The Road

The girls and I continued our Journey through New Mexico. After leaving Santa Rosa, we stopped in Santa Fe and had a tour of the square and the old city. It was beautiful and the kids were fascinated by the Adobe and other architecture. We had breakfast on the square at a local cafe and the kids loved it. Here is a picture of them on the square at the Cathedral in Santa Fe.





After leaving Santa Fe, we headed out toward Shiprock, New Mexico. My geology roots demanded that we see that formation. You can see it from at least 30 miles away on the highway. It is an old volcanic neck and just sticks up out of the desert. I was getting very excited as we got closer and closer. However, my GPS took me to the TOWN of Shiprock, and allowed us a view of it about 6 miles away. It seems my Garmin could not locate the monument and there were no signs or any indication of how exactly to reach the monument for a closer look. The picture I have I downloaded off of the Internet. We did get a very nice view from that far way. Sadly, it seems my kids are not budding geoscientists, so they were not interested in tracking it down and wanted to leave the area.



We left NW New Mexico and headed N to Colorado. It seemed like Cortez, Colorado would be decent sized town and a nice place to stop. When we reached Colorado we stopped for a picture. Katherine kept commenting about how she could see rocks out of both sides of the car for the entire trip. We got to Cortez around three pm and started searching for a decent place to stay. My Garmin told me there was a Holiday Inn Express so we gave it a shot. It seemed to be the only place in town with interior rooms so we went for it. We were met by the owner at the front desk and he suggested considering a "Fort Experience" and asked if we would like to see a room? "Of Course!" , said my children. He marched us up to a suite on the third floor where half of the room had been turned into a literal fort with wooden walls made from stakes. Inside of the fort were two bunk beds and a TV for the kids. The best part of the room was a GIANT King Sized bed for me. I honestly could not remember the last time I had slept without a child in my bed in a bed large enough for me to sleep side-ways if I wanted. It cost me more than they Hyatt Hill Country, but it was worth every penny. The kids LOVED it. There was also a great restaurant next to the hotel and after dinner we went to bed. As soon as Katherine was asleep, Madeline snuck out of the Fort and into my bed and snuck back in the Fort at first light so her sister would never know that she was too scared to sleep without me. Her secret still is safe with me.

Bright and early we pulled out of Cortez and headed to Utah. We decided to give Arches National Park a try. We got there at around 10:30. It was a crystal clear and beautiful day. I forgot it was the desert and the temperatures quickly reached 100 degrees F. We hiked up to the double arches and the kids loved it. After two hours of hiking in that heat, we decided to forgo our idea of a picnic in the park and just eat in the car on the road. It was stunningly beautiful and the kids had a great time. We headed for Park City. Heidi called me when we happened to reach Provo. She had been driving in from Las Vegas and we were about three blocks from each other. We met up and headed into Park City together. She had Noa and I had my tow kids and we stayed at her parents condo in Kimball Junction for the first three days of our Park City adventure.

More Park City action to follow.