nationals, we all had a great time together. Later that night, we settled in to sleep in our new RV for the first time.

Thursday morning we headed back to Longmont, CO to move all of our stuff over. It was a pretty quick process with the boys all pitching in, it only took about 3 hours. I took some final pictures of our empty camper and said goodbye. I was a little sad to see it go since we had so many memories together over the last 5 years. 

We hurried back to Chatfield S.P. to get the boys bikes so they could race at a local track in Centennial called County Line BMX. The Wittenbergs met us there so they could see the boys in action. Jason, Nathan, SamBob and Wesley all did well placing 3^rd in their main events. It was Olympic day so the track gave out Olympic trading cards and special certificates.

 



Friday morning, we followed the Wittenbergs to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was quite a drive and I was pretty irritated by the time we got there because the kids were driving us crazy. It was so worth the trip! The view at 12,000 something feet was unbelievable. At the top of Trail Ridge Drive, we went into the visitor center to check out the lookout point and take pics. There was a glacier right next to us that was breathtaking.

After a few souvenirs and some snacks, we headed down the mountain. On the way, we stopped and hiked up Rock Cut. It was only a ½ mile up but the elevation was making it hard to breath. The temperature was dropping and it started to sprinkle. I took lots of pictures of the mountains, wildflowers, sky, etc. This was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen.

        

By the time, we made it back down to the RV, my fingers were frozen and we were pretty worn out from carrying Micah and Wesley. We drove down to Estes Park a little town in the valley that was built around a river. It had lots of tourist/trendy things to do. We let the kids play on the playground for a while before sitting down to eat some Mexican food, YUM!

Saturday morning was our day to check out from Chatfield State Park but there was a slight problem. We had all of this stuff on our site that wouldn’t fit in the new RV. Doug came to our rescue with a utility trailer and hauled it all back to his house. Jason and Doug went out looking for a cargo trailer for us to purchase but didn’t have much luck. We ended up calling and changing our arrival date for our next destination for one day later.

That evening, we met Steve “Binky” Burns for dinner at Red Robin. He was our store manager at Linens’ n Things in Tampa in the early 1990’s. It was great to see him and reconnect. He was amazed at the size of our family and all these active boys. We made a trip to Target to get a few groceries and organizers for the RV then headed back to the Wittenbergs to camp in front of their house.

Sunday after church we hung out and I got some business stuff wrapped up while Jason and Doug worked in the yard.  After dinner, we went to the neighborhood pool to swim and cool off after a long, hot day. Later, we had ice cream sundaes in their front yard with another family who had 8 kids. In all, there were 18 kids running around- what fun!

 



Monday morning, Jason got up early with Doug to go and dump a bunch of stuff that had been cleaned up around the house on Sunday. He also found a 6X12 cargo trailer on craigslist and quickly emailed the seller. It was still available and we drove up to Golden, CO to get it. It needed two new tires but otherwise was in great shape and a good price. We ended up finally getting on the road about 6 pm that night after packing and saying our goodbyes. What a fun, busy week we had with our friends!