Day 51 & 52: Black Hills

It's a long drive from Colorado to South Dakota, but we made it.

We first went to Mt Rushmore.  At first it was unimpressive.  The viewing platform is pretty far from the faces.  It's crowded.  The 4th-Grade pass didn't get us in for free.  But then we went to the Sculpture Studio and learned how they created it.  They dynamited to with 2-4 inches of the final shape, then chiseled, and finally buffed the cheeks smooth.  They also had to change plans of the final shape because there was soft granite on Washington, and a layer of mica that did not cooperate.

Next we decided to go to Wind Cave.  Yes, another cave.  But wait!  The web site says it is closed because the elevator broke.  On the phone, the ranger was hopeful it would be fixed that afternoon.  So we flipped a coin: risk the Wind Cave without a tour or look for the 3rd best attraction in the Black Hills.  We took a risk and went to the Wind Cave.  We figured the visitor center would be good enough.  As we arrived, they announced that the elevator was fixed.  And the tour took our 4th-Grade pass to get us all in for free.

Let me explain the 4th-grade pass.  This is a program where a 4th Grader can apply to get a pass that allows you and your family into National Parks.  This has saved us lots.  Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Grand Tetons, all run between $20 and $30 just to drive in.  So, bring a 4th-Grader on your next family vacation.

1:12 scale model

The natural entrance to Wind Cave.  We took the side door.

Box-work

Going down.

prairie dogs

Day 50: Denver Art Museum

It's cold up in the mountains.  We woke up to wet snow covering the ground.  It's just hard to get moving when it's that cold in late June.

But we made it down the mountain (19% grade) and into the city to go to the art museum.

We took a tour through their British art collection.  It was interesting to see related or similar painting at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  It also makes me appreciate that we have the MFA so close and go to it so often.  The oldest artwork we saw was from the late 1400's.  No ancient Egypt.  No Indian or Hindu statues.  So my big plug here is to visit your local art museum and visit it again and again.  The Denver Art Museum had several traveling exhibits.  We stood in line to walk down the hall of mirrors. 

Day 46 - 49:Colorado

After Mesa Verde, we headed back to Salt Lake City to get checked out again.  Everything was good, so we were cleared for our eastward trip.

While traveling to our next campsite, we stopped at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  These were the steepest walls that we have seen yet.  The rocks had changed to a dark color, hence the name Black Canyon. 

Finding the next campsite was a bit tricky.  The directions to it had mile markers and the cell coverage was a bit spotty, and passing 4 shutdown gas stations was a bit unnerving, but we made it.

The Great Sand Dunes were worth the southern route.  There is a river that you must ford in order to climb the dunes.  Seeing people getting out of their cars in swimsuits carrying snow sleds made for a double-take. 

We made it to Colorado Springs and parks at the Garden of the Gods.  This is actually a city park.  The Kissing Camels were still there from my memories.  The highlights were watching the rock climbers scale the spires and then scaling some appropriately sized spires ourselves.

Next we headed to Denver, well, west of Denver.  We setup camp and then Jen and I left the kids to go on a date.  There was a cluster of restaurants a few miles away.  As we drove down the strip we realized that all the restaurants were inside casinos.  And we had the baby with us.  Rather than try to explain to security that the baby did not want to play slots, we headed back to camp and had the leftovers the kids left us.

 

Day 43 & 44: Mesa Verde

Meas Verde is a real life game of Shoots and Ladders, but with safety fences.  We started with the Cliff Palace on the first day.  This is a very large alcove cut into the cliff with many buildings in it.  We don't know much about the people that use to live here.  It is only recently that the archaeologist think the Ancient Puebloans split and formed twenty-some other tribes.  We also don't know why they moved down the cliff face.  They use to live on the mesa, but moved down.  Lots of questions and not many places to get answers.

But they have cool ladders that 2 year olds like to climb.

If you stand near any bush, you will hear clicking.  It took a while to find out what it was: cicada.

The next day we were more adventurous and took the tour of the Balcony House.  This has a 30 foot ladder and a tight tunnel.   There's also a ladder to bring us back to the surface, instead of using the 700 year old toe and hand holds.

Day 42: Capital Reef and Natural Bridge

As long as I'm looking down and not lifting more than 15 pounds then I'm recovering.  So we continued on our trip with a slight detour to Capitol Reef National Park after the Post-Op appointment.  There was a mulberry tree 9 kids across, huge deer with velvet antlers, and tight canyons. 

The next day we want to get to Meas Verde, but we are so close to Natural Bridge National Monument, so another detour.  These are similar to Arches, but are formed by a meandering stream cutting through a canyon wall.