Thursday, July 26, 2018

Mesa Verde. (No moto content)

Bev and I invite three of our grandchildren, Luke & Addi, both 11 and Kimber 8 to join us for a 3 day trip to Mesa Verde National Park, an 800 mile (round trip) drive.

We have 12.5 Grand - Kids but the others are either to busy or to young to go with us. Plus, we only have room for five in the car. Of course I could ride the bike and that would open one seat in the car....two if any of the mothers would allow their child on the bike with me.....

We make a rest stop at Helper, Utah.
Helper got it's name when, in days of yore, as the coal trains would travel north from the mines near Price, they would stop at the Helper station to add another engine to Help the train up the next (steeper) hill.

Then on to Green River for a gas and rest stop....and two photo ops.
The Golden Ratio sculpture.

And a LARGE watermelon slice. 
Green River is known far and wide for the delicious melons they produce.
This particular one however had a bit of a woody texture...

We have a reservation in Cortez, Colorado,
and after a nights rest, we are off in the morning to Mesa Verde for our tour of Balcony House.

To get to Balcony House, you need to climb up this 32 foot ladder.
Two of our group conquered their fears by going up this ladder.
Well done!

At one of the 4 balconies of Balcony House.

One of the tiny holes we all needed to climb through to get out of Balcony House (see the tiny speck of light in the dark area?) Not shown is the 12 feet between tiny holes that one had to crawl through.

And the climb up the rock to get back to the road.

Yes...it's as steep as it looks!


On our way out of the park....everyone (including Kimber) enjoyed themselves!

After our arduous exploration of Balcony House, we rewarded ourselves with a shake (first) and then a sensible lunch....they are with grandparents after all.

Some cute woodworking for sale in Cortez.
(not enough room in the car for this piece)


And then back on the road making our way home. The kids were wonderful and so much fun, this grand-parenting thing is a piece of cake!

2 comments:

RichardM said...

Very cool visit! I thought about going to Balcony House but the tour was full. When we were there.

Ken said...

Richard - Next time! We only did the Balcony tour, given more time I would like to see them all.