2005 Trip
Colorado & Utah

Thursday, May 5

We took off after work to spend the night at the Red Roof Inn at the Atlanta airport. Given our 8:00 AM flight, there was no way I'd try to drive in to catch the flight in the morning. As usual, the room was clean and functional, nothing special. With free parking for two weeks, however, it was a bargain. Basically free.

Friday, May 6

Got out of Atlanta on time via Delta. The flight was comfortable and free of any major turbulence. They had taken off a bit early and were expecting to get in early but we seemed to lose time as we went along. We landed in Denver and went in search of the luggage. I think Denver designed their airport with Atlanta in mind. Everything is via an internal train. They aren't as large as ATL with only 3 concourses but the ride is considerably slower than ATL. I guess they obey the speed limits. We got off the train and wandered around looking for the right baggage site. The signing was very poor. I finally asked someone for directions (you know that killed me). Pointed in the right direction we stood by the carrousel and in a short time our luggage appeared. We grabbed everything and headed out for the rental car shuttle. Perfect timing, the National Bus pulled up just as we got outside. We headed out to the "car rental place". It is a good 10-15 minute ride from the airport. This airport is REALLY in nowhere land. We had no trouble at the rental agency and headed out. It took us 20 minutes to get to Denver from the airport. The long flat plain seemed to go on and on.

Shortly after loading up we passed the small town of Idaho Springs. It looked interesting and we decided to try and stop there on our return to Denver.

As we came out of the mountains we passed through several famous ski resort towns like Eagle and Vail. All were cute, small and nestled in the valley along the Colorado River or one of its tributaries. There is very little land between the mountain ridges, so it's easy to see why these places are so expensive. Even with the sparse land there was building going on in every town as we passed. We finally got to Glenwood Canyon. I-70 goes right through it. It is an engineering marvel. After we exited the canyon we found ourselves at our destination, Glenwood Springs. You can see the famous hot springs and the Colorado Hotel from I-70, just before you exit. The springs and our hotel were on the northern side of I-70 and the Colorado River, while the town itself was on the southern side.

We finally made it down to the pool. You enter the front of the complex and go through the locker room area to get to the pool. It is very spacious, clean and modern. We got out to the pool and could feel the heat from the water. The pool area consists of a therapy pool that is only about three 1/2 feet deep and the size of a regular pool, It is heated to 104 degrees. It also has a number of benches and "hot seats" in it. The hot seats are these metal tubing chairs that you can sit in, put in a quarter and you get your own private spa treatment. The large pool is about the size of 3-4 Olympic pools if not larger. It is heated (actually cooled) to 90 degrees and has several lap lanes marked off as well as a deep end for diving. There are also two large slides at the deep end, though they aren't open until Memorial Day weekend. The water and pool where very clean and had a slight sulphur smell to it, though not bad. We dove in and began to unwind. Unfortunately the weather did not want to cooperate with us. After 45 minutes a large thunderstorm moved in and we had to empty out the pool. The temperature dropped with the arrival of the storm so we decided to head back to the room. After we changed we decided to have a nice dinner and went down to the front desk for recommendations. When we got there the clerk apologized again and said that the "head maid" had check out the room and that we were right, the bed had not been changed (like we would lie in order to have the fun of dragging our luggage to another room).

We then drove around town checking the place out. It is a moderately large town with one main drag through the middle. We decided to call it a night after a short while.

Saturday, May 7

I-70 west of Glenwood Springs is a great easy road to travel. The scenery is pretty and the speed limits high. We went through the city of Grand Junction. We would hear many stories about the place during our trip. We met several couples and families who had recently moved to the place, proclaiming it to be heaven on earth. We didn't know this when we passed by or we would have stopped. Maybe next trip.

We passed into Utah and took the Rt. 128 cut off. Rt 191, further down, was a more direct and faster route to Moab but several guidebooks and members of travel chat boards all recommended taking this scenic route to Moab. They were right. It is a bit isolated and when we first took the cut off we thought we were lost. There is absolutely nothing around. No markers, signs, nothing. The road finally turned and we hit the Colorado river. Now the scenery began to develop. The road twisted and turned as it followed along the Colorado river. The canyon walls on either side began to heighten above us. We passed along several beautiful valley with huge rock pinnacles in the middle of each. Along the way we passed two resorts; Red Cliffs and Sorrel River . They both looked nice but that are quite a ways out of town. Not for us.

We got back on 191 and headed north. Just a few miles past the rt 128 junction we come on the entrance to Arches NP. We stopped at the entrance sign and posed for our obligatory picture then headed to the visitor's center. The temporary center is housed in a set of trailers. The new Visitors Center was being built. The only Ranger led trip I was interested in was Fiery Furnace. I asked the Ranger about it and he cautioned us that it was a 3 hour strenuous hike and that you need a good bit of upper body strength to pull yourself over some of the trail. It seemed fine to me but Mary didn't think she could be away from a bathroom for three hours and she wasn't sure she was all that strong either. Since this hike was not a biggy we just agreed to skip it and do what we could on our own.

