We recently had a very enjoyable two-week vacation in CO and WY, and I would like to share the pictures and adventures with you!
I had been looking forward to my grand-daughter getting old enough to introduce to the joys of RV travel, and this was the year for her first long trip. She had been on a weekend outing with us a year or so ago, and really enjoyed it.
We were driving from Little Rock, and had two weeks off. My son's family was driving from Tulsa, and they had a week off. We made plans for them to rent an RV in CO, and we met in Colorado Springs on a Monday, and then set off together to see the sights. The RV had to be returned on the following Saturday, so we were going to stay in the southern part of CO.
This was our planned route in CO:
They left Tulsa on Saturday, and head west on 412 through the OK panhandle.
We left Little Rock on Saturday morning, and drove though Tulsa so we could visit my people for a few hours, then head up towards Kansas on some slower roads.
We made it to Osage Hills State Park near Bartlesville, OK and decided to stop for the night.
Whenever we go through Kansas, we like to seek out some of the quirky places that are off the beaten path so whenever we hear someone complaining about โHow flat and boring Kansas isโ we can ask them โReally? Have you seen..........โ Kansas has some beautiful hand-quarried stone churches in several of the little prairie towns. There's the Big Well in Greensburg which is also the town that was literally wiped off the map by a tornado in 2007 and is rebuilding and implementing a โtotally greenโ initiative, Big Brutus (a giant coal mining shovel) in West Mineral, the world's largest outdoor municipal concrete swimming pool in Garden City, etc.
This time, we wanted to see the โWheat Jesusโ and โThe Worlds Largest Easelโ. What the....???
I kid you not.
โWheat Jesusโ is a billboard in Colby, KS raised by a local couple to spread a message of...........โItโs a silent message,โ said one of the key people behind the sign. โItโs something very special to my wife and I. To me, itโs one of those things that were so positive in my life......My idea, people can look at that and they can make up their own mind,โ he said of the message the billboard sends. โThey donโt have to be told.โ He was right, we didn't have to be told.
Wheat Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! That's some tall wheat he's standing in!
The Worlds Largest Easel is in Goodland, and you need to actually get off of I-70 to really appreciate it. It's an 80' tall reproduction of a Van Gogh painting, and is described as โa celebration of art and agricultureโ. Kansas used to grow a lot of sunflower seeds.
We arrived in Colorado Springs Sunday evening. We were planning on spending the night at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, but they were full so we found a spot at a private CG called Golden Eagle.
Nice sunrise.
We had a few hours to kill Monday morning before we could pick up the rental RV, so we went to Garden of the Gods.
The boss's cat (Kahlua) and GD (Gabrielle) getting reacquainted. Kahlua is about 15 years old, and has forgotten how much fun small children can be. She tries to discourage them by hissing a lot whenever they invade her zone of comfort.
She eventually decided that Gabby was tolerable enough to sit by while we took a tram tour around the park. It was raining off and on, so we were at least able to stay dry while we looked around.
After picking up the RV, we head out towards the Cripple Creek/Victor area to go on a mine tour and ride a narrow-gauge train!
The Molly Kathleen Mine.
Getting hard-hats and jackets before we descend 1000' into the mine.
They aren't kidding. You will be seriously punished!
Down in the mine.
Our tour guide. She's a real hard-rock miner who loves to blow stuff up. My kinda gal!
Ancient โmuckingโ machine.
Air drills.
Looking up one of the vertical shafts.
Underground workshop.
Old mining structure.
Chipmunk on a feeder.
The town of Cripple Creek.
After the mine tour, we drove down into town to take a short ride on their narrow-gauge train.
Mine tailings from old mines.
One of the trains.
After our train ride, we started the long drive to Mesa Verde. This would be our only long driving day (thank goodness!) We drove over Wolf Creek Pass.
We made it to Mancos that evening, and spent the night at Ancient Cedars RV Resort outside of Mesa Verde NP. The next morning we went over to the Visitors Center as soon as it opened to get tickets. The tours sell out quickly. Ours would be after lunch.
We went back to the campground, went to the playground for a while, had lunch, and then head back over to the park.
The drive from the park entrance to our first tour site is about 45 minutes. We stop to enjoy the views along the way. That's the Montezuma Valley below us.
Hold still Gabby! I'm taking a pano-shot!
Sign describing the difficulties in building the first road.
