We're Still Not There Yet: Day 17: Wednesday (Cortez CO to Colorado Springs CO)

OK, we're catching up on the posts. Slowly but surely...

We woke up sort of chilly in our tents in Cortez, outside Mesa Verde National Park. Little tiny Mary snuggled in my sleeping bag after waking up at 5am. She's cute so I let her stay. As we broke down the campsite, Jenny made fresh french toast on the camp stove. No matter how quickly we think we're moving, or focused we are in packing up, it still manages to take at least 2 hours to pack ourselves up and get on the road. We made it into Mesa Verde and down the 20-mile road to one of the cliff dwellings preserved from the Ancient Pueblanos (also known as Anasazi). After a few anxious moments when we'd momentarily misplaced one of the children (11-year-old Molly), we were able to enjoy the hike down to the dwelling. They carved these rooms out of the stone in the cliff, using dirt and water as mortar. They were fairly elaborate communities they built, complete with ventilation systems for fires and air circulation. We were able to climb around some of the preserved rooms, and the kids even climbed down a ladder into one of the tunnels beneath the courtyard area. They said it was dusty.

The road out of Mesa Verde toward Colorado Springs was beautiful. Mountains, sweeping vistas and beautiful little towns like Durango and Pagosa Springs (to which Jenny and I both declared we'd be happy to move.) We drove through Wolf Creek Pass, which, at 10,857 feet, was our highest elevation of the trip. We told the kids they could hop on the Continental Divide Trail right there and head back to Yellowstone or Glacier. They declined.

Our later start and time spent in Mesa Verde meant we'd need to eat on the road before getting into CO Springs several hours after dinner. I did a little research on the iPhone and found a little pizza place in the tiny town of Fort Garland named All Gon Pizza. Since we wanted to stop for as little time as possible, we were able to call ahead, place an order for take-out, pick it up on our way into town, stop at a park around the corner, eat the fantastic pizza, and hop back in the car for the rest of the trip. As an added bonus, the kids ran around the park for a few minutes to burn off some car fatigue. Win-win-win!

The drive into Colorado Springs featured lightning storms on all sides. It was pretty darn cool, but man, trying to take a picture of a lightning bolt is not easy! It did keep me entertained for a good hour, though. (Thanks for driving, Jim!)

We called the Quality Suites home that night (thanks to Dad Bowman's extra hotel points!) We slept (relatively) well (ahem, Mary), and got ready for our longest (potentially most boring) drive of the trip the following day. Good-bye, mountains!