Okay, the last time I posted we were leaving Salt Lake City. I am a bad blogger...I will try to be better. (if you know me at all, I am all talk so don't expect too much) So we left Salt Lake and started to head to Dinosaur National Monument. We didn't make it far. We got to Park City,Utah and decided to stay for the night. It was lovely. We dropped D off at a brewery to do some studying and headed to the Farmers Market. (On the way to the market, this lady was right on my ass. She was seriously weaving into oncoming traffic to see around me. There was an old man in front of me and we were doing the speed limit. I kept tapping my brakes to let her know to get the fuck off my ass but she just wouldn't stop. The boys learned some choice words and phrases. I managed to talk myself out of following her to kick her ass because what a waste of police resources and Donovan would NEVER let me live it down!) OMG! I got pears, apples, tomatoes, peppers, kettle corn, 2 loaves of bread, goat cheese, raspberries, strawberries and cucumber for less than $40. I was in heaven. We then picked up Donovan in the chic part of town. There was a lady wearing a toque. It was +20. We then headed to the Outlet Mall to find some new shoes for Donovan. I managed to get a pair of Montrail hikers and a windbreaker at Columbia for less than $50. Ummm...yeah. I liked it here. If Donovan and the kids weren't there, there would have been way more damage done.
Next day we drove to Vernal,Utah. The home of Dinosaur National Park. We got there too late to get to the park so we camped at a gorgeous spot called Steinaker State Park. Beautiful. There we made glow jars and made gourmet s'mores. We met a lovely couple from England and introduced them to s'mores. Imogene and Johnny were traveling the Western part of the US in a funky painted mini van. I liked them. Donovan liked them even though Johnny cheers for Manchester United. The coyotes were howling like crazy that night. Kinda creepy, but really cool. Next day we went to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. It was AWESOME. Aidan and Kiran worked on a Junior Scientist program throughout the museum. There were tons of fossils and models to look at. We loved it and totally recommend it. Seriously. Then we headed to the Quarry at Dinosaur National Park. Squeal! It was ah-maz-ing!!!! Donovan and I were just so excited. The boys were mildly entertained. Aidan actually threw a fit...he is acting like such a pre-teen, I can hardly stand it We decided to camp at the Split Mountain campground in Dinosaur National. It was free, we were sold. It was stunning. It was on Green River and was surrounded by red rocks and incredible rock faces. The stars were amazing. If we had the time, we would've stayed a few more nights but Donovan had to get back to civilization to work on a paper. Boo,Hiss. School is soooooo fucking inconvient.We drove to Grand Junction, Colorado. On the way, Donovan got pulled over by the State Patrol because he didn't stop for a school bus. Thankfully, he let us off with a warning or else we would've kissed $890 goodbye. I lost the insurance papers...not lost...misplaced. I guess we are even and now we know where the insurance papers are! Scenery was beautiful as usual.
We stayed at the KOA in Grand Junction for two nights so Donovan and the boys could get caught up with some school work. Getting Aidan to do school work is like a root canal with anesthetic or childbirth to an elephant. The weather was hot...+27 for both days. The 2nd day we went downtown to get some gelato and to fix Aidan's bike tire. We witnessed an Occupy Grand Junction. There were about 20 people chanting down Main St. It was a pathetic turn out. Apparently Grand Junction is the 1%. We were debating whether or not to head to Denver or to South Utah. Denver won.
The drive to Denver was interesting. We hit a few mountain passes. It was snowing. The boys were so happy to see snow, D and I were not. It went from +27 to +1. Not impressed. I mean it was lovely and all but pulling a 30' beast behind you through 12,000 ft passes is not really a good time. Donovan and I decided to stay at the KOA on the East side of Denver the night before. I plugged the address into Sam as we got a little closer to Denver. Okay, turn at Idaho Springs. Cute town, far too many churches. Sam lead us through town to Co Rd 279. We obviously didn't realize what Co Rd means County Road. We drove for quite awhile because Sam kept telling us that the KOA was right around the corner. And I kept saying just keep going. We drove past lots of old mine shafts. Donovan and I watch far to many horror movies and were trying not to think about what or who would come to meet us if we should get stuck. Finally, Donovan found a place to turn around as it became clear that the KOA was not around the corner. We drove back down the mountainside in 1st gear. Then we took a wrong turn. Bad to worse instantaneously. This road was definitely not made for a 30' RV. A narrow, winding path (a path is what I am going to call it because that is pretty much all it was) overlooking a cliff. Did I mention that it was all loose gravel. A long,long way down.I was on the side that overlooked the massive drop down. Donovan kept his cool. I lost it. Completely. I actually hyperventilated and then broke down into hysterical crying. Ugly cry. After we escaped death, we decided to try the Denver West KOA instead. It was another hour and half away in Strasberg, Colorado. It was wedged between the highway and a TRAIN TRACK! We stayed one night and then found a place closer to Denver. We moved to Cherry Creek State Park. A little oasis in the middle of the city. It was great. They even had wifi. We went and explored downtown Denver. The boys loved the tall buildings. We went to the 16th Street mall in Denver. The boys loved the free bus that took us up and down the street. We got to the end of the street and walked through a lovely park to the skate park. Lots of sketchy teenagers. We left. Walked back up 16th to an awesome bookstore called the Tattered Page. We spent far too much money on books. We then hunted down the Ikea. It happened to be kids eat free day so we had dinner for the 5 of us for $8. Not bad. It was a good thing that I insisted that we needed some more storage for the boys room. The next day we went on a candy factory tour at a place called Hammonds. They make candy canes and other delectable goodness. We bought far too much candy. The boys loved the tour and so did D and I. I then made Donovan hunt down the Container Store. Oh how I love the Container Store. I left the boys in the truck and went in to get some organizers for the kids school work. And I actually left with exactly what I went for. Although I was considering moving in. I know. Donovans' birthday was the following day so we decided to take a trek out to Boulder. Cool university town. Cute little shops,coffee shops,restaurants and gorgeous tree lined streets. Next day:Pueblo.