Our first tour is of Balcony House. The ranger stressed that there will be ladders to climb and narrow passages to squirm through. Oh boy!
Everyone made it to the top OK.
It looks worse from this angle!
Balcony House ruins.
One of the many Kiva's at Mesa Verde. These were used for religious rituals.
Milling stones.
Ranger explaining the kiva and how it was used.
Balcony House pano-shot.
Happy vacationers!
We're supposed to fit through that?
Gabby had no trouble with the passageway.
I had to fold myself up a little to squeeze in.
Thank goodness those Puebloans put the chain and fencing here. This would be really dangerous otherwise!
Ruins on the other side of the canyon.
Our next tour was Cliff Palace. Looking down on it before the tour.
Our groups ranger talking before the tour.
Notice how every space is exploited. Even the โatticโ area!
The towers in Cliff Palace are very impressive.
Cliff Palace can get hot in the afternoon sun.
Some ancient art is still visible on the walls of this dwelling.
Farewell to Mesa Verde!
After leaving Mesa Verde, we head towards Durango, and then continued on the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton.
We stopped at Molas Pass to enjoy the view.
This road has a lot of switch-backs!
Tunnel!
The town of Silverton.
A great picture of two trains.
After enjoying lunch and the shopping in Silverton, we drive on to Ourey.
Holding down the bench while the girls shop.
We stopped for the night at Monarch Park FS Campground, just below Monarch Pass.
One of the tributaries of the Arkansas River runs through the campground.
Taking a walk.
Our campsite. Lots of trees have been killed by Mountain Pine Beetles. Dead trees in campgrounds are cut down for safety.
Making s'mores over a fire. Kids have to learn this stuff!
Sharing a seat.
That was about it for the week. It went by too fast, but that seems to be the case when you're spending time with family, especially grand-kids. I think Gabby enjoyed the trip, and I'm looking forward to doing it again!
The next day we started heading towards Colorado Springs, making stops to get the rental RV ready to turn back in. We said our good-bye's near Salida, and the boss and I turned north towards Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain NP.
I'll add the second week of our vacation later. We do some hiking in RMNP, drive up to Laramie, WY where we spend a few days at Vedauwoo FS campground, then drive the Snowy Range Scenic Byway through the Medicine Bow Mtns.
It was a great trip!
:):)
I had been looking forward to my grand-daughter getting old enough to introduce to the joys of RV travel, and this was the year for her first long trip. She had been on a weekend outing with us a year or so ago, and really enjoyed it.
We were driving from Little Rock, and had two weeks off. My son's family was driving from Tulsa, and they had a week off. We made plans for them to rent an RV in CO, and we met in Colorado Springs on a Monday, and then set off together to see the sights. The RV had to be returned on the following Saturday, so we were going to stay in the southern part of CO.
This was our planned route in CO:
They left Tulsa on Saturday, and head west on 412 through the OK panhandle.
We left Little Rock on Saturday morning, and drove though Tulsa so we could visit my people for a few hours, then head up towards Kansas on some slower roads.
We made it to Osage Hills State Park near Bartlesville, OK and decided to stop for the night.
Whenever we go through Kansas, we like to seek out some of the quirky places that are off the beaten path so whenever we hear someone complaining about โHow flat and boring Kansas isโ we can ask them โReally? Have you seen..........โ Kansas has some beautiful hand-quarried stone churches in several of the little prairie towns. There's the Big Well in Greensburg which is also the town that was literally wiped off the map by a tornado in 2007 and is rebuilding and implementing a โtotally greenโ initiative, Big Brutus (a giant coal mining shovel) in West Mineral, the world's largest outdoor municipal concrete swimming pool in Garden City, etc.
This time, we wanted to see the โWheat Jesusโ and โThe Worlds Largest Easelโ. What the....???
I kid you not.
โWheat Jesusโ is a billboard in Colby, KS raised by a local couple to spread a message of...........โItโs a silent message,โ said one of the key people behind the sign. โItโs something very special to my wife and I. To me, itโs one of those things that were so positive in my life......My idea, people can look at that and they can make up their own mind,โ he said of the message the billboard sends. โThey donโt have to be told.โ He was right, we didn't have to be told.
Wheat Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! That's some tall wheat he's standing in!
The Worlds Largest Easel is in Goodland, and you need to actually get off of I-70 to really appreciate it. It's an 80' tall reproduction of a Van Gogh painting, and is described as โa celebration of art and agricultureโ. Kansas used to grow a lot of sunflower seeds.
