The CS Bowen Five - Road Trip

July 2-5,2010

The five of us headed out on our first road trip together and we had a wonderful time. Our main goal was to visit Mesa Verde National Park but we also visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park – the kids’ first stamp in the National Parks Passport book. This is a short outline of our trip.

Friday July 2 – We left at the reasonably early time of 8:30 and drove highway 24 to Buena Vista where we made a rest stop and enjoyed the view of the Sawatch Range including the Collegiate Peaks. From here we took highway 285 to highway 50 west at Poncha Springs. Arriving at the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass around noon we stopped for a lovely picnic lunch. This pass is 11,312 feet so it was a little cool but no snow on the ground! From here we continued west through Gunnison and on to the turn off at Highway 347 for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The scenery all along the road was just beautiful. Our first stop in the Park looking out over the Canyon was just awesome. It brought tears to my eyes because it was as wonderful as I had remembered it and it was so special to share it with my family who were equally in awe. We walked around the edge for a bit and took lots of photos. Sophia and Vincent really enjoy taking photos and they both have a very good eye for the special photo. We saw a most interesting spider – bright red and Vincent got some good photos of it. We asked several people at the visitor center but no one could identify it – not even with the help of several books. After we got home I asked my birding teacher about it and she suggested it might be a Velvet Ant! Who knew ants would look like that – but that is what we think it is! A new learning experience!

We went to the Visitor Center and I bought the kids a National Parks Passport. Now each time they visit a park they can stamp it and will have a lifelong history of where they have been. We decided to walk the loop trail near the center – the 2 miles Oak Flat Trail. It was a beautiful hike but it certainly felt longer than 2 miles. Half way through it started raining a bit with thunder in the distance. We made it to our car before it rained hard so the rest of the views up the road were somewhat diminished by the rain. We just had to stop at a few lookouts so some of us got pretty wet – but we didn’t mind. The views were worth it and who knows if we will be back again. But it was getting dinnertime so we reluctantly left the park and drove to our motel in Montrose. We arrived 5:30 having driven 260 miles for the day. Had dinner and went to bed soon afterwards.

Saturday July 3 – Had a leisurely buffet type breakfast – the standard Best Western menu and then we left around 8:30. We drove south on 550 through Ridgway, Ouray, and Silverton, to Durango. This is an absolutely beautiful highway – parts of which are called “The Million Dollar Highway”. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and stand in awe and photograph all the sites at the pull outs along this highway but the places we did stop were just awesome. We stopped at Ouray for a rest stop and Kenneth and Judy were hoping to get a cup of coffee. It was a cute town – worth a longer visit some day in the future. We did stop at Cascade Falls Park and take the short trail to the foot of the 300 – foot waterfall. Took some nice family photos there too. This waterfall is the last in a series of seven waterfalls that carries snowmelt off the mountains and down a flume through Ouray. It seems they have plenty of water here! We left Ouray and stopped at Red Mountain Pass for another good picnic lunch – lovely views up here. Then we drove into the town of Silverton where Kenneth and Judy were at last able to get a cup of coffee. The kids and I walked through the historic part of town – an area often used in old Western movies. I stopped at an artist’s shop – he made metal art and I rather liked a garden ornament but it didn’t quite fit my garden and he didn’t have any others. But later as we were walking Vincent commented that he thought the big horn sheep would look good in his yard so I told him to go back and find out how much it was – he did and it was only $10 so I bought it for him. It was fun talking to the artist – he seemed to be doing blacksmith type of work too. So we drove through the rest of the town and then headed south on highway 550 to Durango. Again just beautiful scenery along with a bear along side of the road. We stopped to watch him and got some good photos. We arrived at Durango at 2:00 and checked in and unloaded our luggage and then headed for Mesa Verde. We stopped at the park entrance for a photo and then drove another half an hour to Park Point Overlook where we walked and looked at the area around us. I was glad to see ShipRock in New Mexico – always heard about it but never saw it. Then we went to the Visitor’s Center and spent quite a bit of time in here. The kids finally decided they wanted to sign up for a tour to Balcony House for the next day – they decided to do that instead of going to Four Corners – which some other visitors said was not worth visiting. Because it was getting to be dinnertime we left and went back to the motel. We drove a total of 230 miles for the day. We went out to dinner and then back for the night.

Sunday July 4 Left the motel at 8:30 after a good breakfast and drove the main road in Mesa Verde Park. We stopped at the Spruce Tree house and had a lovely walk to it and through the dwellings. We took lots of pictures and asked lots of questions. Then instead of any other walks we spent some time in the museum and then drove over to the Balcony House area where we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch and just hanging out. I walked down the road to the next parking area and walked out to the Soda Canyon Overlook Trail. I could see the four of them across the way as they made their way into Balcony House. They had a 32-foot ladder to climb plus some tight spaces to crawl through but they all did fine. I had done it once before with David so I enjoyed the hike and view instead. After this we drove the road stopping to see the Tower House and the Cliff Palace. Amazing to think of the people who built and lived in this area. The Hopi Indians had a dance performance so we went to watch them for a bit – very elaborate outfits. Then we headed back to the motel for clean up and dinner. We had a very nice and relaxed dinner at a pizza place – ordered at the counter and then sat outside and relax in a cool and calm atmosphere. It was pleasant. Then we found out we were staying at a perfect spot for the Fourth of July fire works display. We sat on the back of the car, ate See’s candy and watched a display that went on for almost an hour. It was glorious.

Monday July 5 - After our usual breakfast we hung around for a while until we finally left at 9:30. We headed east on highway 160 to Pagosa Springs. We stopped there so the kids could play in the water and Kenneth and Judy could get coffee. The kids could play in some hot springs as well as the San Juan River. We had our picnic lunch here before heading home. We did stop at the Wolf Creek Pass – another road crossing of the Continental Divide. Then mostly drove straight through to Colorado Springs. The total trip was about 950 miles – saw lots of beautiful scenes and made many happy memories.

Written from a few notes and my memories.

7/14/10

Penelope Bowen