Colorado Trip

So last week we took a trip to Colorado.  We did a lot of hiking and just enjoyed getting away and spending some time as a family.  We stayed in a great condo in Pagosa Springs.  It was like home away from home.  It had a couple little flights of stairs which gave Mia some good practice at climbing stairs.  She does pretty good as long as there is something at the top that she wants, otherwise she tries to stop and sit down part way up.  It also had a bath tub bigger than any tub I've ever seen.

Anyway,  we had a great time and saw some amazing things.

We got there Saturday night and spent Sunday just relaxing, taking naps and being lazy.  On Monday we went hiking at Chimney Rock.  It is a site of ancient Indian ruins.  The people who lived there lived before the wheel, had no tools, and didn't use "beasts of burden".  It's believed that Chimney Rock was a sight of great importance where they could watch the moon and sun rise between the stone pillars.

 Mia was a great little hiker as long as we were moving.  When we stopped for any length of time she wasn't a big fan.

 One of the Kiva's at Chimney Rock.  Kiva's are ceremonial sites.

The remains of the Great House that was at the top of the hill. 

Us with Chimney Rock in the background

 On Tuesday we went to Mesa Verde and hiked the cliff dwellings that are there.  The cliff dwellings were amazing.  It's hard to imagine people living there.  The even more amazing part is that they would climb down the cliff fronts to get to the dwellings, they didn't enter them from below.  They used hard stones to carve out hand and foot holds in the face of the cliff. 
We started the day with a guided tour through the cliff dwelling Cliff Palace.  Because it was a guided tour it meant lots of stopping.  Mia was getting restless so I pulled the camera out and was telling her to say cheese.  She loves the camera so she cheered up until we were able to get moving again.

 Cliff Palace

 The alcove in the cliffs are natural and the Indians just built into the alcove.  In some places the dwellings go back as far as 83 feet into the cliff.

 After Cliff Palace we hiked to Spruce Tree House.

All the black on the ceiling is from fires.  It means that this part of the cliff dwelling was a part where they lived.  Lots of the areas were used for storage.



 After Spruce Tree House we hiked down through the canyon to see the Petroglyphs that are carved into the cliff side.

 Mia and I taking a break and reading the booklet that tells what the possible translation is.

 So everyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly the most buff person in the world...OK...I'm a wimp.  But I am very proud to say that I carried Mia on the hike through Tree House, the Petroglyphs, and back out the canyon.  It was 3 miles over much less than level terrain.  This spot wasn't even the steepest.  There was one point I had to climb up a rock.  I had Monty hold Mia's weight so I could reach up with only one foot on the rock.  It was kinda crazy.

 Half way there.

 VICTORY!!

 Mia was such a good little traveler.  On the way home about 6 hours into our trip was the first time she threw a fit in her car seat.  Not bad for an 11 month old and an 8 1/2 hour trip there and back with several 2-3 hour trips in between.

Wednesday was rainy and stormy so we hung out and didn't do a whole lot but we went and played at the pool for a while.

Mia and her Daddy playing in the water.  Mia loves the water.  She was kicking around and splashing.  If only we could figure out how to get her to keep her face out of the water and stop drinking it.

 Thursday we had our friends Dennis, Marianne, and Jackson come join us.  It was fun to have some friends to play with.  Thursday was also still a little rainy but we didn't let it stop us.  We covered Mia with a t-shirt to keep the drizzle off and hiked off to a waterfall.

I can't remember the name of this waterfall because there were 3 different ones that we were going to hike to that day.  This is the only one we made it to. To make a long story short, in our quest to find another waterfall that was supposed to be pretty spectacular we ended up going on an hour and 45 min drive, nearly ran out of gas, and saw a momma bear and her two cubs.  Needless to say we didn't make it to the hike but after all the fun and excitement of trying to get there, there were 2 little kids who were done with the day and ready for some food. 

 Mia didn't even make it through the first waterfall without taking a little nap.

On Friday we went to the old mining town of Silverton.  It was pretty cool.  We went on a tour of an old gold mine, went to an old gold mill, and visited the old jail and museum. 

Hanging out in the mine.  It was kinda drippy so they gave us rain coats.

 Mia only had to wear her helmet on the way in and out of the mine.  The train ride in and out is where you are most likely to have something fall on your head.

 An old car that they used to move the rocks out of the mine once they blasted them.

 Touring the gold mill.  It's amazing the whole process that they go through to the the minerals out of the ore once it comes out of the mine.  This mill has been closed since 1991 but it used to process gold, silver, iron, copper, and zinc.

The old 4 block jail cell.

 I think Mia was a happier prisoner than Monty.

 Mia had fun playing with the ball and chain.  I think she would have taken it with her if she could have picked it up off the ground.

 We also saw a wild west gun show.  They have a show down in the middle of town 3 nights a week during the summer.  I thought it was interesting that only the main road through town was paved.  The rest was just gravel roads.

 This was just a cool arch we saw on the way home.

After a week vacation it was very hard to come home and get back to reality.  If only we were independently wealthy and could just spend our days traveling.  Maybe someday....At least I can dream.