For fall break we headed over to Colorado to knock something off the bucket list. After a very long and rainy drive we made it to our tiny little Pioneer cabin. More on that later...but the first full day we were there, we started off by taking another long drive to go see Shiprock. It was this huge rock in the middle of nowhere with a thin rocky "fin" that came off of it. We went and played on the fin for a while.
My mountain climbing kids loved climbing around
Although it was pretty cool I'm not sure it was worth the long drive that it took to get there. We spent way too much time in the car this trip! But lucky for us, we had plenty of Michael Vey audiobooks to keep us busy. Isn't that amazing? No movies the entire time we were in the car! I have awesome kids.
After shiprock we drove ALL the way back to Mesa Verde so we could take our first tour of the cliff dwellings. Once you get in the park you still have to drive for an hour before you get into the dwellings. I'm telling you....lots and lots of driving.
We first went to the Cliff Palace overlook. Unfortunately we couldn't go in this one because it was closed for the season but it was really cool to see!
Nothing like a squinty sun picture.
Then we divided up. I need to get the pictures off our phones so I have a more complete record of this cool trip. Josh, Kate and I took a guided tour of balcony house and it was AWESOME! We had to climb up a super scary latter, crawl through a tunnel, and really see how the natives used to live. We split up so we wouldn't have to bring Jonah to the scary balcony house and it was a very good call. My no fear, adventurous baby boy would have caused my blood pressure to rise (even if he didn't fall off a cliff).
So while we were on our tour (here's where I need my pictures)....Trav, Rach, Will and Jonah drove around to other dwellings that you could see but not go in.
This one it Tower house (I think)
Then it was time to switch and Trav had the camera during their tour while we drove around.
It is seriously amazing how the structures are still standing over 700 years later. And how straight their windows are!
We saw a few coyotes on our drive back to home sweet home. Here's a few pictures of our place. That stove was the only source of heat and it was SO smokey! We smelled like smoke for days after living there!
The two little boys thought playing on the top bunk was fun. I'm glad we could net them in.
The next morning we explored around the cabin for a while. It was on 1000 acres of wilderness area and there was hardly anyone else there! It was so cool. The kids tried to build a fort.
We then went on a walk to see if we could spot any animals...we didn't but it was still really pretty!
The kids started collecting "brooms" and sweeping the road. Will got a little carried away with how many he collected.
Later that day we all went on a tour of Long house. This one didn't seem as scary to take Jonah on.
We spotted some wild horses not too far from the trail.
It is so amazing when you see how many cliff dwellings are in this canyon. They were all over the place! And so sketchy to get to! I don't know how the natives did it!
This tour was 2 hours long. It was at least an hour too long. (especially considering Jonah pooped within the first 10 minutes and we couldn't change him until the tour was over.)
He did love climbing the latter though and had no problem at all zipping up that thing.
Although it was interesting...there was WAY too much time sitting and chatting with the ranger. I just wanted to look around!
And the whole reason for the cliff dwellings.....water!
Poor Trav. Jonah was so grumpy and he wouldn't let me hold him. He only wanted daddy for the whole 2 hour tour.
Will found a little shady spot to hang out in.
It was fun but I loved the balcony tour so much more. But all of the dwellings are facinating!!
The next day we cleaned up the cabin....
Took a few family pictures...
We stopped at 4 corners (more pictures I need to get from our phones) and made it home that evening. It was such a cool experience and I loved this trip so much! So many fun memories! But it's also one where I doubt we'll go there again. It really is in the middle of nowhere. I'm glad we made the most of it when we did. Fun times!!
