Rooms with a View (Day 4 -- July 29, 2016)

We began our day with a 10:30 ranger-led tour of Balcony House at Mesa Verde National Park. Balcony House was built around 1200 AD by the Ancestral Pueblo people.  The Visitor's Center warns you at the time of purchasing the tour tickets that you will have to climb several tall ladders (one is 32 feet tall) and crawl through a narrow (18-inch wide) tunnel as part of the tour.  The site is 6,700 feet above sea level, so they warn you that the tour will be strenuous.  Needless to say, we were all a little nervous about it, but we decided it was too great of an opportunity to pass up.  Here was the view from the trail at the meeting point to begin the tour.  Pretty crazy view, huh?!?


After descending several trails and sets of steps into the valley, we arrived at the "big ladder" in order to get up and into the dwelling.  Here is a view of the ladder from above.


We faced our fears and chanted the mantra "don't look down" as we climbed.

                                               

                               

We made it inside the dwelling!  We were able to learn a lot about the dwelling and about the people that inhabited it.  It has 38 rooms and 2 kivas (which were the community gathering spots that were dug down into the ground).  I can't imagine living that close to the edge of a massive cliff.  Archaeologists think that several extended families lived in this dwelling.  I guess you had to really be able to get along with your family, or it would have been really easy to be "accidentally" pushed off the cliff.

We were able to visit several rooms in the dwelling.


We also attempted a family picture.
                 

In order to get back to the trail/ladders that led up to the top of the cliff, we had to squeeze through the aforementioned dreaded tunnel.


I was the last one in our family to attempt the tunnel.  I told the random strangers behind me that they could push me out in the style of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Pot, if I got stuck.  Luckily, we all made it through unscathed and no one had to paint a face on my rear end.  (Re-read the Winnie the Pooh stories, if you don't understand this reference.)  We thought the hard parts were behind us (no pun intended), until we got to yet another ladder...


This one was shorter and more manageable than the 32-footer.  We made it back to civilization!

I was so proud of the kids for facing their fears to experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Well, Jack didn't have any fears.  He spent the whole tour telling us how awesome he was at all of this.

After lunch, we toured the Cliff Palace dwelling on another ranger-led tour.  We knew that this one required a few small ladders, but we weren't nervous, as we had already survived Balcony House.

When we saw the view from the meeting point, we were really excited to be able to see this dwelling up close.


As we hiked down, we got a better look.


We finally arrived at the base of the dwelling.


Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America, with around 150 rooms, including 21 kivas.  Here is an example of a kiva.
                           
The kivas were covered with a flat roof with a hole in the center of the roof.  They entered and exited the kiva via a ladder leaned against the hole.  They also built a unique ventilation system inside the kiva.  This was so fascinating!  They estimated around 100 to 120 people lived in Cliff Palace together.  The ranger described it as the "New York City of Cliff Dwellings".  Here are a few more pictures from inside the dwelling.




The trek out of Cliff Palace wasn't quite as harrowing as Balcony House, but it was still a bit of a hike up.
                        

On the ride back out of the park, we encountered some wildlife -- turkeys and deer.

                               

Mesa Verde was an amazing experience.  I would definitely go back again, if given the opportunity.  Jack was disappointed that he didn't get to go down into a kiva.  My parents visited Mesa Verde about 15 years ago and had pictures of going into a kiva.  Unfortunately, that site (Spruce Tree House) was closed during our visit due to rock fall danger.  Maybe some day we can return to experience that site.

We left Mesa Verde and headed to Moab, Utah, which seems to be a really fun little town.  The drive was gorgeous.  The pictures don't do it justice, but I am posting some anyway.


Moab was still around 103 degrees at 9:00 PM.  I will buy into the dry heat argument after the sun is down.  It didn't feel nearly as hot as the 107 degree heat from the day before.  Tomorrow morning, we head to Arches National Park!

4 States for the Price of 1 (Day 3 -- July 28, 2016)

We began the day on a journey to Los Alamos to see my cousin, Catherine, who lives there with her partner, Chris.  Jack decided to catch up on world financial news in the car.

The drive to Los Alamos revealed breathtaking scenery on the edge of town.  The pictures don't begin to do it justice.


We met Catherine at the Bradbury Science Museum in downtown Los Alamos.
                                       
It was so great to see her!!!  We had to take a "cousin selfie".







The Bradbury Museum had lots of hands-on science exhibits to explain the current science research and developments happening in Los Alamos.  We watched a fascinating short film on the history of "The Town that Never Was".  The museum also contains exhibits about the Manhattan Project.  Here are the kids posing with replicas of Fat Man and Little Boy, the atomic bombs that ended WWII.  Yes, this is a bizarre subject for a picture, but we couldn't resist.


Our visit was over entirely too quickly, and we weren't able to see Chris, as we needed to press on to Four Corners.  Los Alamos is a beautiful town.  We definitely want to go back for a longer visit in the future!   It is very much worth the 40 minute trip, if you are ever in the Santa Fe area.

Now, for the journey to Four Corners. It is about a 4 hour drive from Los Alamos to Four Corners, with beautiful views around each bend.  We drove through Abiquiu, which is the location of Georgia O'Keeffe's house, Ghost Ranch.  It is the landscape that inspired so many of her paintings.  Here are a few  pictures of the view from Abiquiu Lake.




