National Park #6 (Great Sand Dunes)

Well Saturday morning, June 30th, all the families packed up and headed out but not before taking the required "4-year-old" picture.  David was born on January 14th, Leighton on the 20th, Grant on the 25th and John on the 29th.

Then we tried to throw in the other kids - Mary Louisa, Georgia (not pictured) Ryan and Rob.

We hit the road in the minivan and drove about three hours to our sixth national park, Great Sand Dunes!

We first stopped inside the park to have a picnic lunch made up of leftovers from the fridge at the house. Then we set out to hike up at least one of the dunes - these are the largest sand dunes in North America. 

Ryan, as always on this trip, was a trooper.  She was very determined to get to the top of one of the smaller dunes.  But it was pretty hard work walking through the sand.

Grant was such a complainer but in his defense the sand was extremely hot - apparently it can reach up to 140 degrees! 

 When we finished our hike, we changed out of our sandy and hot tennis shoes, went back to the visitor center, purchased the mandatory hat pins and magnets, got the mandatory stamps for the passbooks and explored the center a little bit.  It was very educational - lots of facts about dunes, wind, lightning, wildlife, etc.  We took a family snapshot then headed south.

Our next adventure was Zapata Falls.  I had read about this on the Great Sand Dunes website.  It's not part of the park but is a few miles south and 3.5 miles east on a dirt road.  Nick tore it up in the minivan and the kids thought the drive was a blast.  Another cool thing was that as we drove up the road, we could look back behind us on vast farmland and when looking at it we saw 15-20 mini sand tornadoes.  It was cool.

We hiked a 1/2 mile up a rocky trail (Grant complained but not as much), then we hike through a freezing mountain stream back into a cavernous part of a mountain where there was a 30 ft. hidden waterfall.

While this certainly wasn't the most strenuous thing I'd ever done, it was very near the kids' physical limit and they had a blast.  They were so proud of making it all the way back - it felt like such a daring adventure to them.  Awesome!!

After this we headed for home.  We drove from the Dunes to Raton, New Mexico where we had dinner at K-Bobs.  Then we drove a little farther to Dalhart, TX, where we stayed the night in a dumpy motel.  We ate breakfast at the hotel in a dumpy room next to a narcoleptic man and a bunch of flies, then kept on, stopping in Somewhere, TX for an obligatory Dairy Queen meal. 

We got back to the airport and turned in the car, in the rain and five ours late.  That only cost an extra $250 - ouch, but totally worth it. 

It was a great trip with great friends.

National Park #5 (Black Canyon of the Gunnison)

Well, this was an unscheduled visit to a national park.  My friends from college, Mary, Erin & Carrie, and their families meet us somewhere every 4th of July (Fossil Rim, Rockport, Canyon Lake).  This year we decided to spend a week in Crested Butte.  It was amazing but also very near to two national parks so we incorporated some visits into our vacation.  The kids and I flew to Denver on Sunday the 24th then drove to CB in an awesome minivan.  The trip getting up there was amazingly perfect. 

Monday we drove over (west) to Lake Irwin and the kids fished and explored. 

That night we went to a concert at the city park/playground but Grant, Ryan and I had to leave early because Grant clawed Ryan's chest with his ungroomed finger nails.  About a month after letting our nanny go, I realized one thing she frequently did was trim Grant's finger nails!





Tuesday we drove north to Peanut Lake and went on a nature hike and tried to make boats out of leaves and sail them.  We strolled through town, bought toys and ice cream (with Rob & John Fulgham) , and played forever in the creek right next to the house.

That afternoon we had a marathon Skip Bo tournament with plenty of sangria involved.  The game was so long that we got both tipsy and hung over within the same game.

Wednesday we played at the city park playground and watched a bunch of kids in a daycamp shoot off rockets.  Then we drove to Gunnison and picked Nick up from the airport.  We ate sandwiches at Firebrandt's in Gunnison then headed back to the house.

Thursday the four of us drove to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park #5!!  The drive there was beautiful and the kids finally embraced the "I'm thinking of Something" game.  Ryan mastered it but Grant struggled a bit - Mom: Is it alive?  Grant: No....several questions later...Mom: Is it our hamster?  Grant: YES!

The canyon was awesome. We had a picnic lunch at the visitor center, played with a chipmunk, then drove through the park, stopping at some of the more beautiful lookout points.  Afterwards we drove down into the canyon and that was also spectacular.  Great park!

Chipmunk!