We arrived in Colorado Springs Sunday evening. We were planning on spending the night at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, but they were full so we found a spot at a private CG called Golden Eagle.
Nice sunrise.
We had a few hours to kill Monday morning before we could pick up the rental RV, so we went to Garden of the Gods.
The boss's cat (Kahlua) and GD (Gabrielle) getting reacquainted. Kahlua is about 15 years old, and has forgotten how much fun small children can be. She tries to discourage them by hissing a lot whenever they invade her zone of comfort.
She eventually decided that Gabby was tolerable enough to sit by while we took a tram tour around the park. It was raining off and on, so we were at least able to stay dry while we looked around.
After picking up the RV, we head out towards the Cripple Creek/Victor area to go on a mine tour and ride a narrow-gauge train!
The Molly Kathleen Mine.
Getting hard-hats and jackets before we descend 1000' into the mine.
They aren't kidding. You will be seriously punished!
Down in the mine.
Our tour guide. She's a real hard-rock miner who loves to blow stuff up. My kinda gal!
Ancient โmuckingโ machine.
Air drills.
Looking up one of the vertical shafts.
Underground workshop.
Old mining structure.
Chipmunk on a feeder.
The town of Cripple Creek.
After the mine tour, we drove down into town to take a short ride on their narrow-gauge train.
Mine tailings from old mines.
One of the trains.
After our train ride, we started the long drive to Mesa Verde. This would be our only long driving day (thank goodness!) We drove over Wolf Creek Pass.
We made it to Mancos that evening, and spent the night at Ancient Cedars RV Resort outside of Mesa Verde NP. The next morning we went over to the Visitors Center as soon as it opened to get tickets. The tours sell out quickly. Ours would be after lunch.
We went back to the campground, went to the playground for a while, had lunch, and then head back over to the park.
The drive from the park entrance to our first tour site is about 45 minutes. We stop to enjoy the views along the way. That's the Montezuma Valley below us.
Hold still Gabby! I'm taking a pano-shot!
Sign describing the difficulties in building the first road.
Our first tour is of Balcony House. The ranger stressed that there will be ladders to climb and narrow passages to squirm through. Oh boy!
Everyone made it to the top OK.
It looks worse from this angle!
Balcony House ruins.
One of the many Kiva's at Mesa Verde. These were used for religious rituals.
Milling stones.
Ranger explaining the kiva and how it was used.
Balcony House pano-shot.
Happy vacationers!
We're supposed to fit through that?
Gabby had no trouble with the passageway.
I had to fold myself up a little to squeeze in.
Thank goodness those Puebloans put the chain and fencing here. This would be really dangerous otherwise!
Ruins on the other side of the canyon.
Our next tour was Cliff Palace. Looking down on it before the tour.
Our groups ranger talking before the tour.
Notice how every space is exploited. Even the โatticโ area!
The towers in Cliff Palace are very impressive.
Cliff Palace can get hot in the afternoon sun.
Some ancient art is still visible on the walls of this dwelling.
Farewell to Mesa Verde!
After leaving Mesa Verde, we head towards Durango, and then continued on the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton.
We stopped at Molas Pass to enjoy the view.
This road has a lot of switch-backs!
Tunnel!
The town of Silverton.
A great picture of two trains.
After enjoying lunch and the shopping in Silverton, we drive on to Ourey.
Holding down the bench while the girls shop.
We stopped for the night at Monarch Park FS Campground, just below Monarch Pass.
One of the tributaries of the Arkansas River runs through the campground.
Taking a walk.
Our campsite. Lots of trees have been killed by Mountain Pine Beetles. Dead trees in campgrounds are cut down for safety.
Making s'mores over a fire. Kids have to learn this stuff!
Sharing a seat.
That was about it for the week. It went by too fast, but that seems to be the case when you're spending time with family, especially grand-kids. I think Gabby enjoyed the trip, and I'm looking forward to doing it again!
The next day we started heading towards Colorado Springs, making stops to get the rental RV ready to turn back in. We said our good-bye's near Salida, and the boss and I turned north towards Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain NP.
I'll add the second week of our vacation later. We do some hiking in RMNP, drive up to Laramie, WY where we spend a few days at Vedauwoo FS campground, then drive the Snowy Range Scenic Byway through the Medicine Bow Mtns.
It was a great trip!
:):)