After hours of driving (including a short trek through Arizona (yay!), we finally arrived at Four Corners Monument, which is the point where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet.  Needless to say, we were all a little punchy by now.  As we pulled into the parking lot, the car showed that the temperature outside was 107 degrees.
                                                 
What!?  107 Degrees!!!!  I know what "they" say about it being a dry heat, but let me tell you, it felt like our skin was baking in an oven.  107 degrees is hot, no matter how you slice it!  Luckily, the line wasn't long to see the monument and take pictures.  Ha!  Sarcasm...
                                                

We endured, though.  We had driven too far to give up now.  They only allow you to take 3 pictures per family, so we didn't get pics of the kids getting their hands and feet in all 4 states at once.  I assure  you that they can check that one off the list.  It was a quick process.  Did I mention it was 107 degrees?  Here are all 4 kids in 4 different states.


And...the obligatory family picture...


Amazingly, there was  no line for the plaque that describes the purpose of the monument.


It was worth the drive, the line and the heat!  This was an opportunity you just can't pass up if you are in the area.

We then began the hour-long drive to the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park, which is the home of Pueblo Cliff Dwellings.  We stopped at the visitor center to purchase tickets for two tours the following day.  Tip:  Definitely get your tickets the day ahead, if you want to do any Mesa Verde ranger-led tours!  They sell out very quickly in the summer months.  You can only purchase tickets at the Visitor Center.

Dan, in his travel planning magic, was able to book two rooms at the Far View Lodge, the only hotel within the park.  It is only about 15 miles from the front entrance, but it takes almost 45 minutes of driving, due to all of the switchbacks.  Around each corner was a more incredible vista than the last.  We stopped at the Park Point overlook, which is the highest point in the park.  We were all huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top of the trail, due to the very high altitude and thin air.  You can see for at least 100 miles in each direction.



At the Far View Lodge, each room has a small balcony with an amazing view.  The hotel has no TVs because they don't want to distract from the views.


Tomorrow, we explore the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings!

On the Santa Fe Trail (Day 2 -- July 26, 2016)

After some much needed sleep, we began the second day of our trip ready to explore Santa Fe.  We enjoyed breakfast on the patio restaurant of our hotel, La Posada.

We quickly discovered that Old Town Santa Fe is full of art galleries.  While we avoided actually entering the galleries (thus, avoiding a "you break it, you buy it" scenario), the outside of the galleries were fun to see.  Jack and Hadley particularly liked this gallery with a giant silver dragon perched on the roof.

                                

We headed toward Santa Fe Plaza, which was the termination point of the Santa Fe Trail, which ran from Missouri to Santa Fe.  I expected a large display commemorating the trail, including a covered wagon sculpture or something similar.  We couldn't find anything like that.  There is a large monument in the middle of the Plaza to another event, so we took a picture with that.  

                     

Then, we headed to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  

                                            

It was the perfect-sized art museum for a quick but meaningful visit.  It was not overwhelming to the kids, which was a plus.  They really enjoyed the artwork, and the biographical film was very interesting.  The museum provided sketchpads and pencils to the kids, so that they could sketch some of Mrs. O'Keeffe's artwork.  What a neat idea!  All 4 kids really enjoyed it.  Lyndon learned about Georgia O'Keeffe in school last year, so it was a great connection for her to see the artwork in person.  

                                                       

We headed to a delicious French bistro for lunch, Clafoutis, which was only a few blocks from the Museum.  Then, we walked a different route back through Old Town Santa Fe to our hotel.  We discovered Burro Alley, so named for the burros that frequented the road, carrying bundles of wood to all of the gambling halls in the 1800s.  They do have a commemorative sculpture of a burro.

Jack and Hadley also pretended to be burros under a beautiful mural in the alley.  I am refraining from posting the picture of Jack on all fours with Hadley pretending to ride on his "burro" back.  

                  

We let the kids swim at the pool for a bit, which is still the highlight of every hotel stay to them, even though they swim every day at home.  Then, we ate a delicious tapas dinner at La Boca, before driving to the opera.  The Santa Fe Opera is an open-air opera house.  We lucked into the proper timing of being able to attend a performance of the Strauss opera, Capriccio.  It was the kids' first opera.  The setting couldn't have been any more beautiful.  Here is the view from the parking lot.  

The Opera House and set were unique and the production was lovely.  

While everyone enjoyed it, the length was a little much for several of the kids.  Jack fell asleep about 30 minutes into Act I.  I think the time change from Eastern Time Zone had a little to do with it.  At the end of Act II, the lead female had about a 20 minute aria alone on the stage.  It  was so beautiful, but we agreed that none of us wanted to memorize that much music!  Jack woke up during the Curtain Call, so we were able to get a group picture on the way out of the Opera House.

                                

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a gas station.  The kids and I saw a man wearing a very unique style of t-shirt.  It was similar to a tuxedo t-shirt, except that it was designed to look like he was wearing a Mariachi band suit, complete with frilly collar and flower in the lapel.  After seeing a man walking a dog that was wearing a baseball cap after dinner (the cap had holes cut out for the dog's ears), we determined that Santa Fe makes for some great people watching.  Tomorrow, we head to Colorado!