We then drove out to Delicate Arch Viewpoint to get a look at the prize hike of tomorrow. The viewpoint gave us a good look at the slick open rock you hike up to get to the arch. With a slight rain already falling there was no way I would try this today. While we stood around looking at the arch from afar and discussing how much fun tomorrows hike would be, the heavens opened up and rain began to fall. We decided to call it a day and headed back to Moab. We were back at our hotel in around 25 minutes.

We got our room and checked the place out. After yesterday I made no jokes when my wife began to inspect the room. Everything was fine. The room looked over the pool area and there was also a large indoor spa that looked very inviting. We agreed to be back early tonight to give it a try. Neither of us were very hungry after that great lunch so we asked at the front desk for a good ice cream place. The recommended the Moab Diner. It was great. It's near the middle of town and looks a bit like a 1950's diner. We walked in and were greeted with a friendly "You folks looking for ice cream" by the woman behind the counter. We both smiled and said yea. We viewed the numerous selections of ice cream and my wife selected hers. The woman proceeded to fill a dish with 4-5 huge scoops of ice cream. I was looking on drooling. A young girl came up to me and asked what I wanted. In my mind I was thinking "No, let the woman with the big scoops get mine" but I didn't know how to say no. I asked for my flavor and she began to load up a dish just as much as the other woman. My mind was now thinking "I've found paradise". We got our huge dishes of ice cream and sat down to enjoy. The place is definitely a locals place. Lots of families and town people enjoying dinners and ice cream. The waitresses knew them all by name. This place had a real nice feel to it.

We finished up and walked across the street to a rafting company to get an idea on rafting prices. They did not seem too expensive. We then headed back to our hotel to jump in the hot tub. It was a great ending to an exhausting day.

Sunday, May 8

We got up around 6 and headed downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast room was large and very well attended. The fare was again the usual bagels and danish stuff. It was good but should have had more fruit. We ate our fill and headed out to Arches. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a bright blue sky above. We got to Arches and immediately headed to the parking lot for the Delicate Arches hike. The lot is near a area called Wolf Ranch. They had a rebuilt cabin and stockyard there. The Wolf ranch is the only homestead area inside the NP. We hurried out and had the trail to ourselves. The trail goes on for almost a mile up to the slick rock area where you start to climb. The incline is a bit steep and the trail goes pretty much straight up it. As we neared the top of the ridge the trial leveled out and we passed through some brush and scrub pine. We followed the trail and it suddenly took a turn around a mountain with the trail cut into the side. The drop off wasn't too bad, maybe 60-80 feet but it didn't make me happy. I started along looking down at the trail when suddenly as we turned the corner and it opened up and there was Delicate Arch. It was beautiful. There was a large flat area in front that we were able to just sit and admire it. There were only about 4 other people at the site when we got there. Two were far more adventurous than us and went scampering down the slick rock to the bottom of the Arch. Given the steep and long drop off we decided to stay where we were. I was getting dizzy just watching them run along the rim. We took it in for around 30 minutes when things started to get a bit more crowded. We decided to head out before it got too hot. We headed down the trail and met dozens of people on their way up. We were glad we had gotten there early and had the place almost to ourselves. The hike down was a bit difficult in that you were hiking down into your shadow so it was difficult to see where you were stepping. On the way down we took a side trail to view some Indian petroglphs. There was a small group of them on a rock overhang along the ridge. They were of Ute origin since they featured horses which did not exist in America during the Anasazi period. We then went back and inspected the homestead cabin that we had passed. It was really rough.

We took a long water break and headed out on the trail to Landscape Arch. It is the largest (greatest span) in the park. We did a fast march to the arch intending to see the other arches along the side trails on the way back. Landscape arch is very beautiful but it is tough to get a good viewpoint on it. They no longer allow you to get close to the arch for fear that it will collapse again as it did in 1999. We admired it from afar and turned around. As we were hiking back, Mary tried to kill me or at least give me a stroke. We were walking down the trail when she suddenly grabbed my arm and said in a very low voice, "Stop, don't move". My heart leapt into my mouth. I looked over expecting to see a rattlesnake two inches from me or even a mountain lion down the trail (after the bear experience in Sequoia, anything is possible). I looked up as my heart began to pound in my chest and what did I see, a bunny rabbit. A freekin little cotton tail rabbit!!! I looked at her and she was just holding up her camera trying to take a picture of the stupid creature. "What the he** are you trying to do" I exclaimed. "Shhh, I want to take his picture" she responded.. I tried to explain to her that she had almost killed me but all she was concerned with was the picture of the rabbit. She finally got her picture and we agreed that she would never do that again unless it was a snake, bear or mountain lion.

We did a final stop at the visitors center and headed back to town. We got back to the hotel and took a quick jump into the hot tub and pool. It was great after a long day.

While in the hot tub we decided to go for a raft ride the next morning. We headed into town for supper but stopped first at a Western Expeditions place and picked up our raft tickets. We were both starving and craving pizza a bit. We had asked at the front desk what the best place in town was for pizza and they said Isabella's. Their advertisement was a picture of a cute 4 year old girl with the statement " If we name our restaurant afer such a beautiful child, you know we must be good". I wasn't sure if it was just overly pretentious or actual child abuse but there was no way I was going to eat at any place that used their kid that way. We ended up eating at Zax. They had a pizza and salad buffet which was soso. Not worth the $11 fee. It was filling though.