Friday was my favorite day of the trip.  We drove up to Mt. Crested Butte and rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain.  Then we started our hike to the summit.  Grant fell about 3/4 of the way up and decided he did not want to go any farther but Ryan was a trooper and was more determined than I've ever seen her.  She and I went to the top with Rob, Erin, Richard and David.  It was amazing!  Look at her on top of the world.  She was so proud of herself.

It was so amazing that I came down and Nick went up to see it.  Ryan was still coming down but when she saw Nick she turned around and summited again and this time, they saw a marmot!

Grant was very upset that he didn't do it but such is life.  We rode the lift back down and ate lunch.

Then the kids got to play putt-putt at a nice, covered course so the grownups just relaxed for a bit.  But the next adventure was the bungie/trampoline contraption that Grant was all over and that I finally got Ryan to try right before we headed back to the house.  Check this out!





After we got back to the house, it started to rain and we saw, literally the most unbelievable rainbow I have ever seen.  It almost made me cry.

Our final day

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Today was the last day of our trip.  We woke up and Grant was immediately starving so he started screaming.  Breakfast at the Lodge was overpriced and under delicious so we wanted to drive back into town.  To punish us for not eating at the Lodge, Grant cried the whole way.  We had plans to eat at Waffle House but it literally closed that morning for remodeling so we stomached McDonalds one last time and Grant ate everything on his plate.

We returned to the Lodge and Ryan swam one last time while Grant scootered around the concrete path on his razor scooter.  At one point I was following him and he turned and looked at me from afar and was crying.  I ran up to him and said, "What's wrong?"  He said, "I just got attacked by a bunch of bugs and it was disgusting!"

We packed up and left the Lodge at 11:00. 

Lunch in Texarkana at Chick-fil-a then back to the house around 4pm and 1,800 miles later. 

Overall, it was a fantastic trip.

DeGray Lodge

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Today was just a fun leisurely day.  After eating breakfast at the lodge, the girls headed back to the room.  After waiting for a bit for the boys, I decided to let Ryan go out and see if they were on the playground.  About five to ten minutes later I got nervous and went out there - nothing.  then I started race walking around the Lodge and couldn't find them.  I went back to the room, asked the guy at the front desk then finally found them on the stairs and started crying.  This was the only truly stressful part of the whole vacation. 

We decided to go exploring.  We first went on a short hike where Grant stayed a good 100 yards ahead of us the whole time. 

Then we went to another area of the park and played on the playground.  We created different obstacle courses and had some fun.  Next we hit the marina and tried to reserve a spot on the 6pm sunset cruise but it was completely full.  Then we headed into the town of Arkadelphia, ate at the Hamburger Barn, drove around some, and returned to the Lodge for a full afternoon of swimming/reading.  Grant sat on the steps for hours talking to anything that moved and Ryan made friends with everyone Grant didn't.  I had no idea our kids were so social.

 

After a long afternoon, we bypassed cleaning up and went straight to the Fish Net for dinner.  The kids were so beat that they literally could not eat.  We went home, Grant melted down yet again, and we all went to bed.

National Park #4 (Hot Springs)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

We got up in Memphis, had breakfast downstairs, then walked arond downtown over to the National Civil Rights Museum. It was amazing to see the exact spot where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.  I had no idea that he was only 39 years old at the time. 

We walked passed the FedEx arena (where the Grizzlies play), the trolley cars, a statue of Elvis and then made one last walk down Bealle Street.  Ryan counted cigarette butts on the road and decided that she didn't like Memphis because it was dirty (which relative to most downtowns, it was not).

After our walk, we hit the road and headed back to Arkansas.  I think it was about a 3 or 4 hour drive but we stopped in Benton, AR and had lunch at a Chili's. 

Then we arrived in Hot Springs around 1 or so - perfect weather.  We stopped first at the visitor's center and toured the Fordyce bath house which was named after the family from which the Federal Government "bought" the bath house back in the 1920s. 

Then we walked to the bathhouse that was the gift store because we of course, had to pick up the magnets and hatpins for the kids.  Off the two public bathhouses, one was closed and the other did not allow children under the age of 10 inside so we weren't able to actually take a bath.

We stopped for lemonade (Ryan), milkshakes (Grant) and beer at a little shop across the street then headed back to the car.  After driving around Hot Springs some, we finally headed down to De Gray (about a 45 minute drive).  We checked into the Lodge and the kids were in heaven.  They loved it!  With all of our obligatory site seeing behind us, now it was just time to have fun. 

The hottub and pool were the highlight of the trip for Ryan.  After swimming we ate at Fat Boys (better than it sounds), stopped by DeGray Liquor and got some wine in a box and headed back to the room for a good night's sleep.

