Start - Mesa Verde RV Resort, east of Cortez Colorado
End - Goulding's Lodge in Monument Valley Utah
Pack up at Mesa Verde RV Resort
By now we had the morning routine down. J would be up first usually by 730am. He would want toast, milk, and a pop tart. Then S and I would get up and finally K and T.
Someone was using all of the washing machines so we had to skip laundry again.
Head in to the Mesa Verde National Park
The park entrance was only a mile / 1.6 kilometers away so we did not feel rushed. Great location and highly recommended.
From the entrance it is "Only sixteen miles to the visitor center," said the friendly US Park Ranger. She did not mention what kind of sixteen miles.
Oh my...
Ok just one more peak right?
Ok just around the next hairpin right?
Montezuma Valley Overlook (#2 on map) / Knife's Edge road viewpoint gives you the chance to appreciate what you have been driving up. We got out for a few minutes for some pics.
Ok just a little bit further.
Whew
There's a lodge up here?
Wild horses? On the top of a mountain?
There is a large parking lot on the right. It connects to the visitor center by a tunnel under the main road.
The visitor Center is the place to review, schedule and pay for any Park guided tours of some of the famous spots such as Balcony House and Cliff Palace at $3 each person for each tour. Also the place to get your kids Park Passport stamped.
.
The main attraction cliff dwellings are further south but the road from here is quite easy, level and even somewhat straight. Just a short five or six mile drive to the first stop.
Spruce Tree House is the first major cliff dwelling site is at the small museum and is self guided.
The parking lot is spread out and if you are in an RV it is a little bit of a walk. The museum has a nice collection of geological and archeological artifacts. J loved the dioramas depicting the several stages of technological development of the local native civilization.
From there the hike down to Spruce Tree House was simple and pretty - no ranger needed. There were lots of folks with strollers and even toddlers making the hike down into the canyon from the museum.
It is a small site but still gives you the first experience of how the cliff dwellings are situated.
Spruce Tree site is small but has a covered kiva you can climb down into. The line might be a few minutes but J was happy to be the first in our family to ever climb down into one.
The Hike up includes two bench rest stops which were needed for the little ones.
With the sun and the hike folks were tired. We decided to leave at 2pm as S was getting very burned.
Two major tours skipped
We drove down into Cortez for some shopping and gas.
Trying to get out of the gas station we were blocked (wide turning radius) by two older German men in a SUV not at a pump but just relaxing with their shoes off and parked in the exit. Their grasp of the physics of the situation was nicht sehr gut (apparently my assumption that all Germans are rocket scientists was faulty), but finally they decided that the increasing volume of our request for them to move could prompt them to action. In this case the American axiom of "when attempting to communicate to someone who does not understand English, simply repeat yourself in an increasingly louder volume until understood" actually seemed to work.
Somehow they were going exactly the same direction. I would have to follow these old German men for miles on very bad roads out of Cortez and into Arizona. Apparently they were also not proficient autobahn drivers or assumed that the posted 70 MPH meant meters per hour as they drove significantly slower than the speed limit and a long line of cars started piling up behind us.
Four corners
Finally getting to the turn to the Four Corners monument was a relief. We were back in the heat though. The boys were excited to finally get here. It was very close to the main road.
We took pictures in four states with only a few minutes wait for other tourists. The monument is on Navajo land and their are vendor stalls in all four states around the monument. Less than half the stalls had vendors there and we passed on the hot Navajo bread. But the boys and I did buy snow cones which felt great in the heat.
Drive to monument valley through kayenta
We continued our drive SW to the town of Kayenta. From there we could have continued towards the Grand Canyon area going through Tuba City but decided to detour to the north by about 30 minutes into Monument Valley along the border of Arizona and Utah.
Past some amazing scenery
Goulding's Trading Post, Lodge, and RV park
Goulding's trading post is a very short drive to the west just North of the border. To the east is the entrance to the Navajo Park of Monument Valley. But you can see all the famous mesas right here at the intersection.
At the corner you drive past a brand new school in what seems to be a completely uninhabited location. Why the big grass football field? Apparently part of the federal America Recovery act was allocated to schools in the middle of poorer regions with low population that need grass football fields where there is little water.
Nestled in between some mesas is an amazing little settlement. Originally started by a husband and wife and mainly trading with the local Navajo, eventually the beauty of the mesas drew tourism and it has grown into a large set of services including a store, lodge, rental duplexes, clinic and rv park.
And the RV park had an indoor swimming pool which was a hit for the boys as they swam in the evening and the morning (unheated).
The view from the park itself was great.
Unusual 1970s RV parked next to us
Driven by an Architect on a 5 week trip with the family from Santa Cruz. It was one of the few RVs built on it's own RV specific chassis instead of van truck or bus conversions. It sat somewhat lower and he told me it was full height inside. It also seemed wider without needing a side popout.
Red sand was everywhere so had to be careful of tracking it in.
S got laundry going while I watched the boys swim.
Then S and T and I watched Rashomon on iPad and monitor while boys watched DVDs on the little tv until bed time.
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