We then spent the early evening exploring all the tourist traps. They have a large number of art shops and many are very nice, some we just couldn't understand. After satisfying our curiosity we ran back to the hotel and hopped into the hot tub before calling it a night.

Monday, May 9

We got up, ate quickly and headed out for our raft ride. We got to the rafting company by 7:45 and waited for everyone to show up. The group was small, about a dozen of us. It was a good mix of people all seeming to want to have fun. We loaded ourselves on the bus and headed back to the road we came into Moab on. The bus followed rt 128 along the Colorado pulling a huge trailer behind it with our two rafts and a kayak. The turns were really tight and I'm sure glad I didn't meet one of these buses when I can in. The road really was not wide enough for this traffic. We stopped off at Red Cliffs Ranch to pick up another couple of people. The place is in a nice location but didn't really look like anything special. We spoke to the couple later in the trip and they weren't all that thrilled with the place either. We then headed down the river a bit more. We loaded the raft into the river and jumped in. That water was COLD!!! Mary and I loaded up with part of a nice family from Forsyth county, GA.. Small world. Their kids were in the other raft. We floated along enjoying the pleasant company and the great scenery. The water was very dark, almost chocolate color. The river was very high and fairly calm We went over a few white water spots but nothing special. It was relaxing and fun. We got out a couple of hours later and hopped back on the bus. The rafts were refilled with afternoon adventurers. They took us back to town to clean up a bit.

It is a fairly long drive over to the park from Moab. The road you turn in on is about 10 miles north of Moab. Once you're on that road you follow a canyon from bottom to the top. The drive to the park is fairly long. We stopped at several points along the road and took some great pictures. Unfortunately, the bad weather was moving in. After an hour we finally made it to the park entrance. We went in and went over all the possible day hikes in the park with a ranger. I wrote down her recommendations and figured I'd go over them tonight. The weather was getting more and more overcast but we decided to at least drive to some of the overlooks and see what we were getting into. First we walked across the street from the VC to the Schaffer Canyon overlook. It was very impressive. Down on the bottom you could see some of the roads that had been cut into the canyon to mine various minerals during WWII. We then took off for the Green River Overlook. Several guidebooks said this was one of the most beautiful sights in the USA. The view was impressive but the haze was terrible. You could see the Green River, but much of the beauty of the surrounding canyons was lost. We drove around to a few more overlooks but the haze was just to thick to get any kind of a good look. We saw how small the park was so we knew we could hit all these overlooks again tomorrow. We just had to hope for a better day tomorrow

Tuesday, May 10

When we went down for breakfast the weather channel was talking about a severe wind advisory moving into the area. They said it would be building all day and really bad this afternoon. We hurried through breakfast and headed out to Canyonlands. The bad weather was already moving in. The day was overcast with no sun. We decided to go to the highlights as quick as possible. We went to the end of the park (Whale Rock) and headed out on the long hike of the day, a 2 mile jaunt to Upheaval dome. There were two overlooks. The first was only a 1/3 mile or so down the trail. Easy to get to. The first overlook gave us an idea of what we were looking at. Upheaval Dome is a crater dome in the bottom of a canyon. They think a meteor hit the area many years ago and caused the crater. The sides of the canyon and the soil pouring from the top of the crater are a rich mix of colors caused from salts deep within the earth that were thrown up to the surface by the impact of the meteor. We stood on the first overlook for awhile and then headed out to the second. The wind was picking up dramatically. The trail was often difficult to follow and had many patches of slick rock that you had to traverse. We marched on as the weather got worse. The wind was becoming quite a problem with gusts well over 50mph. They always seemed to hit as we were walking along the edge of a drop on slick rock with broken gravel under our feet. We finally got to what we later found out was the end of the trail. An outcropping with a railing that hung out so you could look back into the canyon. The wind made this a rather unpleasant place to be. We stayed for a few minutes looking back at the crater and then headed out on what we thought was the continuation of the trail. These "rock" trails are marked simply by small rocks piles that you follow over the slick rock. Well there were several "trails" that continued further along the canyon. We followed what we thought was the trail for around 15 minutes only to find that it just ended nowhere. We wandered around until the wind just got to bad to tolerate and headed back.

We headed back to the central part of the park stopping at some of the overlooks as we continued along to the furthest end of the park; Grand View point. We pulled into the parking lot and headed out to the overlook. This overlook was a view of the Colorado River. You go down a series of steps from the overlook directly to the edge of the mesa. The Grand View trail follows along the side of the mesa. The drop is quite dramatic and I did my best to stay away from the edge as much as possible. We went all the way out to the edge of the mesa. The view is great along the way, though again, the trial is not marked very well. We sat out on the end for awhile enjoying the view before returning to the parking lot. The Green and Colorado rivers meet at this point but you could not see the convergence site from the overlook.

We went back to the Green River overlook for lunch. The wind was again getting bad and we ended up having to eat in the car to avoid getting dust all over our food. After lunch we headed back to the main entrance and our last stop, Mesa Arch.

