Durango to Texas

I drove another beautiful route today!  Majestic views of the San Juan forest and mountains.  Highway 160 in southern Colorado from Pagosa Springs to Monte Vista.   Another route up and down a mountain and through a canyon!   But this route was full of the tallest of trees, green meadows, and the canyon rivers.  You will have to take my word for it.  Henry was asleep, and I wasn't waking him up to take pictures.   He's so sweet and quiet when he is sleeping!  No teenage complaining.   😀

I couldn't help myself and added ONE more stop, Great Sand Dunes Natl Park!   We were only 30 minutes away, and I felt the gravitational pull towards it.  😀 I'm so glad we visited!!   The largest sand dunes in North America.  We didn't stay long as the wind gusts were unbearable.  The blowing sand was stinging our legs.  The sand dunes are very tall and very wide.  The little black specs you see behind us are people closer to the tall dunes.  

Henry noticed the dunes in the distance as we were driving up.  The large patch of white against the greens and browns in the mountains is very surprising. Henry said the dunes looked like "a glitch in the Matrix."   I agreed!

We also drove past the Capulin Volcano Natl Monument in New Mexico.  It has a road going up the volcano so you can park and look inside from the top.  It has been on my radar for years, but we were driving by after they closed.  Interesting history of the site.  

We're baaaaccckkk in Texas now!!   We will be home tomorrow afternoon.  So excited!  

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

This was a big item on my bucket list!!  I loved seeing the Cliff Palace in person.  Open only by reservation.  It's a hot Natl Park ticket!!  (Like Swift tickets, right?)

The cliff dwelling is only accessible by very, very steep stairs cut into the rock and four steep wooden ladders.  At the top of the canyon at 8,000 feet, reaching the Cliff Palace is a personal triumph for breathing and climbing simultaneously.  (Ha ha)

Another cliff dwelling we could view only from a distance. 

I loved, loved, it.  These dwellings have been in all my art history books.  I have been wanting to see them for 30 years.  Yay!!

This is the last stop on our roadtrip.  We start the two-day drive back to Dallas tomorrow.  

The Road to Mesa Verde

We drove from Moab, UT to Durango, CO, with an awesome stop at Mesa Verde Natl Park.  

The map of Mesa Verde is very misleading (at least to me).  It took a lot longer than expected.  Another drive around a mountain and a canyon.  I need to get back to flat Dallas!!

This rock formation reminded me of a turtle.  🐢

The view from the top of Mesa Verde.  San Juan forest and mountains.  

The opposite of the beautiful forest?   The remains of a fire.  These fields were huge and very creepy. 

But look as these purple beauties!

Arches Moon Gazing

We had a midnight moon gazing in Arches.  The moon still too full and too many clouds for stars, but we had fun.  We searched for an arch with the moon behind it, but couldn't find one without walking on a hiking trail.  

The moon illuminated the La Sal Mountains:

Henry standing in my sunroof:

Good night Arches!

July 4 Moab Fireworks

We headed to the city baseball fields to watch the fireworks.   Before the city fireworks show began there were lots of locals setting off their own in the sandy  infields.    Lots of unsupervised kids (and adults!) setting off twizzlers, sparklers, etc.   It reminded me so

much of my hometown.  

Happy July 4th!!