Day 8: Denver

Mark: Today was our last day except for a travel day back home tomorrow. I found this to be the most difficult day of hiking to date. We went shopping on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. Now I can hike all day in desert heat, up and down mountains, and long distances but walking around shopping is thoroughly exhausting. I don't know how the girls do it. Alli and Jessie both got some new clothes and we ate lunch at an open air sports bar/restaurant while people watching. The only scheduled event in the afternoon was a tour of the Denver Mint at 2pm. After a brief security check we were led inside to explore the museum before our tour started. We learned that the penny costs $.02 to make, the nickel $.09, dime $.04, quarter $.16, half dollar $.21, and dollar $.22. The penny is also 98% zinc and only 2% copper. We did get two free samples of the penny, one minted and one blank. We also got to see 1.5 million dollars worth of gold on the way out. That may sound like a lot but with the price of gold lately it was only three bars stacked behind bars in a safe. All in all the tour was about an hour long, worth it if you are ever in Denver and have a little time.

Back to the hotel for a little rest and then on to Coors Field to watch a Rockies game. We had club level seats just past first base. During the third inning a cute young lady walked up and down the aisle looking at open seats. She stopped and asked if anyone was sitting in the seat next to Alli. I was wondering if we sat in the wrong seats. We said no and she left. A couple minutes later she came back with another cute young lady and informed us that at the end of the forth inning Sasquatch (from the Jack Link's commercials) was going to sit there for a where's the Squatch bit on the jumbotron and that every one in the aisle would get a free bag of Jerky to hold up when the camera's found him. The whole thing was priceless but the beef jerky had a street value of $15, that's a $40 ballpark value. We took a lot of photos. The Squatch even wanted the camera to take a selfie of he and Alli. Alli also asked him to autograph her ticket. He obliged with a messy scribble in the middle of her ticket, pretty funny. The Rockies lost 4-2 but we had a lot of fun. Great end to a great trip.

Travel day tomorrow with a 3am wake up and 6am flight home.

Day 7: Skydiving

Mark: Day 6 may have been great but, according to the girls, day 7 was even better. Today started with 8am skydiving for the girls. Today is my day to write the blog so I'll start it off but the girls will also add their perspective since I stayed on the ground. First thing we had to do was watch a video that talked about the inherent dangers and risk of death. Very inspirational. The girls then spent about twenty minutes signing their rights away followed by a meeting with their tandem jumpers, Jimmy with Alli and Ian with Jessie. My main concern at this point came when Alli and Jessie were filling out the forms. The couches we were sitting on smelled like a beer soaked sofas you would find at a frat party. That, accompanied with the fact that all the staff were 20-something males gave me pause.

The girls geared up and before we knew it they were getting in the plane to jump from 10,000 feet above the airstrip. I watched as the plane rose to altitude and saw two specks emerge. Three or four minutes later and they were both safely on the ground. The girls were beyond thrilled and wanted to jump again. Both guides filmed the entire jump so we waited for about twenty minutes and bought the DVD's. can't wait to watch them!

After skydiving we had one more stop on our way to Denver: Colorado National Monument. I wasn't sure what to expect here as I did not do much research. I know, hard to believe. We stopped at the visitor center and got recommendations for hikes and overlooks. Only two short hikes totaling about 1.5 miles. We all thought this was a beautiful area that was definitely worthy of becoming a National Park one day. A 250 mile drive to Denver would bring our day to an end. On the outskirts of Denver we found ourselves in a mini Cannonball Run as a dozen elaborately painted Lamborghini's, a few Porsches, and one Corvette raced by our car. At first I thought I'd try to keep up but decided our poor little Corolla had been through enough. Tomorrow we will spend our last day in downtown Denver touring the Denver Mint and catching a Rockies game.

Jessie: At first I was nervous about jumping out of the plane, but after listening to Ian talk about the basics I realized that it was very unlikely for something to malfunction and that all I had to do was jump and let gravity do the work. It also didn't hurt that Ian was cute and very easy to talk to! He gave me a tour of the surrounding area on the way up and then before I knew it we were jumping out! The initial feeling of freefall was pretty nerve-racking but after a couple seconds that nervousness changed to exhilaration. It was so exciting, I even got to steer the chute, but even through my excitement I still looked pretty nervous on the camera footage and pictures. Even so, it was the best day I've ever had and I can't wait to do it again.