We had taken about as much wind as we could and decided to head back to the hotel. The wind wasn't so bad in Moab, though it was still rather gusty. Luckily the pool area is closed in on three sides from the hotel and the hot tub was inside so we decided to relax and enjoy the facilities. We hung around the pool and decided to have our last meal the same place we had our first meal: Fiesta Mexicana. The food and service were again great. We walked around town and visited the shops before heading back for an early night. We did however stop off for one last ice cream at the Diner.

Wednesday, May 11

We left Moab and headed south toward Blanding, our next stop over. On the way we were going to visit the Needles section of Canyonlands NP. The Needles section of the park is rather isolated. I thought it would take under an hour to get there but it took us 1 ½ hours to get out to the park. On the way we followed Rt 211 that ran beside Indian Creek. Personally I thought the scenery along this road was better than in the park. A little more than half way down the side road to the park is a State park site called Newspaper Rock. It is filled with dozens of Indian petroglyphs. It was well worth stopping for. As we followed the river the canyon walls began to grow higher and more distance from the road. Shortly before entering the park there is a huge flat plain with great red canyons walls on either side. It is very impressive

We stopped at the Visitors Center to get our bearings and hike recommendations. Their VC is brand new and very nice. I'm sure Arches will look very similar when they're done.

We headed out for 3-4 short hikes in the area. The first is Roadside Ruin. It's a simple easy hike to a food cache that was built by the Indians centuries ago. This was a bit disappointing. I'd skip this one.

The sky was still very threatening and in fact it had drizzled on us a bit along the trail so we decided to head out to the end of the park and work our way back. We stopped at few overlooks but then looped back to the main road and stopped at some overlooks as we went to the end of the park road at Big Springs Canyon Overlook. We parked the car and hiked out to the edge of the mesa point. It was a very nice view but our stay was cut short as it started to rain again. Since this was all slick rock we did not want to try to get back over wet rock so we headed quickly back to the car. Upon reaching the car it of course stopped raining.

The areas we had been in had been crowded so I thought we could get away from everyone by heading down a dirt side road to Elephant Hill. It was a recommended site in one of my guidebooks, The road out there is all rough dirt with several washout areas. It's 7 miles out to the hill area and we were quite alone the entire time. Mary was getting nervous as we neared the end. She was worried if something happened there was no one around. Just as she was going on about our isolation we arrived at Elephant Hill. What did we find there? 20 cars in the parking lot and several people loading up for major overnight hikes. The area was packed with people and cars. We laughed a bit and decided this wasn't the peace and quiet we were looking for so we turned around and headed back. It was getting late so we decided to head out of the park.

We pulled into our hotel, the Comfort Inn. The place had an indoor pool and hot tub. The room was large and fairly nice, though it could have been a bit cleaner. It was a few minutes past 4 PM so we headed over to Edge of the Cedars State Park. It was only about a mile from the hotel. The park is on the edge of town and has some restored ruins on it. It apparently is a small section of a larger site in the area. We went through the VC and saw the displays. There was not a lot inside. One thing that was interesting was a sign saying something about a 1997 or 98 Federal seizure. It was an open letter explaining the incident from the parks perspective. Apparently locals had been digging on this site and many others for decades and had many items in their homes from the sites. The feds got a warrant and went into peoples homes taking the items.

The ruins were not anywhere near a cliff but were the traditional pueblo buildings associated with the Anasazi. We were allowed to roam around freely and actually were able to go down into a rebuilt kiva. Kivas were large circular rooms that had a lot of religious significance. They entered the room through an opening in the roof. The layout of the kiva was the same everywhere we went over the next week. Each had a firepit in the middle, a vent with a dispersal stone near the opening and another hole that as supposed to represent the navel of the earth. Many of the kivas also had benches cut into the side around the walls. We poked around for awhile and headed back to our hotel We had dinner at the restaurant next door the "Old Tyme" restaurant. It was OK nothing great. Our free breakfast was going to be served here the next day.

We went back to the hotel early. The pool and hot tub were overrun with a 3 very loud children screaming at the top of their lungs. We decided tonight was a good night for laundry.

