The Heat of Moab

The last time we were in Moab, Utah was 2006, long before the children and all that other stuff between when we left Montana and now. Since then, the expanded family has grown exponentially. If the Millers had come along this time the campground might not have been big enough. I do have to say, Moab is a fantastic place to visit, even if it is 107 degrees in the summer. It was hot. Really hot. Especially if you're camping in a tent at night. So that limited our activities during the day, but we still got out to see the parks and hung out with the Utah Sellers. The landscape is unique in that part of the country, with steep rocky cliffs, red dirt, and beautiful wind-carved rock formations. We hung out in the campground while the kids swam in the pool or played in the creek, then we hiked in the heat, and even did a little Jeep off-roading.

The Green Table

I thought "mesa" meant mountain in Spanish, but I guess I should have known that "Montana" is the Spanish word for mountain. So I learned something after going to Mesa Verde, which I guess looks like a green table. We didn't have a lot of time, and after dealing with a slight fiasco at the campground in Cortez, Becky and I took the boys into Mesa Verde to see a few of the sites. It was a long, long drive to the back of the park, but it was incredibly beautiful. The sweeping valleys and towering sand colored cliffs surrounded us as we curved our way back to the locations the park is known for. It was too late to take a Ranger tour, but we did get to see some of the famous Puebloan cliff dwellings, even though it was raining by the time we got there. We've been to several parks like this, but this one has the most impressive ancient structures.

While we did get rained on, it was nice to actually wear a jacket in July for a change!

The Great Sand Dunes

This place had been on my list for a few years, but even though we'd driven past several times, we'd never been able to get over and see Great Sand Dunes National Park. So this time we reserved a camp site and met Grandpa Jim and Grandma Cindy to check it out. The winds converge at the edge of the Rockies, causing mountains of sand to form in the valley. The tallest sand dune is said to be around 700 feet above the valley floor and is the tallest in North America. It was easy to see where all the sand comes from, as that's pretty much all there was at our campsite.

We took the worst road I've probably ever been on to get to a short hike to Zapata Falls... but unfortunately I was the only one who actually made it back to see the falls, which wasn't really worth the hike. The friendly campground manager told us it never rains there, so of course while we were on the hike, it poured at the campsite and tried to destroy our tent. But after the hurricane winds died down, we were able to make camp on the first night and everything worked out.

The next morning, we got up early and set out to climb the dunes. We quickly discovered that walking in pure sand, especially while walking uphill at 8,000 feet above sea level, is not an easy task. By the time we made it to the top of the dune we set out to climb, Paul was crawling on his hands and knees, I was trying not to die, and Adam was somehow still jogging it. The views were incredible...

The photos don't really show how steep some of these dunes really were. Even Adam had to get down and crawl a little here and there...

Made it to the top! Of this one at least... 

Bandelier National Monument

After Lubbock we took the short drive over to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where surprisingly we had never been. We didn't see much in the city, since it was raining at the time and I hadn't really looked up anything to check out. Our hotel was north of town and not far from Bandelier National Monument, so of course we had to go. I'd never heard of it before I randomly happened to see it on the map (which is how I usually find the off-the-wall places we end up going), and since we had Paul's 4th Grade Free Pass to the National Parks, it seemed like a great idea. Southern Colorado and New Mexico have numerous preserved sites where the ancient peoples of those lands lived, and this is one of them. We drove back in the canyon and took a short hike along the cliffs to see some of the dwellings. I'm not sure what the elevation was, but it wasn't as hot as it could have been, which made for a decent hike. Of course we took photos...

The 4th and a Trip North

It seems anymore like every summer we're on the road. I guess that's what happens when you live at the southern tip of Texas and everyone else in the family lives way up above us on the map. Even if we were just going across this state it would be a long drive. But that's alright, we really don't mind the drive, especially if we can break it up and see something we haven't seen along the way. Of course, that may become more difficult over the years, but for now, there's still a lot to see. This time we stayed in Lubbock the first night and attempted to see the fireworks show for the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, we just ended up getting lost in the hood (but did see some of the locals' street fireworks) and then when we made it to the park, the cops told us to leave because the storm of the century was moving in. So we celebrated Independence Day in the pouring rain at a Fuddruckers in northern Texas. The boys did get to dress the part anyway...

Who needs fireworks when you have three 24-hour noisemakers? As long as they don't blow anything up or burn anything down, we're good.