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Made it to Mancos and found an RV park that’s right across the street from Mesa Verde National Park. Even though it’s an RV park, it’s wooded and laid out more like a state park camping area. Not a bad place to stay and only a 2 min commute to the park.
The first full day in the area we drove the 20-something miles into Durango, CO. We’ve been there before when my oldest was about 4 and really enjoyed it, so we took the kids to go see it again.
The other reason we went to Durango was to meet a mobile notary to sign all the paperwork to close on a house. We wrapped that up and now officially have a house to return to in Greeneville, TN!!!
After the signing was complete, we grabbed food from a wood fired pizza place we ate at 8 years ago (just as good as we remembered) and had lunch in the park, did some walking around, and of course played in the river just because it was there.
Recreated an old photo from the first trip that was minus one child (although technically her existence began on that trip 8 years ago).
That evening it started raining with scattered thunderstorms…forecasted to go on for the next 2 days. We decided to extend our stay an extra day so it included a sunny, rain free day for the National Park. The RV park had a nice “rec cabin” with a selection on DVDs to check out. We let the girls just have an entire day of movie marathoning while it rained and the temps dropped… they made it through a few Harry Potter movies and the first 2 Lord of the Rings movies. The dog and I got to take an uninterrupted nap it the tent during the rain…utterly spectacular!
The next morning was more of the same weather so we all just relaxed and did whatever we wanted. There was a break in the rain in the early afternoon, so we took the kids next door to the RV park and surprised them with a horseback trail ride for about an hour. Neither one has ridden a horse any more than the couple of circles you can do on a pony at the fair. My youngest has been talking about horses for months and thought it was awesome. My oldest wasn’t as excited, but still wanted to do it…until her horse kept wanting to randomly just sit down on the trail and take a break!
Note the look of suppressed excitement…
Before dinner I was wandering around walking the dog and saw a couple old Dodge Power Wagons on one of the adjacent properties. Absolutely nothing to do with our trip, but just thought they were pretty cool…
After dinner everyone made sure they were set for the night because the temps were going to drop into the mid-40s and we planned to get up early to go hit Mesa Verde…
The first full day in the area we drove the 20-something miles into Durango, CO. We’ve been there before when my oldest was about 4 and really enjoyed it, so we took the kids to go see it again.
The other reason we went to Durango was to meet a mobile notary to sign all the paperwork to close on a house. We wrapped that up and now officially have a house to return to in Greeneville, TN!!!
After the signing was complete, we grabbed food from a wood fired pizza place we ate at 8 years ago (just as good as we remembered) and had lunch in the park, did some walking around, and of course played in the river just because it was there.
Recreated an old photo from the first trip that was minus one child (although technically her existence began on that trip 8 years ago).
That evening it started raining with scattered thunderstorms…forecasted to go on for the next 2 days. We decided to extend our stay an extra day so it included a sunny, rain free day for the National Park. The RV park had a nice “rec cabin” with a selection on DVDs to check out. We let the girls just have an entire day of movie marathoning while it rained and the temps dropped… they made it through a few Harry Potter movies and the first 2 Lord of the Rings movies. The dog and I got to take an uninterrupted nap it the tent during the rain…utterly spectacular!
The next morning was more of the same weather so we all just relaxed and did whatever we wanted. There was a break in the rain in the early afternoon, so we took the kids next door to the RV park and surprised them with a horseback trail ride for about an hour. Neither one has ridden a horse any more than the couple of circles you can do on a pony at the fair. My youngest has been talking about horses for months and thought it was awesome. My oldest wasn’t as excited, but still wanted to do it…until her horse kept wanting to randomly just sit down on the trail and take a break!
Note the look of suppressed excitement…
Before dinner I was wandering around walking the dog and saw a couple old Dodge Power Wagons on one of the adjacent properties. Absolutely nothing to do with our trip, but just thought they were pretty cool…
After dinner everyone made sure they were set for the night because the temps were going to drop into the mid-40s and we planned to get up early to go hit Mesa Verde…
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) but for the girls!