We got up bright and early for what would turn out to be our longest day on the road. We grabbed breakfast next door at the Old Tyme restaurant. They apparently had a deal with the Comfort Inn. They would provide a free continental breakfast or you could pay a bit extra and get a regular meal. We went with the freebie. We loaded up on a few snacks for lunch and took off to the south for Monument Valley. As we went along we passed through the small town of Bluff. The remains of an old Mormon fort were there so we pulled over and went through the place. Interesting but not something to go out of your way for. In a short time we jumped back in the car and passed through the next town, Mexican Hat (named after a rock formation nearby). If you like a small town atmosphere, this is your place. There is simply nothing there but a few really hard looking hotels and restaurants. A few miles down the road we entered the Navaho reservation, where Monument Valley was located. The weather had finally broken for us and it was a beautiful day. We entered the "park" and payed our fee to the Navajo nation. We climbed up the VC that overlooked the valley. The valley below was a very familiar site. Anyone who has seen any old John Wayne movies would recognize the huge sentinel rocks standing up from the plain. We reviewed the road leading into the valley and quickly determined that we did not really want to drive the rental car on the roads below. They were very rough looking. The "public road" was a 17 mile loop through the valley. There were several native guides that offered tours of the back country off the main road. We decided to hire one of them. We made a reservation at the tour booth and waited a short time. We chose the 2 ½ hour tour for $40. It was worth every cent. It was a great trip. We got on an open jeep type vehicle with one other couple and took off. A short distance down the road the guide stopped and explained some of the highlights of the valley and then took us to John Ford Point. It was a rock outcropping that John Ford used to sit on when directing his movies in the valley. We then moved off the public road to the back country. The roads here were impassable with a regular car. All were posted that you were not allowed on them without a guide. This part of the trip was the best. The first stop was an overhead arch called "Eye of The Sun". It was an overhead arch that had water streaks along the edges that looked like eyelashes. The sun shone right through it, hence the name. Our guide also showed us some petroglyphs nearby. He took us further out to see several other arches and viewpoints. The last stop was the best. It was The Hogan (after the house they lived in). It was a huge open cave like formation with an open arch over the top. The guide instructed us to go under the arch and to lean up against the wall (it had a 45 degree angle). We leaned back and stared up at the opening. Suddenly the guide began to sing a navajo song that echoed throughout the Hogan. We relaxed an enjoyed the moment. The 2 ½ hours had flown by quickly. It was now time to return to the entrance.

We left the valley area and headed out to Natural Bridges National Monument. On the map, the road was supposed to be a highway. In reality a large part of it was gravel and very treacherous when it went up the side of a canyon wall. Because of the road, a trip I thought would take less than a hour took two. We got to Bridges rather late. We drove around to the all the overlooks and went on one short hike. We were not able to go down into the canyon which is supposed to be the best part of the park. The three bridges looked impressive, though I'm sure they would have been better from the canyon floor. It was getting late so we headed out after a long day.

We finally got back to out hotel in Blanding. We weren't too hungry and decided to have a small meal at the A & W. It was the first time we had eaten at one in over a decade. When we got back after dinner we found the pool and hot tub to be empty. We quickly changed into our suits and took a quick dip before getting to bed.

Friday, May 13

We packed up a few snacks at breakfast, checked out of our hotel and headed for Hovenweep, a series of Indian ruins along a canyon. The road to the site is very well marked and easy to follow. We pulled into the VC and got a good overview of the site. It was really pretty simple. The trail went along one side of the canyon and then came back along the other. You would have to cross the canyon at the end. The hike took about 2 hours and was easy until we had to go down into the canyon and back up. Even that wasn't too difficult and it was well worth the effort. We started off on the initial side and were immediately stuck by the large number or ruins on both sides of the canyon, It was a strange mixture, unlike the pictures we see of Mesa Verde. Some of the structures were just on the edge of the canyon, some were on the bottom and some were on the side. The type of strictures also varied; round, square, small, huge. It was a very interesting place.

We polished off our apples and trail mix and headed down another dirt road to get to the main highway. This road, though gravel, wasn't too bad. It serviced the farms in the area. We finally got to the main road and turned toward Delores and the Anasazi Heritage Center. This was a new facility that has been attempting to preserve as much of the native relics and sites in the area as possible. The place was very interesting. They had examples of early pit house construction on site as well as actual ruins on top of the hill (we would see those after touring the museum). The museum had lots pictures and paintings of what the early sites looked like. They did an excellent job of describing the various periods of native development in the area. It also had lots of replicas that you could touch and manipulate yourself. I was very impressed with the place. After touring the building we hiked up the hill beside the main building to a series of ruins called the Escalente ruins. They were quite large and were on a high hill overlooking the entire valley area and river.

We left the Center and headed for our overnight stop, Cortez, the main city in the valley. When we got to the parking lot I told Mary that we had to wash the car before we did anything. I didn't even want to try to take luggage out of the car as dirty as it was. We found a car wash and then headed to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express. The place was very nice. In fact the nicest place we stayed in the entire trip. They also gave us a free drink coupon for the bar next door. They had a great outdoor patio that we just sat out at and enjoyed doing nothing.

Saturday, May 14

We got up for breakfast and were amazed. We were expecting the danish and bagel routine and instead got omelettes, pancakes, sausage, fresh biscuits, waffles plus all the regular stuff. It was an excellent breakfast. Just a great hotel.

We checked out and headed down to Four Corners. It is the only place in the country where four states meet together (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah). Much to our surprise the area is not a national park area, it is in fact on the Navaho Indian reservation. We paid our fee and went over to the site to take some pics. We were also surprised to see dozens of booths set up for selling items to the public. Kind of like an organized flea market. We kind of blew it off and went over to the Four Corners site. We posed for some pics and then decided what the heck, let's see what they have. We're glad we did. This was not a bunch of crap trinkets or imported garbage The stalls were filled with beautiful handmade silver jewelry and pottery. We browsed through the place for over an hour picking up a few things for ourselves and as gifts. We wished we had more money.

Our hotel was directly across the street from the VC and the restaurant and gift shop were beside the hotel area on the other side. We ran over to the hotel but our room wasn't ready so we went over to the restaurant and had some sandwiches that we had bought at Walmart. The restaurant did not look all that good. After lunch we were able to check in. I had reserved a Kiva Suite, which was one of the newly remodeled rooms. The room was furnished very nicely with a large king bed and entertainment center (with no TV). The problem was, the room was not really big enough to handle all the large furniture. Still it was nice and they had some nice touches like a CD player with a CD of native American music. The balcony view was also very nice.

