Mesa Verde, CO

Friday, September 25

School is “on location” this morning! We packed up the RV around 7:30am this morning and made the short drive across the highway from Ancient Ruins RV Park to Mesa Verde National Park. Andi and I weren’t sure what to expect at this national park. Everything we read prior to our visit said we needed to have a tour booked with a park ranger to see the ancient ruins located here. Unfortunately, every tour was booked well in advance. Andi thought we might be able to secure a last-minute opening or a cancellation if we went to the visitor’s center first thing this morning. No luck though.

Instead of participating in an organized park ranger tour, we decided to drive the six-mile mesa top loop in our RV. Boy, were we glad we decided against biking the road last night! There is a definite hill grade to the roadway. We saw several archeological sites along the way & hardly any other vehicles on the road. That gave us plenty of space to stop, park the RV and explore the overlooks. Andi downloaded a free park ranger audio tour that we listened to as we drove along that also helped explain the significance of each site.

My favorite viewpoint was the square house overlook. If we would have booked a park ranger tour, we could have had an up-close & personal view of the ruins, but seeing it from above at the overlook was also incredible. Ancient pueblo people built their houses into the cliff walls, creating various rooms for living, sleeping and cooking. Imagining a family living in these open-air homes and climbing the walls via ladder was amazing to consider as well as the fact that most walls of their homes are still intact today.

Also along the drive, we viewed a kiva — or ceremonial gathering place — for the ancient pueblo, and the popular Cliff Palace from a distance.

Andi and I both agreed that it was worth visiting Mesa Verde National Park — even without a park tour reservation. We felt between the audio tour, the interpretive signage at the overlooks and the twelve archeological sites along the six-mile drive, we were able to gain a good understanding about the park. The kids returned their Junior Ranger packets to the visitor’s center and collected another national park badge to add to their growing collection.

By now it was lunchtime and we needed to decide what we wanted to do next. Option A — we could go for a hike in the national park this afternoon and stay another night at Ancient Ruins RV Park. Or, Option B — we could continue driving southwest to the Four Corners National Monument near Cortez, Colorado. Four Corners Monument is the only place where four states border each other: Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico and visiting this monument was the top thing to see on Tory’s southern Colorado bucket list. She’d first learned about the attraction in her Social Studies class.

Of course, the kids voted for Four Corners Monument. They were practically chanting “four corners! four corners!” when Andi and I put our afternoon plans up for a family vote. Because the monument is literally in the middle of the desert without much around it, it meant that we’d need to continue on into New Mexico to camp tonight. It’d be a busy afternoon of sightseeing and driving but we were up for the challenge.

The kids were more than excited for the chance to stand in four different states at once & I have to admit, I was excited to see this popular tourist attraction as well. Andi was the family member grumbling about our afternoon plans this time. He couldn’t believe we were driving an hour out of our way to see what he called a “tourist trap.” I reminded him that everyone in our family gets to have an opinion about things that he/she would like to see and do during our travels. We all have different interests and seeing Four Corners happens to be one of Tory’s. Would she ever have the chance again? We had to take advantage of the opportunity.

Not surprisingly, Andi nearly choked when we pulled into the run-down Four Corners Monument parking lot and the entrance attendant told him there was a $20 admittance fee. “Twenty dollars to stand on a piece of dirt which probably isn't even the real four corners!” Andi cried. He paid the money anyway.

As we approached the site of the four corners, we came to a long line of people waiting to take their picture on the designated X. A sign on the wall stated that visitors were only allowed to take two pictures each. Tory looked nervous as she considered how she’d stand in her photograph. In her Social Studies lesson, a boy laid horizontally in a plank position with one hand and/or foot in each state. That’s what she decided she wanted to do, too.

Twenty minutes later, it was finally our turn to take a photo. Andi snapped a few shots of the kids with his iPhone and then our time at Four Corners was over. That was it! Not much to it. There were a few Navajo women in booths along the outside walls of the monument selling trinkets and blankets, but nothing that we were interested in purchasing.

Afterward, we hopped back into our RV and entered New Mexico. The first hour of the drive was the most depressing, barren landscape I’ve ever seen. There was literally nothing but a wasteland of desert views — not a green plant, tree or body of water to be seen.

A busy day of sight-seeing plus a lot of miles in the RV equals one tired boy.

Finally, we saw some signs of life as we approached Farmington, NM. Tory had her Friday night art class at 5:30pm and begged Andi to quickly find a place to park the RV so she could log in online to participate. Andi pulled into the parking lot of a fireworks store and took Aden inside with him while Tory and I stayed in the RV and she attended her class. Honestly, it’s a bit of a pain finding art supplies on the road, logging into this online class on Friday nights, and then having craft supplies and scraps of paper strewn all over our tiny RV space, but this art class is important to Tory so Andi and I try to make it happen for her.

Meanwhile, Aden had never been into a mega fireworks store and Andi said his mind was blown when they walked inside. The cashier told Andi everything was “Buy 1, Get 1” in the store and Aden asked his dad what that meant. “It means you get to load up one of these red baskets with as many fireworks as you want,” Andi told Aden. Boy heaven.

The boys returned to the RV with a sack full of fireworks. From there, we drove to a nearby Chick-fil-A to grab dinner to-go. Even though we’d already been to a lot of different places today, Andi said he felt like pushing to get to our next destination. He didn’t want to stay in Farmington for the night. So, we continued on toward Navajo Lake State Park in Navajo Dam, New Mexico. We arrived just as the sun was setting. The sky was a beautiful cotton candy color of pink.

Andi promised Aden we’d find a spot to try out some of his fireworks & fortunately there’s a lot of wide open spaces in northern New Mexico. Andi pulled the RV over a few miles from the state park entrance and we all went outside to watch Aden light off a couple boomers.

By the time we got to our campsite, it was dark which is never ideal in setting up a RV. This is a big state park with several different loops but we were able to locate our reserved spot fairly easily. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to set up our RV besides parking it (without hitting anything) and putting out one slide with the touch of a button. Andi and I were surprised to find a concrete pad and full hook-ups in this state park location. That’s quite a luxury for most state-run sites!

Tomorrow, we’ll have a look around & explore Navajo Dam in the daylight.