We drove to Pueblo the next day. We drove through Colorado Springs. We had lunch at IHOP and then drove on through. We should have spent the night. We landed in Pueblo. We decided to stay at the Walmart to save a few bucks. A Barnes and Noble was nearby so Donovan could get some work done. While he was working, the boys and I went into Walmart to get some milk and water. Walmart is just a great place to people watch. (in the line in front of us, there was a gang banger, who knew that there were gang bangers in Colorado and his lovely teenaged babymama. They started arguing. We went into another line up.)We then went back to the Terry and got ready for bed. I did not sleep. At all. We had to keep the bikes inside so we had to crawl over them to get into bed. Donovan doesn't see the point of spending money on a bike rack. Well maybe for about an hour at about 6am. We now know not to park near the main road into a 24 hour Walmart or to park across the street from a movie theatre on a Friday night. Another lesson learned.
Today (OKAY so it obviously was obviously well over a week ago) we drove to Alamosa so we could go and see the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Staying at the KOA...the water smells like rotten eggs but there is no train. At least not yet. The sand dunes were amazing. Donovan said it reminded him of Kuwait. The boys loved it because it was like a giant sand box. I loved the way the light and shadows created such depth and beauty to these sandy hills. OMG...Donovan just came in from outside and there is a train! ANOTHER MOTHER FUCKING TRAIN! The must get the land cheap.That is it...no more KOAs for us!!! Tomorrow we are headed for Durango. We ended up in Cortez. In another Walmart parking lot. This time it was much better. I didn't go into the Walmart before bed and took a sleeping pill. Then off to Mesa Verde,Canyons of the Ancients and then to South Utah. I'll write while we are in Moab. I'll go into Mesa Verde in my next post.
If you want to check out some pics from the trip....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52945342@N02/sets/
Everything is all good! We haven't killed each other yet...It has come close!
Next day we drove to Vernal,Utah. The home of Dinosaur National Park. We got there too late to get to the park so we camped at a gorgeous spot called Steinaker State Park. Beautiful. There we made glow jars and made gourmet s'mores. We met a lovely couple from England and introduced them to s'mores. Imogene and Johnny were traveling the Western part of the US in a funky painted mini van. I liked them. Donovan liked them even though Johnny cheers for Manchester United. The coyotes were howling like crazy that night. Kinda creepy, but really cool. Next day we went to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. It was AWESOME. Aidan and Kiran worked on a Junior Scientist program throughout the museum. There were tons of fossils and models to look at. We loved it and totally recommend it. Seriously. Then we headed to the Quarry at Dinosaur National Park. Squeal! It was ah-maz-ing!!!! Donovan and I were just so excited. The boys were mildly entertained. Aidan actually threw a fit...he is acting like such a pre-teen, I can hardly stand it We decided to camp at the Split Mountain campground in Dinosaur National. It was free, we were sold. It was stunning. It was on Green River and was surrounded by red rocks and incredible rock faces. The stars were amazing. If we had the time, we would've stayed a few more nights but Donovan had to get back to civilization to work on a paper. Boo,Hiss. School is soooooo fucking inconvient.We drove to Grand Junction, Colorado. On the way, Donovan got pulled over by the State Patrol because he didn't stop for a school bus. Thankfully, he let us off with a warning or else we would've kissed $890 goodbye. I lost the insurance papers...not lost...misplaced. I guess we are even and now we know where the insurance papers are! Scenery was beautiful as usual.