Nashville/Memphis

Monday, March 12, 2012

Today we slept in a bit, then let the kids swim again in the morning. 

I lost track of time and then we were scrambling again to get to our 10am back stage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House.  It was right by our hotel but the roads were all blocked off intentionally so that they only way you could get there was to drive the entire perimeter of Opry Mills Mall, an exact replica of Grapevine Mills Mall.  I had no idea that the Gaylord owned the Grand Ole Opry House.

We got there late and had to join the tour in session but it was great!  We got to go back and see the dressing rooms, the green room (aka the family room) then go out on stage and stand in the wooden circle.  Ryan and I very quietly sand Row, Row, Row Your Boat so that we could technically say that we sang on stage at the Grand Ole Opry House.  The tour was not part of our original vacation plans but was a great audible because we had a lot of fun. 

We left Nashville at 11 and headed to Memphis.  Somewhere in between we stopped and ate at a Subway.  Then afterwards we ran "high knee" sprints up a hill behind the restaurant to blow off some steam. 

We arrived in Memphis around 3 but couldn't check in until 4 so we took a detour by Graceland.  Grant was a complete wreck about this time, spilling water in the car, screaming, etc.  So not knowing anything about Graceland, we paid $10 to park, went into some ticket area then realized that Graceland was directly across the street and that we could have driven by it for free :-)  Oh well...still glad we did it.

Can you tell by the expression how fun Graceland was?

We arrived at our hotel in downtown Memphis at 4:30 (the Hampton Inn right off Beale Street) and then raced up to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks march from the fountain to the elevator via a red carpet at 5:00.  The kids were thoroughly unimpressed by this whole thing and thought it was lame but I enjoyed it. 

So now it's 5:00 and we hit Beale Street.  We ate dinner at Miss Polly's Soul City Cafe and just listened to the music in the air.  Well the next few hours were my favorite of the entire trip.  There were two young boys out in the street doing flip flops for money and the kids were mesmerized by them.  Ryan and Grant kept jumping up from the table and going out to watch and imitate them.  One of the boys was shirtless so Grant stripped off his shirt and both Ryan and Grant literally started dancing in the street.  A few other folks joined them.  Grant kept trying to do flip flops but it was a pretty poor attempts.  After a few beers and some greasy chicken, we headed another block east and a band was playing in an open courtyard area right across from our hotel.  They were great and we stood and listened and danced for a while.  We were about to leave when they started playing All Along the Watchtower so we stayed and danced some more.  It was a magical moment for me.

We got back to the hotel and all four went down to the indoor pool and hottub and just had a really great time.  Ryan kept serving me snowcone cups full of water and we all just enjoyed each other.  This was by far, my favorite day.

National Park #3 cont.

3/11/12

Well we strategically stayed in Franklin and not Nashville because it was only a 50 mile drive to Mammoth Cave and the tour I wanted us to take, Frozen Niagra, started at 9:30.  Well I got up at 6:15 and took a shower.  The plan was to leave at 7:45 and get there with plenty of time to spare since you couldn't make reservations for this tour.  Well at 6:45 I looked at my phone and thought, why does my phone think we're in the eastern time zone?  We checked last night and know we're not.  Oops!  Daylight Savings Time!

Now we're in a mad scramble and I am freaking out.  We have to finish getting ready, load up the car, eat breakfast, drive for an hour, buy tickets, and start a tour in exactly 1.75 hours.  Then to make matters worse, the exit to take to get to the park was closed due to road construction.

We just barely make it after entering through another entrance (we got to see Dino World on the way).  Nick runs in and gets us tickets and we have about 3 minutes to spare.  Whew.

We are introduced to Ranger Barb who appears to be an old hippie who smoked all of the intonation and enthusiasm out of her voice.  We are taught about White Nose Syndrome which is killing bats (tragic) and are asked if the shoes we are wearing have been in any cave in the last six years.  We all say no, but I'm almost positive I wore the same tennis shoes to Carlsbad last year. 

Ranger Barb asks if anyone has any questions and Ryan immediately asked a question.  We can't remember what it was but it took us by surprise that she had that kind of confidence.  Well that sets Grant off on a question asking competition.  We get on the bus to start the tour and he asks, "will the bats be protected"?  Then he raises his had a second time and says, "I can't remember what I was going to say."