We then took off for our Cliff Palace tour. The tour took 1 ½ hours and was really impressive. We followed a sign that said Cliff Palace down a short trail to an overlook. Once there you could look down at the entire complex. The ruins looked like a picture. Cliff Palace was framed by the overhang of the cliff. The guide arrived in a short amount of time and led us through a metal gate, then down a set of metal grated stairs to the bottom on the canyon side. From there we walked a short trail to than area just before the ruins. There the guide gave us a short lecture on the history of the cliff dwellings. It was the same story that we had heard at the museum. They lived in pit houses on top of the mesa from 300-800, then in sandstone pueblos from 800-1200 and finally in the cliff dwelling from 1200-1300 A.D. Shortly before 1300 everything was abandoned. She took us down into the complex and let us walk around for awhile. We were restricted from much of the complex and stayed at a distance on the walkway. We gathered around the top of a large kiva where she explained the structure of the "room" and it's evolution from the pit house. They do not really know what the kiva was used for but assumed it had religious significance . Each complex had several of them. She also explained that when the Palace was first discovered it's size was overestimated at around 175 rooms. They also thought it was a residential apartment building. Since then many studies have been done and they now believe that it was not a residential area (few fire pits and carbon markings) and that there were only around 125 rooms. They believe it was used as a central administrative structure for storing grain, hence the large number of storage rooms in the complex. We looked everything over and then took a series of rock steps and wooden ladders back to the parking lot. It was a great tour.

We finished our "meal" and since it was still daylight (with no TV in the room) we headed out to the Far View ruins, a short distance from the restaurant. These ruins are a collection of several sites, most notably two large complexes near each other with high walls. There were pueblo sites built on top of the mesa. There was also a third large complex down a trail called Coyote Village. It was very interesting and very well preserved. The outside walls were missing on one side so you could easily go inside and explore. I thought this was one of the best places to visit just because you could actually go around and in each of the rooms. We then followed a trail on the other side of the center ruins to what they think may have been a rock water reservoir. If it was, and they're not sure of that, it never held more than 8 inches of water. It was about 20-30 feet across and no more than 24 inches at its' deepest area. It was really nothing more than compacted dirt between rock walls.

We followed the trail a bit further and came on an excavated "pit house" that predated the pueblo sites were had just visited.. We walked around for awhile and headed back to our room as darkness set in. We made it back to the room and spent the rest of the night sitting out on the balcony watching the deer and rabbits go by as we listened to the native American music cd.

Sunday, May 15

Since there were no shades in the window we both woke up pretty early. Mary didn't really want to get up yet so I got dressed and ran down to the VC to see if I could get through the Balcony House tunnel. I ran up the ramp and saw that the tunnel was still there. I got down on my knees (this time in long pants) and laid myself down sideways. In doing so I was able to then pull myself through the tunnel. It was still a very tight squeeze but I was able to do it. I hurried back to the room to tell Mary we were going on the tour after all. She didn't seem all that thrilled. We sat around for awhile and went down to the VC at 7:45 to get in line for tickets. The VC opened at 8. We were first in line but by the time it opened there were more than a dozen people behind us. The doors opened and I quickly to the front desk and asked to purchase two tickets for the 10:00 tour. The ranger looked at me and said "you are aware of the tunnel". I told her I had squeezed through and had no problems. She then said "you also know that this tour encompasses a climb up a 32 foot wooden ladder and climbing up a 60 foot rock face with step and hand holds using a chain". I looked at her as if to say "are you for real?". But the words, "no problem" came out of my mouth. I just made up my mind I was going to do it no matter what. We left the VC and headed over for breakfast at the Far View restaurant. Thankfully the breakfast is much better and fresher than dinner. They had a breakfast buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy and a fruit compote with a bunch of other stuff. It was good and we were hungry.

We walked around the gift shop for awhile to let out stomachs settle and to let me think more about what the Ranger had said. I was beginning to sweat already.

In a short time the ranger showed up to lead the tour. She again went over the dangers of this tour and strongly recommended bringing water. We went back to the car and got two bottles. She then unlocked the heavy metal gate and led us down the pavement trail. We only went a very short distance when we stopped at the edge of the canyon wall. We then proceeded to walk down several flights of metal grated stairs to a flat section along the canyon wall about midway down. We then followed a trail along the wall until we came to the "ladder area". There in front of us was a raised platform with a huge double 32 foot (I'll take the rangers word on it) wooden ladder that was really just three long poles with sticks bolted in. It did not look sturdy but it did look high. I waited until everyone had gone up and gotten to the ruins to start up my side of the ladder. I went up that ladder faster than any other fat man in history making sure not to look down. The ladder was pretty solid near the bottom but got wobbly the last 10 feet. That did not make me happy.

After cleaning up we drove to a lookout point called Balcony House overlook to see what we had experienced. It's a good thing we hadn't done this first or else I never would have gone.

