An Utter Adventure: Colorado

We left Arizona and drove towards our destination in Colorado, and on our way, we passed Four Corners. For some reason, ever since I was a kid and heard that four states met in one place, I have really wanted to do this:

Our son, however, apparently always wanted to do this:

As a family, it was fun to stand together and be in four different states. I'm not sure why I found this so entertaining, but I did. Four Corners. It's a great spot for a bunch of photos. I also found it ironic that it is a park in the Navajo Nation, and is run by Native Americans. It may be where four states meet, but really it seems to be an Indian reservation.

We continued our drive into Colorado, and the picture below is the view. Wow, I'm loving Colorado!!! We can see a very similar view close to our campsite. Snow-covered mountains and greenery. Our five-year-old said, "This is so nice! I'm so happy not to be camping in the desert!" Ha! The desert sure is fun to explore, but I think everyone in our family is now appreciating water in a new way. These sights make me so happy.

We came to Colorado partially in order to explore Mesa Verde National Park. I had debated back and forth whether we would come here, as some of the hikes sounded challenging with younger kids. I'm happy to report they were not a problem at all for a just-turned-four-year-old.

Here's a view looking down on Cliff Palace. You can see where we were able to hike there.

Ladders. Sometimes our daughter has refused to climb them, so I was happy to see she agreed to go down into the kiva (circular shaped room in the cliff dwelling) without any hesitation.

I was the one with the hesitation about the next ladder. Look very closely at the crack in the middle of the cliff here. Towards the top, you can barely see a ladder in that crack. Next to the edge of the cliff. I was seriously nervous about taking our kids on the hike that involved some of these ladders. However, once we got to them, the ladders were no big deal, and were not scary - the way they looked to me when I saw this view.

Yep, the Cliff Palace hike was no problem with kids, and they loved climbing the ladders and steps and walking around the ancient Pueblo dwellings. Mesa Verde was full of adventure, and I also hope the kids will remember this someday in school when they learn about these Indian dwellings. (I'd say Native American, but all the Indian shops around here say "Indian" and none of them say "Native American.")

While in the area, we visited Durango. (Thanks for the recommendation, Jill!) It's a really neat town, where absolutely everyone seems to be out exercising. We joined in the exercise and scootered along the Animas River Trail. It was really fun and scenic.

Later in the week, we set out to visit Mancos State Park, to put in the S.S.Utter and paddle in Colorado. It didn't work - the lake was closed to boats that day, but we took a short walk and took a picture by the lake.