Alli: BEST DAY OF VACATION EVER!! Skydiving was absolutely amazing! Granted, I was a little uneasy about it in the beginning. There was more than one occasion when I asked one of the instructors if my harness could be tightened. Dad and Jessie both seemed to get a pretty good laugh out of my nervousness. To make matters more interesting, my diving partner, Jimmy, was very flirtatious, calling me pretty and beautiful on more than one occasion, as well as sharing some sexual jokes on the plane. I'm sure my responses weren't the smoothest, as I was preoccupied with the possibility of becoming a human pancake in the next 5 minutes if things took a turn for the worst.

I was first to jump out of the plane, and all I could think seconds before the jump was how much farther down everything looked with the plane door open. Jimmy went over the formations one last time and helped me scoot out onto the ledge under the wing of the airplane. Everything seemed to play out in slow motion: looking down at the ground below, leaning forward, and suddenly plunging 120 mph to the ground. There's no way to describe the feeling of free falling 10,000 feet above the ground. I wish I could come up with some eloquent description other than it being awesome, but the whole thing left me speechless. Well, not counting the parts when I was screaming my head off. After what seemed like forever, Jimmy pulled the parachute, and we spent the next couple minutes getting doing sharp turns and flips through the air. It was so much fun! The closer we got to the ground, the easier it was to make out Dad standing at the edge of the landing field. Finally touching back down on the ground, Jimmy and I exchanged high fives and last minute pictures before we walked back to the main building. It was such an amazing experience - and one more thing to cross off my bucket list!

Day 6: Rafting on the Colorado River

Alli: Where to begin? Day 6 was AMAZING! By far the best day of the vacation, and I dare say all our trips so far. Not only did we get to sleep in, which was a glorious luxury in itself, but we spent the majority of the day white water rafting on the Colorado River. Our guide, Nathan, was very entertaining. Not to mention soft on the eyes ;) He was a hottie with a body. On the bus ride down he pointed out rock formations that looked like really specific images such as "John Wayne hitting on two underage girls" or "Winnie the Pooh's cousin wearing a beret." We were able to see most of the characters no problem but it wasn't until the ride back, when we were sun-drenched that we were able to make out Winnie the Pooh.

Our bus ride ended at Hittle Bottom, were Nathan and Jay prepared the raft while we waited in the shade of a tree and watched other groups begin their journeys down the river. Before we embarked, Nathan went over safety guidelines: how to sit and paddle, and what to do if the boat the flipped. The speech was quick and simple, and within no time we found ourselves sitting on the raft with a paddle in hand, and pushing off from the sandy shore. 

Lucky for us, the river was much higher than usual - 34,000 cfs. Nathan explained to us that the normal range was between 20,000 and 30,000 cfs. Because the river was so high, we didn't have to do as much paddling. This was nice because it gave us the chance to enjoy the scenery. With cliffs on one side and a view of mesas and mountains on the other, it was a spectacular sight. There were a few spots before the actual rapids that acted as "practice" sections. At first I thought these waves were something to take note of, something that would rock the boat. I was wrong. Nathan said it best when he joked "those are something you take your baby on." Coming around one of the riverbeds, our eyes grew wide as we saw the real rapids. The rushing water seemed to move in every direction, with waves roaring and popping up as though they were trying to reach up and engulf the boat. There were 4 sections of rapids: Onion, Professor, New, and Rocky. I think it's safe to say that we underestimated both the size and force of the waves, because when we went through Professor rapids, the first wave that struck us head-on nearly knocked Jessie and I out of the boat. We only managed to say in because our feet were locked under the inflation dividers in the center of the raft. New rapids were probably the most chaotic, though also the shortest section of rapids. Last was the Rocky Rapids. By now we new what to expect, and tried to minimize the flailing of our paddles when we were hit by an oncoming wave - which only seemed to get bigger the further we got.

Mark: Jessie at I were on the front of the raft. At professor rapids we went down into a swell and hit a wall of water head on, I don't know how it looked from anyone else's perspective but I think Jessie and I were completely under water for a second or two. When we emerged Jessie was thrashing about enough to interfere with my paddling. Both of us considered ourselves lucky we stayed on the raft.

Having survived the voyage down the river, we paddled to shore and disembarked with our legs still shaking. We then enjoyed a delicious lunch consisting of wraps, carrots, chips and cookies while watching other boats attempt to take on the rapids. After we were done eating, it was back on the bus to town.

