Rocky Mountains

Map Route

Sunday morning we left Moab, feeling a little like we were saying goodbye to home again since we had set up a sort of home base there for the last couple of days. The drive to Colorado was beautiful especially in the transition from desert sand to pines and aspens. If I wasn't homesick by now, Colorado definitely made it worse. We followed the highway along the Colorado river, through red canyons and the growing greener foliage. In Grand Junction we met up with an IG friend, Josh, and grabbed coffee downtown. He let us know about the Walmart down the street, which made us happier than it should have. After driving through small towns for the last week where there was only convenience stores we had become desperate for cheap supplies. At Walmart we picked up a new ice chest that would stay cold longer and actually had a drainage plug. (Thanks nick for picking out the last one :)  ) we also needed a blanket for Nick as he forgot his bedding. It was a good thing we got a blanket because Colorado sure does get cold at night. We then met back up with Josh who took us to "Moon Rock" a huge cliff top that overlooks Grand Junction. We watched the sunset, the city lights flicker on, and eventually the stars popped out. We sat on the rock talking about our adventures to come but mainly just sat in silence. The only noise was crickets. When it was time to go we accidently wandered off the path and spent a couple minutes retracing our steps to get back to the car. Natalie was a real champ and drove till 3am to get us to Georgetown, CO. We slept in the visitor center parking lot.



The sunset over Grand Junction at Moon Rock

Josh, Alicia, Natalie, and Nick at Moon Rock

As it turned out we had picked a great place to stay since the visitor center offered free coffee and hot chocolate in the morning, after staying up so late we needed it. We then drove to the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. The drive there is amazing to say the least. The road meanders up the mountains through little towns and closed ski resorts. By the time we got to Winter Park, CO it had started raining and the wind had picked up. We stopped for soup to warm up then continued to climb in elevation. At the visitors center in the park, a ranger let us know about a short hike to a waterfall just outside the park. We backtracked and hiked to Adam's falls. It was a narrow waterfall that ran along the mountain side with the water carving its way through the rocks and aspens. Once back inside the park we stopped at Coyote Valley, a short hike between the Colorado river and a mountain side. Throughout the park were large valleys with herds of Elk grazing. We drove through the park all the way to the 12,000 ft elevation peak. The mountain tops still had snow and the air was freezing. After snapping a few pics of the scenic view overlooking the valley we headed down the mountain and to Denver. Along the way we sold our old cooler on craigslist. We need all the room we can get in this small camper. In Denver we grabbed pizza and then found a parking lot to park for the night. We were going to try some Rocky Mountain Oysters but we got into Denver too late on a Monday night. Thank god ;)

Alicia at the peak in Rocky Mt Park

A small lake in Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

Natalie and Alicia at Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

In the morning we left Denver and headed south. We did a drive through of the Garden of the Gods, then took a scenic loop on hwy 24. We tried to drive up Pikes Peak but they wanted $12 a person, apparently America isn't the land of the free but the land of ripoffs. We're finding out quickly that everywhere wants to charge you for nature. To heal our broken hearts from missing out on Pikes Peak we stopped for local handmade ice cream- I got Rocky Road for Colorado :) Continuing down the highway we stopped at Florrisant Fossil Park and got to see petrified redwoods. It's amazing how huge the tree stumps are and how well they had been preserved. We drove towards Sand Dunes Nat'l Park but it had gotten late so we picked up a movie and found a campsite in Alamosa, CO to settle in for the night.

Natalie at Garden of the Gods




Alicia with a petrified redwood at Florrisant Fossil Park



Natalie channeling a Flamingo

Nick riding a Pelican



Alicia taming the giant chicken













This morning we got up and enjoyed well water showers ( the ones that smell like rotten eggs from the sulphur). At Sand Dunes Nat'l Park we played in the warm stream of water trickling through the sand. We were told that the park is the highest elevation beach in the world. After running around the dunes, we left the park and drove 4 miles down a gravel road to get to Zapata Falls. The creaking of the motor home was really annoying as we hit bump after bump. The falls definitely made the drive worth it. We hiked to the falls, from looking at the river it seemed to be a small waterfall running over larger rocks, but we went further upstream to get a better look. We had to traverse along rocks to avoid our shoes from getting wet. At the top of the river was a cave that we had to wade in the water to get to. We took our shoes off and balanced on rock tops to avoid the freezing water. Once inside the cave you could see a larger waterfall that ran down a crack in the rock. It was quite an amazing view. During the winter the waterfall freezes over and from pictures looks even more enchanting. We scrambled back across the rocks to continue on our drive. We made it into New Mexico and our first stop was at the Rio Grande Gorge,  canyon that's carved out by the Rio Grande River. We were able to walk across a bridge to look straight down over the river. We watched the sky start to turn pink from the sun setting and drove into Taos for the night. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe.



Nick and Natalie playing in the stream at the Dunes

Natalie and Alicia on the Dunes

Alicia and Nick at Zapata Falls

Our feet over the Rio Grande River

Quote:
     " For all its material advantages the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villiages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood." ~Carl Sagan