Our grand western tour began on Saturday August 6th. We had been ready to go for weeks. Here's Drew at the start of the trip in Western Maryland on Interstate 70 - MANY more miles to go.
We stop as much as we can to take stretch breaks and to change Andrew. Here we are in a rest stop in Ohio. The girls run and climb and get their energy out.
In the car the girls had plenty of room. We were still in the early stages of our drive.
Our random rest stops bring us to some neat places. Here at this park in Indiana a man was making these structures. Ava & Jenna explored while, Dave, Drew, Amelia and I were over run with tiny sweat bees. We made a quick exit. Some road stats: DAY #1 TRIP STATS - We traveled from HOME-GREENFIELD, INDIANA, 555 miles.
Yes. We are standing and illegally driving.. but we are excited.. we see the Arch in St. Louis!
Finally, Day #2 and our first "planned" fun stop. Here is Drew's first view of the Arch in St. Louis. We arrived there about lunchtime on Sunday.
We surprised the kids with a trip to the St. Louis City Museum. Their first sight of this museum was the school bus hanging off the top of the tall city building and the working ferris wheel on the roof. After we confirmed it was open and good to go - we could finally tell them, that this is were we would spend the next few hours. Here is Dave coming down the huge slide on the roof.
Inside there was maze after maze after tunnel for the girls to climb in. This is Amelia and Jenna exploring the first floor and the gigantic whale and cave system.
Drew, Dave and I explored all of the dark tunnels on this floor.
Here is Jenna on the roof. The city skyline view was amazing. I could only walk this far up this way. It was too scary for me to look down! Jenna loved it!
After a few hours of the museum we drove a few blocks to see the Arch up close. We told the kids we couldn't go in, only look from the outside. We had hundreds of miles to still tackle that afternoon. We found a parking space super close and super easy and tried to get a closer look. Here's everyone in front of the arch on the lawn of the statehouse.
A closer look.
Here's Jenna standing up high. She wasn't happy when we couldn't go up in the arch - maybe next time. We stopped for the night (pretty late) in Lawrence, Kansas. DAY #2 TRIP STATS: Greenfield, Indiana to Lawrence, Kansas with a lengthy stop in St. Louis. 564 miles total - still traveling Interstate 70 WEST.
We woke up in Kansas, ready to arrive in Colorado. Here is Amelia in the afternoon in a little rest stop - the town of Winona, Kansas off of Route 40/287 . A tiny, tiny farm town. The huge grain piles and silos were pretty neat.
FINALLY - Colorado. We had to stop for this state highway sign. We made it! We would ride into Colorado Springs seeing rain clouds, lightening and rain falling in the distance. Lots of beautiful sunflowers lined this stretch of road - Colorado State Road 40. DAY #3 TRIP STATS: Lawrence, Kansas to Colorado Springs, Colorado = 553 miles
Day #4 and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We had plans to meet Bernadette and her son Eli here. The girls were ready to rock climb.
Jenna and I before we started touring Garden of the Gods.
Here are the three sisters on three small rocks in Garden of the Gods.
Dave and Drew hiked through the park.
Very beautiful scenery and did I mention rock climbing?
Ava in the rocks.
Jenna climbing.
The family.
The whole crew.
We had lunch in Colorado Springs at a Brewery then with Bernadette and Eli we made one last stop at this over look to view Pikes Peak. We said our goodbyes to Colorado Springs and Bern & Eli.
But wait.. one more picture of Ava with Pike's Peak in the background! Okay, now off to Salida.
The girls took turns in the front seat as Dave's co-pilot. Here, Ava helps Dave navigate the winding Colorado roads and Route 24. We are almost to Salida!
Drew loved the trip, He was very alert and a happy traveler! DAY #4 TRIP STATS: COLORADO SPRINGS to SALIDA, COLORADO. 164 miles.
Dave and I have visited Salida a few times. We love the town. Here we are the next morning on a bridge overlooking the Arkansas River. We were set to explore the town on that cool morning.
We walked along the river on this beautiful path, found a park, and a rock wall and lots of rocks to climb.
A different kind of rock climbing.
Had to get a picture of these Colorado sunflowers.
We left Salida after some shopping. We drove a few hours away to Great Sand Dunes National Park.
After the visitor center we got out to explore the sand dunes. There was a little water flowing through the hot sand.
Then the girls set out to get to the top of the sand dunes. I went back to the car with Drew. They did not make it to the top!
After the sand dunes, we drove a few more hours to our next planned stop. The town of Pagosa Springs. We had to check out the hot springs. We had dinner at KFC and then went for an evening swim in this beautiful setting. Drew loves the water warm.
Everyone loved this big pool and the warmth.
Then we set out to check out the whole property. This cool bridge was took us to the "quiet pools" We didn't stay too long there. See the spring in the background?
Dave loved this pool! The temperature was 108 degrees!
I tried to take an over view picture of this place. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. Pools were on terraces on different levels.