We then drove over to Spruce House. The walking path to this structure is steep but easy to follow. The ruins are actually the best preserved of all the ones in the park. The ruins included three kivas that had been rebuilt by the park service (roof replaced). We were able to go down into one of them. It was very claustrophobic but interesting. We headed back up the trail and had lunch at the Spruce Tree Terrace. We split a ½ pound burger and fries. The food was much better than that at Far View. With our bellies full we headed out for the only section of the park that we hadn't visited yet, the Mesa Loop or Ruins Road. The road has many stops all along it that offer easy viewing of archaeological sites from every time period.

We then returned to Far View ruins and again checked out Coyote Village in the better light. Went back to room and ended up eating sandwiches we had left over from Walmart. We did not want to eat supper at Far View again. We then drove out to Geologic outlook, a stop along the entrance road that had some benches where you could sit and look out over the valley to the west (Cortez). We sat and just stared out over the valley. It was awesome

Monday, May 16

We took off for Durango the next morning. The countryside between Mesa and Durango is lush with several rivers and creeks. If the Anasazi needed water they should have come here. We got to Durango and stopped at the VC. The majority of tourist places were really still closed until Memorial Day (there wasn't very many anyway). The train had already left on its' last trip for the day to Silverton and there really didn't seem like there was a lot of other things to do. I asked about a Hot Springs I had heard about in a nearby town and they said they had one just 7 miles north and it was open. Unfortunately we didn't bring our suits (or so we thought). We left the VC kind of depressed thinking we drove over here for nothing. Something reminded me that Mary had placed out damp suits in a separate bag and that I didn't remember bringing them into the hotel room. I opened the trunk and there was the bag with our suits. Great, at least it left open the option of going to the Hot Springs.

Neither of us were all that hungry (we had the buffet for breakfast again) so we decided to stop at the Dairy Queen for a couple of Blizzards for lunch. Just as we walked in the place it suddenly became packed with high school kids. The high school was across the street and the kids apparently hit the DQ for lunch. We had beaten them there by 1 minute and were able to get our blizzards and sit down to enjoy the show. Let me say that the kids were about the best behaved teenagers I've seen in a long time, but even given that, it was a hoot to watch teenagers when they are in large groups. The geeks arguing, the girls flirting, the couple alone at the table beside ours making out. It was a flashback to a time long long ago.

Tuesday, May 17

We loaded up at breakfast for the long drive to Ouray. We headed out of Mesa and immediately got hit with construction delays. Not a good sign. We cruised through Durango and headed our toward Ouray on the million dollar highway. The road is called that because it was so expensive to build. It goes up through the mountains to Silverton and then on to Ouray. The road up is very scenic and we noticed several ski resorts as we headed up to the mountain pass. We also noticed the snow was getting deeper and deeper. About half way up to Silverton Mary saw a sign that said there was a rest area up ahead with a bathroom. She asked to stop and get ride of some the mornings coffee. When we got to the rest area we found the bathroom covered with snow over its roof. We both decided we could hold it. We continued on until we reached the top of the pass, a short distance before Silverton. Here there was another rest area with a snow free toilet. It was snow free because the wind was whipping along at 30-40 mph gusts and blowing the snow off the rock outcropping the bathroom was located on. It was FREEZING!!!! We used the facilities and jumped back into the car.

We pulled over to a road side scenic view and looked over the valley. There stood the little town of Ouray. I don't know what it is but this town just had a nice feel to it right from the beginning. It bills itself as America's Switzerland and the claim is well founded. The valley that the town is located in is surrounded by beautiful snow capped peaks with lush foliage along the river that flowed through the town. It was gorgeous. We drove down into the town and discover that the only paved street was main street. The rest were all gravel covered. We drove down main street and just got a good feel for the place. Yes there were a bunch of tourist shops and restaurants but there were also appliance stores, hardware stores and hundred year old hotels. This place had character. Most of the buildings on main street were over 100 years old and very well preserved. We continued through town to the famous hot springs on the northern end of town. The place looked nice and the VC was right beside it. The place was manned by a sweet little old lady who may have been 90+. She went over all the places in town and gave us recommendations for every kind of food imaginable. I asked her specifically about the mining tours in the area. She wasn't sure if they were open or not so she called for us and made reservations. The mining company was also very nice. They mentioned that they were going to have a student group coming through at 10:00 so if we wanted to avoid them we should take another time. Mary and I thought the tour would be more fun with a bunch of kids so we booked to go with the kids the next day.

We then took off to check into our hotel, the Box Canyon Lodge. The place was very highly recommended by several travel sites and their reputation is well earned. The staff is more than friendly. They really go out of their way to make you feel welcome. The room was large and well appointed. One of the main reasons we chose the place was because they had their own private hot spring that they used to fill four huge wooden tubs in back of the hotel. The tubs were arranged on wooden steps and platforms going up the side of the hill. On the top one you could sit in the tub and look out over the snow capped peaks. We decided to give the hot tubs a quick try. They were great. We were a getting a bit hungry so went to the Timberline Deli for some huge ice cream cones. We finished those off and decided to get some laundry done. The laundry in town was right by the river park and was brand new. We brought our clothes down and loaded them up. We then went for a walk along the river. It was very peaceful. We went back, threw them in the dryer and went for another walk. This was the way to do laundry. When we finished we decided to take a walk around main street. There were far fewer tourist gift shops in this town than Durango, but they did have a lot of restaurants. We even found a homemade candy store with great chocolates. It was getting dark so we headed back to the hotel and decided to take a moonlight dip in the hot tubs. The temperature was a bit cool but the tubs were nice and hot. A good way to end the day.