We spent the remainder of the day downtown, walking from shop to shop, buying even more souvenirs. Getting everything home is going to be quite the challenge. All in all it was an awesome day. I can't wait for tomorrow's skydiving adventure, as it's hard to imagine this trip could get any better!

Day 5: Canyonlands National Park

Jessie: The day started with Alli and I arguing in the local grocery store about which bag of chips and granola bars to get for lunch. After the initial battle we continued on to Canyonlands National Park, hoping for the day to get better. It didn't. Not knowng which hikes were best for the time we had we went to the Visitor Center to ask for advice on good hikes. Alli and I found a binder which we found very helpful. The title: Short hikes in between 0.3 and 3.0 miles. Alli and I feel in love with this binder and picked out a few hikes we found that would be acceptable. Not to be outdone dad decided on Chesler's Park Overlook, a six mile roundtrip trail out into the middle of the desert. Not only were we not on the same page we weren't even in the same book when it came to acceptable hikes.

Oh, how the death marches continue. There were three things I noticed when we started the hike. One: there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Two: they trail had very little shade. And three: it was stupidly hot. The trail itself was pretty level at the beginning, but even so, 15 minutes into the hike Alli felt queasy and off-balanced. We took a 10-15 minute break in the shade we found, letting her recover. Alli decided she would stay in the shade and dad and I could continue the hikeand meet her on the way back. 

Dad and I hiked up until we were 0.6 miles away from Chesler's Park and then decided that we didn't want to leave Alli by her lonesome any longer. We hiked down the slope of the canyon 0.2 miles before crossing paths with Alli. Apparently she was feeling better, but I must say I was not excited to backtrack the 0.2 miles up the side of the canyon we had just come back down. In terms of effort, this was one of the times when I was not happy to see my sister. But we continued on, and now it was my turn to feel queasy. The last 0.2 miles of the trail up to the overlook was the worst part of the hike. But we all made it to the overlook where the view was pretty amazing, though I was just happy to sit in the shade face first in the heavy breeze. It was the best feeling ever. 

The good part about the hike was that it didn't take long to get back to the car, though that was probably because Alli and I had more motivation that time. I have to say seeing our car in the parking lot was almost as beautiful as the overlook we hiked to. We were all thankful it was finally done. Not wanting to do any more hikes we decided to stop at Newspaper Rock on our way to the hotel, an overlook of Petroglyphs that was right off the road. It was only fifty feet from the parking lot, but even so that was plenty of a hike for us. When we finally got there though it was pretty cool. It was just a slab of rock covered in ancient petroglyphs dating from B.C. times to 1230 A.D. It was really interesting to see the stories and lifestyle of the peoples through their drawings, except for the current-day jerks that added their own names and dates into the rock face.

We didn't stay long however, we wanted to get to Moab, UT and visit a few thrift shops and Wendy's. Both Alli and I approved of this plan as Alli got what she was promised: shopping, and I got what I was promised: Orange Soda. We filled up on souvenirs, food, and may I say the most delicious drink of all time. We returned to our hotel, relishing in the fact that we didn't have to wake up until 10:00.

Day 4: Monument Valley

Mark: WOW! Day four was one for the books. We started the day in Cortez, Colorado and took a short drive to Four Corners Tribal Park. This monument was just what you would expect, an elaborate marker in the middle of, well, four states. We took the photos everyone takes and the girls did some souvenir shopping. 30 minutes was plenty of time for our visit. All in all this was pretty cool, and we were glad we stopped.

Our next stop was Monument Valley Tribal Park. This park has been the backdrop for hundreds of movies and commercials. Upon entering, the clerk at the entry station stated the loop drive through the park was rough and would take about 1.5 hours to drive the 17-mile loop. I knew this from the reviews so we proceeded to the visitor center to shop for more souvenirs - I think we'll need to start shipping things home or we'll soon run out of room in our luggage. After shopping we started the loop drive through the park. This is where the WOW comment comes from. Saying the drive was rough was a massive understatement. This was by far the worst road I've ever travelled. Extremely bumpy, uneven, soft sand, and deep washboarding. It was slow going and nerve-racking but we made it through with three huge sighs of relief. Despite these obstacles, Monument Valley was a beautiful park with tall redrock stone structures, bright blue skies, and 80 degree temps. If I had to do it again I would have paid for the tour and saved the wear and tear on the rental car.