We stayed at the KOA in Grand Junction for two nights so Donovan and the boys could get caught up with some school work. Getting Aidan to do school work is like a root canal with anesthetic or childbirth to an elephant. The weather was hot...+27 for both days. The 2nd day we went downtown to get some gelato and to fix Aidan's bike tire. We witnessed an Occupy Grand Junction. There were about 20 people chanting down Main St. It was a pathetic turn out. Apparently Grand Junction is the 1%. We were debating whether or not to head to Denver or to South Utah. Denver won.
The drive to Denver was interesting. We hit a few mountain passes. It was snowing. The boys were so happy to see snow, D and I were not. It went from +27 to +1. Not impressed. I mean it was lovely and all but pulling a 30' beast behind you through 12,000 ft passes is not really a good time. Donovan and I decided to stay at the KOA on the East side of Denver the night before. I plugged the address into Sam as we got a little closer to Denver. Okay, turn at Idaho Springs. Cute town, far too many churches. Sam lead us through town to Co Rd 279. We obviously didn't realize what Co Rd means County Road. We drove for quite awhile because Sam kept telling us that the KOA was right around the corner. And I kept saying just keep going. We drove past lots of old mine shafts. Donovan and I watch far to many horror movies and were trying not to think about what or who would come to meet us if we should get stuck. Finally, Donovan found a place to turn around as it became clear that the KOA was not around the corner. We drove back down the mountainside in 1st gear. Then we took a wrong turn. Bad to worse instantaneously. This road was definitely not made for a 30' RV. A narrow, winding path (a path is what I am going to call it because that is pretty much all it was) overlooking a cliff. Did I mention that it was all loose gravel. A long,long way down.I was on the side that overlooked the massive drop down. Donovan kept his cool. I lost it. Completely. I actually hyperventilated and then broke down into hysterical crying. Ugly cry. After we escaped death, we decided to try the Denver West KOA instead. It was another hour and half away in Strasberg, Colorado. It was wedged between the highway and a TRAIN TRACK! We stayed one night and then found a place closer to Denver. We moved to Cherry Creek State Park. A little oasis in the middle of the city. It was great. They even had wifi. We went and explored downtown Denver. The boys loved the tall buildings. We went to the 16th Street mall in Denver. The boys loved the free bus that took us up and down the street. We got to the end of the street and walked through a lovely park to the skate park. Lots of sketchy teenagers. We left. Walked back up 16th to an awesome bookstore called the Tattered Page. We spent far too much money on books. We then hunted down the Ikea. It happened to be kids eat free day so we had dinner for the 5 of us for $8. Not bad. It was a good thing that I insisted that we needed some more storage for the boys room. The next day we went on a candy factory tour at a place called Hammonds. They make candy canes and other delectable goodness. We bought far too much candy. The boys loved the tour and so did D and I. I then made Donovan hunt down the Container Store. Oh how I love the Container Store. I left the boys in the truck and went in to get some organizers for the kids school work. And I actually left with exactly what I went for. Although I was considering moving in. I know. Donovans' birthday was the following day so we decided to take a trek out to Boulder. Cool university town. Cute little shops,coffee shops,restaurants and gorgeous tree lined streets. Next day:Pueblo.
We drove to Pueblo the next day. We drove through Colorado Springs. We had lunch at IHOP and then drove on through. We should have spent the night. We landed in Pueblo. We decided to stay at the Walmart to save a few bucks. A Barnes and Noble was nearby so Donovan could get some work done. While he was working, the boys and I went into Walmart to get some milk and water. Walmart is just a great place to people watch. (in the line in front of us, there was a gang banger, who knew that there were gang bangers in Colorado and his lovely teenaged babymama. They started arguing. We went into another line up.)We then went back to the Terry and got ready for bed. I did not sleep. At all. We had to keep the bikes inside so we had to crawl over them to get into bed. Donovan doesn't see the point of spending money on a bike rack. Well maybe for about an hour at about 6am. We now know not to park near the main road into a 24 hour Walmart or to park across the street from a movie theatre on a Friday night. Another lesson learned.
Today (OKAY so it obviously was obviously well over a week ago) we drove to Alamosa so we could go and see the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Staying at the KOA...the water smells like rotten eggs but there is no train. At least not yet. The sand dunes were amazing. Donovan said it reminded him of Kuwait. The boys loved it because it was like a giant sand box. I loved the way the light and shadows created such depth and beauty to these sandy hills. OMG...Donovan just came in from outside and there is a train! ANOTHER MOTHER FUCKING TRAIN! The must get the land cheap.That is it...no more KOAs for us!!! Tomorrow we are headed for Durango. We ended up in Cortez. In another Walmart parking lot. This time it was much better. I didn't go into the Walmart before bed and took a sleeping pill. Then off to Mesa Verde,Canyons of the Ancients and then to South Utah. I'll write while we are in Moab. I'll go into Mesa Verde in my next post.
If you want to check out some pics from the trip....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52945342@N02/sets/
Everything is all good! We haven't killed each other yet...It has come close!