We asked 6-7 locals where the best place for breakfast was and they all said the same place;  Maggies. It was a restaurant attached to an RV park just north of the hot springs pool area. We traveled down to check the place out. It's a bit different to say the least. You go up to the window and order before you enter the seating area. The menu doesn't have too many items but they all looked standard. We each ordered and went inside. How do I describe the eating area??? Well the first thing you notice is that there is a huge pine tree growing out of the floor in one corner and right through the roof. You also notice that the tables are a hodge-podge collection that looks like it had been purchased at several yard sales. There was one large formal dining room set and another dining room set that had been cut in half and made into two smaller tables. There were also several benches and a few kitchen table sets. It was a bit different. Coffee came free with every meal and you helped yourself. The coffee was good. When your breakfast is ready they call you up to pick it up at the counter. We did so and found the food to be hot and delicious. We also noticed the large signs that said " Be sure to either tip or bus your own table". It was a very interesting place and had a really friendly to it. The cook and the waitress are a husband and wife team that are really friendly and fun. A good way to start the day.

We went back to our hotel and changed into out swimming attire and took off for the hot springs. We spent the rest of the day lounging around in the hot springs and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. For entertainment at the pool we had two busloads of high schoolers running around acting like fools. It was interesting but the pool area was large enough that we could get away from them if they got too much for us. The Ouray hot springs are most noted for not having any sulfur smell to them at all. Something rather unusual for hot springs in the area. The water had less of a smell than the other hot springs we went to but the pool here was less clean. There was algae on most of the pool bottom and sides. It may have been because they were waiting til Memorial Day to clean them. I don't know.

Thursday, May 19

We headed north toward Montrose. We passed several small towns along the way. The countryside was beautiful. We got to Montrose and immediately went searching for the one site we had to see, the Russell-Stover candy outlet. The outlet was a short distance in town and looked like a mini Walmart it was so big. I pulled into the parking lot but it was empty. I told Mary that I thought the place was closed. Never one to give up without a fight Mary jumped out of the car and said she would check. The next thing I know Mary is standing on the corner waving frantically at me to join her. Heaven was apparently open. This place is a chocolate lovers dream. They have stack and stacks of boxes of every different kind of chocolate imaginable. The best thing is, there was an open box of each type of candy sitting on top of each stack for you to sample. It was aisle after aisle of chocolate. I had 4-5 pieces and that was about it. Mary started slower than me, she was pacing herself I think. The second half of the store was the areas for "seconds". This was for chocolates that did not meet their specifications. There was nothing wrong with it, it just didn't look right. They were selling boxes of "seconds" for about 20% of the cost of regular chocolates. They even had 5 and 10 pound "grab bags" of chocolate that you could buy for a couple of bucks.

We then headed east to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This is a huge gorge carved through hard rock by the river. It was dark and spectacular to look at. We drove along the entire south rim and stopped at every lookover. We also did a few short hikes to the canyon rim where we could. The views were spectacular. This is not a wide open canyon area like any of the others on our trip. This was a steep narrow gorge that really could make you dizzy ( at least me).

We made it back to Glenwood Springs at dinner time. We checked in and asked the front desk for their recommendation for Mexican food. The clerk recommended the place across the street, the Fiesta Guadalajara. We hurried over and had a great meal. It was some of the best Mexican food we have ever eaten anywhere. After filling up we needed to walk off a bit of dinner before we got in the pool so we decided to take an "unescorted" tour of the Colorado Hotel.

After our walk we quickly changed and spent the night in the hot springs pool. It was a great way to relax after a very busy day.

Friday, May 20

Nothing much to say for today. We spent the entire day at the hot springs just relaxing and enjoying the place.

We decided to have our last meal at Juicy Lucy's. It was again excellent. After dinner this time we wandered the town a bit on foot. We found a great ice cream place called Sacred Grounds. Its' main business is coffee but the ice cream was great.

Saturday, May 21

We headed out for the airport this morning to end our trip. The canyon walls along the interstate as you leave Glenwood are spectacular. We again looked over all the famous ski resorts along I-70 as we headed toward Denver and marveled at how people can build in places that it just doesn't seem possible. We had seen a small old town near Denver on our initial drive out and decided to stop and take a look. The town was Idaho Springs. We pulled into the town with about an hour to spare. That may have been 30 minutes more than we needed. The first thing I wanted to check out was of course, the hot springs. The hot springs hotel was very old and run down looking. I sat in the lobby area looking around and Mary went into the indoor spa area. She said the pool was very small and rather dingy. We decided we would not ever be staying there. We then headed to the downtown area, all three blocks of it. It was mostly a collection of small tourist places and not of too much interest to us. We got an ice cream at the local fountain and sat down just killing some time. This town is a miss.

We then headed back to the airport, checked the car in and boarded our return flight with no problems. A great trip.