We had two more stops which were both quick overlooks. First was Goosenecks State Park in Utah. This was easy to get to and had an amazing view of a tight bend in the San Juan River 1000 feet below the overlook. Not much else to do here as the park is very small. Our last stop, Muley Point was only five miles away as the crow flies but took about 50 minutes to get to. About halfway through the 16 mile drive we neared a massive cliff. Alli and I were trying to decide if the road was going around to the left or right. Neither. Hidden from view was a gravel road that zig-zagged up the cliff. What a drive, tremendous views at every turn. What we didn't know was the last five miles was just as rough as the road at Monument Valley. The washboarding was even deeper and required us to drive about 2 MPH in some places. The view at the end was breathtaking with a nice cool breeze as well. The photo shows Alli straddling a one-foot gap in the rock which funneled the breeze out the top where Alli stated it was quite refreshing on her lady parts. Five miles back on the rough gravel road and then more sighs of relief as we arrived at the pavement. Another 1.5 hours to our hotel in Monticello which was nicer than we expected. Pizza tonight!

Day 3: Mesa Verde National Park

Jessie: The third day of vacation started with a 9am tour of Balcony House. It was a similar set-up to Cliff Palace only way more interactive. To get there we had to climb down many stairs and then up a 32-foot log ladder. It was nerve-racking but totally worth it. After crawling through a couple tight tunnels we arrived at the ancient ruins where we learned about the pueblo people and their day to day lifestyle. We learned that their short lifespan was due to the fact that they were grinding corn on the soft sandstone which added bits of the stone to the cornmeal which ground their teeth down and promoted disease. It was ironic how the one thing that kept the people alive was also killing them.

We also hiked the Soda Canyon overlook trail and enjoyed the beautiful view of Balcony House from across the canyon. Then it was on to Spruce Tree House where we enjoyed walking through the ruins and even going down another wood ladder into one of the ancient kivas - one of the few in the park with a recreated roof. It was very intriguing to see what the structures would have been like 800 years ago. After that we went on the 3-mile loop hike to Petroglyph Point. It was a hard hike out but one that was well worth the effort of venturing off the beaten path. We were surprised to see a large group of senior citizens at the petroglyphs - and joked that hopefully we could be hiking trails like this when we were their age. The hike back was along the ridge line above Spruce Tree House and was a much easier journey. After arriving back at the car, we began the drive out of the park. Lucky for us, we happened upon a family of wild horses, the ones our tour guide from the previous day had mentioned. We only managed to get a couple pictures of the stallion, mare, and newborn foal before noticing a line of cars approaching from behind. Not wanting to follow them on the park's winding roads we continued down the road.

We finished the day by getting a late lunch at Subway which was out of many toppings. Upon leaving we noticed hot pretzels and thought about getting one before the clerk said they were out of those too and that the display pretzels were just plastic. Kind of a funny moment for us after a long day of hiking. We ate our sandwiches back in our hotel room where we could enjoy the refreshing AC and the comfort of our beds.

Day 2: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Alli: The second day of vacation began with a crappy batch of waffles and a 60-mile drive out to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Needless to say the latter was more exciting. The park reminded me of the Badlands of South Dakota in the sense that you drive though the whole state seeing one terrain, and then BAM! Something completely different. In this case it was Colorado's own version of the Grand Canyon - smaller, but no less impressive. We did several short hikes that lead us to breathtaking, if not somewhat nerve-racking overlooks of the sheer 2,300 foot drop into the canyon. For scale that's about two Empire State buildings stacked one on top of the other. It's hard to believe that a simple river, winding through beds of rock can create a landscape so profound and awesome. If only the Kish would create something interesting. My favorite part of the park was Dragon Point: two huge dikes in the massive cliffside that formed the images of dragons. The visitor center had a basket of tiny dragon figurines; of course, we made sure to get one and pose with it in front of the real thing. 

Having made our way through most of the sites on the south rim drive of the Canyon, we programmed our next stop into the GPS: Mesa Verde National Park. However, we didn't make it more than a couple miles out of the park when a HUGE bug hit near Dad's window and fell right next to my seat. I don't know exactly what kind of bug it was. All I know is that it was big and hairy, and I didn't want it anywhere near me. Dad had to pull the car over and throw it out before we went any further because I was not about to ride next to the creepy crawler. Luckily we managed to get rid of it and continue on our way to Mesa Verde.

