Colorado or Bust (and Utah too) Part Deux!

30 May - 5 June 2012
Too much excitement to be included with another web-page!

Trip begins at 2012 Colorado (and Utah) Part I 23-29 May 2012

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Just outside Montrose is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which offers another series of spectacular views, although this time with dark schists, gneiss and pink pegmatites metamorphic rocks as opposed to the sandstones of the Colorado Plateau. The drive south on Colorado 550 (the Million Dollar Highway) between Ridgway and Durango via Ouray and Silverton was terrific from a scenery standpoint (no cows on the Open Range this time). The Durango Residence Inn upgraded us to a 2 room suite (2 baths and 3 TVs), which was nice for our next three day stint (that, a complementary happy hour, an indoor pool and HGTV and we were all happy).

The Curti at the park entrance sign	Cate and Bethany

Bethany and the girls working on their Jr Ranger workkbooks	The Curti by the canyon

Cate happily on the edge	The Curti by the canyon

Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

Day 9, we rode the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad 3 ½ hours to Silverton and back again following the route of the Animas River. We took hundreds of pictures of the fabulous rock and river scenery, which speak for themselves.

The Curti in front of Engine 481

at the Silverton lunch layover

Bethany and the girls outside the Durango station	Randy and the girls riding coach

One of hundreds of shots of the train going around a curve with cool rocks	One of hundreds of shots of the train going around a curve next to the Animas River

Four Corners & Mesa Verde National Park

Four Corners is truly a once in a life time thing, because doing it once is more than enough. Four Corners is where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet and is in an isolated and remote location not really on the way to anywhere else (it’s about 36 miles one way from Mesa Verde). The Navajo reservation extends to this point for three of the states (AZ, NM and UT) and runs the monument as a tourist attraction, charging $8 a car to enter the area (we assume the Ute tribe in Colorado gets a $2 cut). We took the obligatory photographs of each of us in four states and in different ones as a group, which took about 5 minutes. To make our excursion seem less ridiculous we shopped the ring of Navajo and Ute artisans selling souvenirs and bought some fried bread (yes that made it less ridiculous).

Afterwards, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park hiking taking the Long House guided tour of the cliff-side pueblo dwellings from ~12000s. That evening we found a nice pizza place (Home Slice) and ate al fresco before an evening stroll in downtown Durango walking around the historic area by the train station.

The four Curti in four states

WPA Mesa Verde poster	Long House

Jane and Cate at Long House	Bethany at Long House

Bethany and the girls on the ladders	Jane and Dad enjoying HomeSlice Pizza al fresco in Durango(note: honey bottle for the crust)

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Day 11, took us eastward across the Continental Divide and a visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The dunes may resemble the Sahara in their scope in pictures but it was our least favorite of the parks. The dunes offers all the perks of going to the beach minus the ocean (i.e., sand gets EVERYWHERE, long trudging walk through sand to get where you’re going without the reward of calming ocean waves). Still the girls had a blast; even though the sled didn't work so well in the sand (we brought it for snow in the Rockies but decided to give it a go on the dunes when we saw others carrying them to the dunes).

The Curti at the park entrance sign	The girls trying to sled the dunes (Didn't work)

Randy & Bethany at the dunes	Cate & Jane playing at the dunes

Colorado Springs

We got to Colorado Springs and the home of Bethany’s brother Micah and his wife and daughter (Tiffany and Julia) on Saturday, June 02. They took us on tour of the Springs, starting with Micah's cubical with a window view of Pike’s Peak at Focus on the Family We then toured the Air Force Academy’s Visitor’s Center and strolling around the chapel and B-52. After lunch, we went to the Olympic Training Center on the former Ent AFB (busman’s holiday for Randy), followed by some fabulous old arcade games in Manitou Springs and tasting the mineral waters along the main street. A quick drive through the Garden of The Gods, left us uninspired after spending over a week looking at fabulous red rock scenery.

Enjoying the statue mall outside the USAF Academy's Chapel with the Sages	Jane, Julia & Cate under the USAF Academy's B52

The Curtis and Micah playing on the Olympic Training Center sign	Tuxedo Park Bobsled Team(?)

Playing on the Manitou Springs bike art	Curti on the steps in Manitou Springs

At the Colorado Springs Sages house before heading home

We started heading back on Day 13. Both Bethany and Randy loved the golden yellow of oceans of ripened wheat in Kansas along I-70; a vision of bounty and beauty that stirred the senses numerous times on the drive from Colorado Springs. The trip was topped off with cheap beer ($0.55) at AJ Pizza in Manhattan, KS and lunch as Shakespeare’s Pizza in Columbia on the road home.

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