At the base was the river, which was warm, but not as warm as these pools. The girls enjoyed jumping off the rocks in the river and floating in the current. See Amelia and Ava's bobbing heads. Jenna was scared... but she finally conquered her fears and joined her sisters!
We had to get going...we had another hour to travel to Durango. We'll be back Pagosa Hot Springs! DAY #5 SALIDA, COLORADO to DURANGO, COLORADO - 290 FUN FILLED BEAUTIFUL MILES
We arrived late in the evening in Durango to a brand new beautiful hotel. Seems we were lucky this trip and stayed at many brand new or newly renovated hotels! Nice! Here is Jenna the next morning on the streets of Durango. We spent the mornings shopping and strolling the really neat downtown area.
We got lunch at a local deli and ate at a really nice park along the river. The girls played, we ate and also played in the river a bit!
After a hotel nap break (this was our down day after all), we decided to drive to Silverton, Colorado. We had heard the ride was very scenic. Here we see a big horn sheep on the road side! Wow!
We stopped many times along this scenic route. Here is Dave at Moras Pass. We are very high in the mountains!
Here is one of my favorite pictures. Drew loved the cool air!
More at Moras Pass.
And one more!
We finally make it to the scenic town of Silverton. We shopped the tiny downtown area and had dinner in a neat restaurant. DAY #6 - DURANGO to SILVERTON back to DURANGO -100 miles.
The next day we left Durango and traveled about a half hour to Mesa Verde National Park.
We took the drive in the park. Another very scenic, very windy Colorado road.
After 25 miles or so we arrived at the first viewing point. Can you see the Pueblo cliff dwellings behind Amelia?
A better look of the dwellings.
Dave and Amelia checking out another view point. They are looking for the Cliff Palace dwelling.
A view from our car of the amazing views we saw of Colorado from the park.
We left Mesa Verde National Park at about lunch time. We stopped for lunch and a few hours later we arrived in the Four Corners area. Here we are after paying $20 to get access into the area where the four states meet. We waited in line to take pictures.....several times...
Here is my crew in the four corners. The girls were looking forward to this.
We had planned to go to the Grand Canyon after the Four Corner stop. We were running out of time, so late in the day we visited Sunset Crater National Monument outside of Flagstaff. Here are the girls being silly with all the lava flow around them.
Here's Drew checking out the view of the volcano behind him.
DAY #7 - DURANGO, COLORADO to FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA - 372 miles
Day 8 was for our return to the Grand Canyon area. There were parts of us that wanted to start the long trek home, but the girls insisted we head back north to the Grand Canyon. This beautiful field of yellow was just outside of Flagstaff on a different route back to the Grand Canyon.
We finally made it the Grand Canyon some fifty miles later. After seeing this magnificent sight, Ava said, "Is this the Grand Canyon?"
More pretty canyon pictures.
And more.. Yes.. Jenna almost fell off that high rock..
More...
More... Turns out because Drew has an accessible pass, that allowed our car to travel on the bus loop for the best canyon views from the car. Amazing, right?
More..
It was too hot to eat lunch here, but super beautiful.
One more..
We saw Elk as we were coming into the park, and then again as we were leaving our awesome loop road! This elk was eating leaves on the tree.
We left the park and headed south towards Flagstaff and the start of our trek home. Here is Jenna late that day at our quick stop in the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. We were running out of day light and energy.
Painted Desert in Arizona.
One more..
The sun going down in beautiful Arizona. We loved the burnt orange colored rocks and landscape. We were tired!
What another a new hotel? Gallup, New Mexico brought us to an 11 day old opened hotel. We were ready for that luxury. :) We weren't so sure why a security guard was needed at McDonalds in Gallup, but our hotel was great. DAY #8 FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA to GALLUP, NEW MEXICO - 383 Miles
Leaving the beautiful hotel in Gallup- more driving towards home.
New Mexico.
New Mexico and Arizona - the land of many, many trains....
And in Texas...(We saw many of these fields in Kansas too). I loved seeing the windmills "dance". TRIP STATS: DAY #9 GALLUP, NEW MEXICO TO ELK CITY, OKLAHOMA - 580 tiring miles.
Dave wanted to show the kids, the University of Oklahoma. It had changed! More built up, but still a neat detour touring Norman, Oklahoma.
Then a cousin stop for fun and dinner. DAY #10 - ELK CITY, OKLAHOMA to CONWAY, ARKANSAS - 463 miles.
Car time- and passing the time. Yes. Meredith and Sweet Sugar were traveling with us.
Our LAST HOTEL night.... and pool time... Our favorite most visited hotel in Kingsport, TN.
Come to find out... Drew is a hot tub guy now, not a pool guy. DAY #11 - CONWAY, ARKANSAS to KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE -653 miles.
A rainbow in Tennessee - Could it be we are almost home? DAY #12 - KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE, TO HOME! 405 miles
NOW!! On to next summer and our next adventure!