Dad: I had to pull the car over as Alli was screaming and becoming one with the door. Upon stopping Alli exited the car it what could only be called an hysterical fit. By the way it was some kind of beetle, about a half-inch long.

By the time we arrived at the park and bought our tour tickets, we only had time to visit one of the cave dwellings before the park closed for the night. Hopping back into the car, we raced up the mountain behind a motorcycle pushing 25 mph. Thankfully we made it in time for the last tour of Cliff Palace. This stop was definitely my favorite part of the trip so far. The stone houses were amazing! Even more intriguing in my opinion was the history of the Anasazi people. I enjoyed hearing the tales about the sipapu, the hole in the center of the kivas that acted as a representation of the hole in the earth that the Anasazi people emerged out of. I guess the anthropology classes I've taken at Northern have given me a deeper appreciation for ancient cultures. Who knows? Maybe I'll intern as a park ranger one of these summers!

Dad: I'm all for that.

Day 1: Pikes Peak

Mark: Our day started at 2:15am for an early flight out of Midway Airport. With five stops and about 300 miles of travel this day ranks as one of the most exhausting days of travel we've ever had, and if you've followed our trips you know that's saying something.

We flew into Denver and picked up our rental car with no problems. After a bit of rush hour traffic we stopped at Walmart to stock up on food and sunblock. Our next destination was Rock Park in Castle Rock, CO. Here we had a short one-mile loop hike up and around the rock feature that overlooks the town and surrounding mountains. It was an easy hike to the summit, the perfect way to let the girls think that the hikes would all be easy.

Next we drove about 30 miles to Garden of the Gods State Park. We were there on our 2007 vacation so I wanted to repeat another short hike and get some shots of the girls in the same places we had taken before. Perfect weather, mid 70's with bright blue skies and wispy clouds over the beautiful red rock features. Very crowded but I was able to get the shots I wanted. After nearly backing over an old man who then punched our car, we left the park and made our way to Pikes Peak.

On our way to the Pikes Peak toll road we encountered a small problem. I had marked the summit on our GPS and not the beginning of the toll road. Not knowing the difference, our faithful GPS decided to take us up a different route used for those that wish to hike to the 14,110 foot summit. After about 45 minutes of driving and swearing at the GPS we found our way up the correct road. Funny thing was that as some as we got to the toll road gate the GPS stated that a better route was available. No kidding! The views up to and at the top were worth the effort. The summit had clear views in all directions, a lot of snow, and 36° with brisk winds. Half way down the mountain the rangers stop everyone and gauged the brake temperature. Ours was high so we had to pull over and pop the hood for twenty minutes to let them cool down. On the way up we had noticed a "Sasquach Crossing" sign, so while we were waiting I asked the rangers and a clerk if it was a joke. It wasn't! They all seemed to believe in the elusive beast and everyone I talked to had a story to tell. I should have asked if they have seen any Jackalopes.

Our last stop was Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. We were all tired by this point and I had to talk the girls into doing a couple short hikes. We saw some petrified Sequoia tree stumps which were pretty cool but the rest of the park was kind of a bust. Pretty, but uninteresting as we saw no fossil beds and read some signs about animals that never lived in the area.

Two more hours of driving and then a fast food dinner and America's Got Talent in our hotel room. A fun but long day. The rest of the trip will seem easy by comparison.

Post trip note: It dawned on me when we got home that I had programmed our GPS to avoid toll roads in Denver and forgot to reset the unit. That is why it didn't want to take us up the toll road to the summit of Pikes Peak. Duh!

Vacation overview

Because our schedules are getting more complicated we are only taking an 8-day trip to Colorado and Utah with a short diversion to visit the Four Corners area and Monument Valley in Arizona.

Like most of our trips we will visit the national parks in the area. This will include two parks we have not seen, Mesa Verde NP and Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. We will also revisit Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. Hiking will be more limited as the girls are enjoying it less and less every year, probably less than ten miles. Highlights of the trip will also include taking a rafting trip down the Colorado River and skydiving in Moab, UT and going to a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field in Denver.

Other interesting stops include Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods State Park, visiting the Four Corners monument, and while in Denver we will tour the Denver Mint and shop on the 16th Street Mall.

Note: Click on map or any photo to get an enlarged view.