But it was a fantastic vacation. Every day was filled with beautiful scenery and fun things to see and do. On our last day there, we were kind of kidding each other with: "oh, can you believe it - another snow capped mountain!" Believe it or not, we visited and explored 4 national parks in 5 days. Whew!
We left on Sunday, Mother's Day and flew to Denver. We arrived fairly late in the evening, then drove to our friends' house, Bruce and Bev. They attended our church for 14 years, then moved to Colorado about 8 years ago. Their house is at 9,000 feet and beautifully situated. You can see Pikes Peak from their deck.
After breakfast on Monday, Bruce & Bev drove us to Cheesman Canyon where we hiked a trail up and over some high hills/low mountains, then came out along the Platte River. I was a little concerned about hiking at such a high altitude our first day there, but we did fine.
Of course, any time Andy is around water, he just has to get in it.
We went out to Red Robin to eat our dinner (a western restaurant that we like), and Bev secretly told the waitress it was Andy's birthday. So they all came over to our table and sang to him and gave him a bowl of ice cream.Early Tuesday morning we drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. As we were driving up to it, we were thinking it didn't look like anything special. But here is what we experienced: As we got closer, we were so awed by the huge sand dunes right in the middle of the plains and in front of the Sangre de Cristo mountains (which were still snow covered). The sand dunes themselves are 750 feet high and cover 30 square miles. As you get closer and closer to them, they are almost overwhelming in size and scope. When we got there on Tuesday, the winds were blowing at 20-30 miles an hour. We stayed out for a while and hiked around a little, but the winds were so strong we were getting sand in our eyes. When we looked at other people climbing the dunes, you couldn't even see their feet or the bottom of their legs because of the sand being blown about. So we decided to wait until the next day and maybe the winds would die down.
When we woke up on Wednesday, the air was still, so we got dressed and took off for the dunes. We started around 6:40 am. You have to wade through the Medano and Sand Creeks to get to the dunes and boy, was that water cold (snow melt)! When we got to the other side, my toes were painfully aching. The hike starts out at 8,800 feet above sea level, then you climb the dunes another 750 feet. There were sections of the hike that were very difficult and I thought I wouldn't be able to make it to the top. It was hard to get my breath and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I had to stop and told Andy to go ahead without me. But after resting for a couple minutes, I continued on (at my own pace) and made it finally to the top (slow and steady wins the race).
It was absolutely wonderful to sit at the very top and enjoy the view as well as the accomplishment of the climb. It took us 2 hours to climb up, then down again. And believe me, we were ready for a big breakfast by the time we got back.After we ate and showered we still had most of the day left, so we took off on another adventure. We decided to go down to Fort Garland, where Kit Carson had served for 18 months. The fort there is now a museum and was very interesting. But on the way there, we stopped at the Zapata Falls. We did a 1/2 mile hike into the falls which was very pretty and again, the water was very cold. Andy hiked up along the edge of the stream, but it was a little too treacherous for me. The water originated from a glacier inside a cave.
The drive from the Great Sand Dunes to Fort Garland was very interesting. The terrain is wide, wide plains with sagebrush and cactus and not much else, surrounded by snow capped mountains on the east and west of the plain.Thursday morning, we got up at 5:00, showered, packed up and left the Sand Dunes by 6:00 am! We drove west to the Mesa Verde National Park. It was a 3 hour drive through scenic mountains and valleys and towns. We crossed the Continental Divide - no signs indicated the elevation, but there was lots of snow along the ravines and under the trees in the forest. We drove through little towns like Alamosa, Pagosa Springs, Durango and not much else until we came to Mesa Verde.
Our leg muscles were so sore from hiking up the dunes the previous day, then so stiff from sitting in the car so long, but we forced ourselves to get out and walk around. With a little use, they loosened up. The drive into the park to the visitor's center was a 15 mile white-knuckle drive, looking down into deep canyons around hair pin curves.
Mesa Verde is the only national park set aside "to preserve the works of man." There were many cliff dwellings to check out and trails to hike. It was another interesting and fun day.
Friday morning - on to our next adventure - this time to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We had never heard of it before - but WOW! It's a well kept secret. I'd say it was right up there with the Grand Canyon. We spent lots of time hiking and driving along the rim of the canyon, stopping at every lookout and hiking some more. Every view was absolutely awesome: huge cliffs, some as high as 2,000 feet and at the bottom, the Gunnison River.
At the last lookout, our hike was about 3/4 of a mile. We met another family and asked them to take our picture. In talking to them, we found out they were from New Jersey, their home about a half hour from us.
We took the scenic route again out of the park to our next stop, more hairpin curves, up and down switchbacks and on the edges of cliffs.We had heard that the passes in the Rocky Mountain National Park were closed, so had thought we wouldn't go on in. But on a whim, we decided to go anyway and see how far in we could go. GOOD DECISION! So Saturday morning found us on our way again, traveling more scenic highways, through high mountain passes with snow all over the cliffs and in the forests, winding roads following the curves of rushing rivers.
When we got to the park we were able to not only get in, but also able to drive high up the one pass (Trail Ridge Road) to about 11,700 feet before coming to the Road Closed sign. It was so beautiful up there. Snow covered mountains all around. We had to tramp over snow to get to the lookout. Spectacular!
In more driving around, we went by alpine meadows with big horn sheep and grazing elk.
We found the Glacier Gorge trailhead and hiked about 1/2 mile in to the Alberta Falls. The hike was somewhat treacherous because there was still lots of snow on the trail in lots of places. We were slipping and sliding, making for very slow going, but the view at the end was so worth it. On the way back from that hike, we missed the sign to the parking lot and ended up going another 1/2 mile to Bear Lake. That was a bonus! It was starting to thaw around the edges, but most of it was still covered in ice and snow.
We left the park around 3:00 pm, really glad we could fit it into our week. So we did 4 parks in 5 days. Out of 56 national parks, we've now been to 14, only 42 to go!After we left the Rocky Mountain National Park, we drove to just north of Denver to see our nephew and his family. When we arrived at their house, little Faith came right to me. She looked at me, then laid her head down on my chest as if to say: "I'm so glad you came to see me. You're my favorite great-aunt!"
We took Mike and Alison out to eat, leaving the kids with a babysitter. What a sweet family and a real treat to see them again. It was good to spend some time with them, hearing how the Lord is working in their lives. A lovely ending to a wonderful week.
Then back to Denver and our last night in a hotel. We arrived home Sunday night, then off to work on Monday. I had serious jet lag on Monday. I was so tired that I felt almost sick by dinner time. I'm glad to be home, but it was a wonderful vacation.We took 360 pictures of our trip, hoping to post them to the web so anyone who wants to can see them all. Maybe we'll get to that tomorrow.
