Part II - What I did on my Summer Vacation

After we finished up in Cotopaxi and the Arkansas River valley, we headed over the continental divide and Wolf Creek Pass to the Durango area.  We had 4 nights scheduled at the Durango Riverside resort (formerly a KOA) north of town near Hermosa and on the banks of the Animas River.

Steve and Jaren met us the next morning and we headed to Mesa Verde National park.  The weather was very nice for late July (mid 80's) and the kids got a good day in that they will remember...it had been 8 years or so since they had been.

We started out on some of the earlier ruins on the top of the mesa.

Then we checked out the actual cliff dwellings from the more recent period. Here's a shot of the family before they trekked down to one of the ruins (Denise and I stayed up top in the shade by the visitor center).

See if you can spot the group in the picture below.  Bonus points will be awarded if you can spot Jaren and Steve...

Audrey was pleading with Daddy to get her a house just like that (the Cliff Palace)...I don't think he fell for it.

There were some other pretty spectacular sights to be seen in the park, and we had a very enjoyable day at this World Heritage site.

The next day the girls headed to Purgatory and the mountain resort, where they engaged in various entertainment activities.  Pictures were scarce, but I was able to snag a few off of Denise's phone...bubbles, zip lines, rope course - that's about all the detail I could glean from the pictures.  What happens during girl time stays with girl time, I guess.

Well the guys took an exploratory trip in the Hermosa Creek drainage (that's where we started anyway).  The headwaters were very brook-troutish, but we didn't catch too many.

We found too many campers where we were headed, so we took a 4WD trail over the divide into the Scotch Creek drainage to try and get a brook trout experience for Jack, and we stopped at the pass where the Colorado trail passed.  I should have hiked that in the past, but I believe my window of opportunity for doing so has passed.

Jack couldn't land a brook trout, but it wasn't due to lack of effort.  The road was very rough, the creek was very small, but the scenery was nice.

On our last full day in the Riverside campground, Steve took Joe and the kids (and me) on the Alpine loop to take a look at the true Colorado high country.  Denise opted to stay back in camp and "relax" (read...clean up the trailer and get a little quiet time).  The ride started out a little rainy, but the scenery was fantastic.

The weather cleared a little on the return part of the Loop, and we took advantage of the opportunity to get out of the LandCruiser and look around.

The recent rain had the waterfalls cranking and also left a little sleet/hail accumulation.  Pictures just don't do it justice, but what we saw will have to live on in magnificent memories.

When we hit Cinnamon pass, we clambered around on the bones of the earth, looking at columbines and looking for pretty rocks to take home.

Whew!  What more can I say?  This post was heavy on the pictures, but since each is worth a thousand words I guess this is a good place to stop.  The third and final installment will cover the end of our trip at the Thibodeaux Ranch resort.