The tour is short (about an hour) and we learn a little bit of how the cave was formed, who found it, etc.  Ranger Barb turns the lights out for a bit and Ryan gets scared.  As we're leaving and are back on the bus, Grant follows up with, "Why is there no hot lava in the crave?"  Good grief.  We get off the bus but have to walk over special mats that clean our shoes so that we can all save the bats.

We take a short walk to the natural entrance to the cave, hit the gift shop and are on the road by 11:00, just as Grant is having a complete meltdown.

We then drove back to Nashville and decided to go straight to the zoo since we couldn't check in yet.  Well it was time for lunch and there was no place around so we stopped at the nastiest McDonalds ever (the zoo seems to be in a very bad part of town).  But the zoo was amazing.  It has the largest community-built playground in the United States and it's awesome. 














We stayed there from 1 to 4.  Grant was upset about half the time but despite his bad mood, we had fun.  We saw porcupines, a red panda, the coolest, poisonous, brightly colored frogs, meerkats, etc.

We left at 4 and drove to our second Holiday Inn Express of the trip, right by the Grand Ole Opry House.  We checked in and immediately went to the pool.  This one didn't have a hot tup but it was very pretty, surrounded by windows.  Grant stayed on the steps and talked to anyone who would listen, explaining to them all that he was four.  Ryan made another friend and they did cannonballs.  Ryan was the ringleader in the pool and came up with all sorts of mini competitions.

We went to dinner next to the hotel at a very good restaurant called Caney Fork River (I think).  Grant was in another mood and when we sat down, he picked up a bottle of ketchup and accidentally squirted it in his face.  He started screaming so I grabbed him and took him to the bathroom, getting ketchup all over myself in the process (forgot to mention that i got covered in bbq sauce the day before in Memphis!).  Well our food came (chicken strips for Ryan and grilled cheese for Grant seemed to be the themes of the trip). 

Ry and I walked back to the hotel and passed the Dukes of Hazzard museum and the Willy Nelson General Store.  We grabbed a few Hershey bars from the gas station and went back to the room.  The kids watched Phineus and Ferb and then we went to bed. (I stayed up late reading/finishing the Hunger Games - good book)

National Park #3 (Mammoth Cave)

3/10/12
Well we got up this morning at 3:45am and were on the road by 4:30am, our destination, Franklin, Kentucky, home to a nice Holiday Inn Express and a Cracker Barrel.  We thought that by picking the kids up out of a sound sleep, that we would be able to place them into their carseats and they would fall back asleep for about three hours but damn if that plan didn't work at all.  About 1.5 miles into the trip (not yet to a highway) Ryan had to go to the bathroom so since no place was open, she squatted in the grass and the very main intersection of Midway Road and 635! And from then on, they were up.
Luckily we had purchased Kung Fu Panda II and Shrek IV so they were content to watch movies in "the new car" (my 5-month-old Buick Enclave that I hate). 

We drove for about three hours and stopped in Texarkana for breakfast at Whataburger.  At our next stop (gas) I realized I'd left my contacts at home so get to wear glasses the whole trip! At yet another stop, halfway between Texarkana and Memphis, we got the kids out of the car and in a tiny field, right on the edge of the highway, we did jumping jacks, lunges, windmills and sprints.  It was actually a lot of fun - one of the high points of this very long drive.

Around 12:30 we drove into downtown Memphis (all four of our first time to be there) and ate lunch at the much-raved-about Rendevous Barbeque.  It's located in a basement in an alley and while the ambience was good, the food was actually pretty nasty.  I can't really understand what the fuss was all about but at least we got out and walked around some.  The town was full of energy and we were excited to be coming back in a few days.

Back in the car around 2pm and we drove straight through Nashville, all the way to Franklin, Kentucy (709 miles from home).  We arrived at 6, happily unpacked, and went across the street to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  While we were waiting for our table we were walking around the store inside the restaurant and after being told several times to stop touching breakable things, Grant dropped a small glass angel on the ground.  Nick made him take it up to the register with money to pay for it but darn it if there very nice Kentuckian behind the counter wouldn't let him!

It was close to 8 before we got back to the hotel but we went for a quick swim and soak in the hot tub and indoor heated pool.  Ryan immediately made a new friend and they commenced synchronized jumping.  Grant, who can't yet swim, just hung in the hot tub but everyone had fun.

I had previously planned this trip out, down to the hour, and today went exactly as planned.  Let's see if we can keep it up.

After reading a few library books, we called an end to the very long day at 9pm. I stayed up and read for bit and heard Grant talking in his sleep.  At one point he said, "No, it's not yours.  I was here first Emily!!" (Emily is his best friend and arch rival from Good Shepherd Butterfly school).