Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 8
Wow, day 8. It has been a whole week on the road, with six of us, and we are surviving without any major problems. Of course, there are arguments every now and then, but we expected that. Overall I am extremely impressed with how well the trip has gone so far. It has been a lot of fun. That being said, we decided to cut the trip a day short. Instead of staying in Fort Collins for two days and driving back to Iowa on Thursday, we are leaving on Wednesday. This decision was reached because we got to Fort Collins a day early, and most of the group was ready to be done. Not because we weren't having fun, it's just that 8 days makes for quite a long trip.
Dylan wanted to hang out with his friends for a while before we left, so he went and did that while the rest of us went to "Fort Fun" to play a round of mini golf. Cool part about that was, it was just our luck that it was "$2.00 Tuesday" so instead of paying $6.50 for a round, we only had to pay two. It was the collective goal of the group to beat T. A close game ensued, but T pulled away at the end to beat David. Andrew third, then me and Robbie. Finishing mini golf, we went tubing down the Cache La Pudre River. We already had the tubes and wanted to get some more use out of them. By the time we were down with that it was time to go to the Pearson's, where we were staying, and take a shower.
Noah Pearson is the friend of Dylan's who originally came with us on Day 2 to hike Mount Elbert. We stayed at his house, but him and his dad were away at orientation in Montana. Instead we got to meet Mrs. Pearson and Seth, Noah's younger brother by 2 years. Mrs. Pearson (Rebbecca) was incredibly friendly. She welcomed us all, and exclaimed how happy she was to have visitors. She cooked us ravioli with pesto and marinara sauces, served with a home garden grown salad. She even ate with us and got to know each of us and our future plans.
Following dinner with Rebbecca and Seth, we all rode bikes with Seth to Walrus Ice Cream Shop. As a single small business with their own homemade ice cream recipes, it was very good! Much better than any Dairy Queen soft serve, and I would say even better than Coldstone (and certainly cheaper!).
By this time it was dark and we were ready for bed, to prepare for the long drive the following day.
**Interesting note: while at the Pearson's we checked out Fort Collin's Newspaper, "The Coloradoan". There was an article about Money Magazine's top ten cities for 2010. Fort Collins was #6, and Ames was #9.
Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 7
Woke up today after hearing people yelling "Hey there's a bear!" Apparently a bear walked through part of the campground, and unfortunately none of us saw it. After a rushed breakfast, we were at the Sand Dunes at 7:00. This was a good thing for two reasons. One, no one else was there yet and would be for about another hour, and two, the sand was not burning hot yet.
The Great Sand Dunes were pretty amazing! Next to some tall mountains that we are used to, lies mountains upon mountains of sand. We spent the first hour or so exploring the dunes and summiting the tallest of the dunes (that we could tell). The unique thing about these sand mountains, is that they are always changing. If we were to go back next year, they would look completely different, and the tallest point might be located far from where it was today. We started off climbing towards the tallest of the dunes, taking pictures of the formations and trying to slide down steep slopes on cardboard (which doesn't work). Once we got to one of the taller ones, we played a game of king of the hill. This was fun because it was very hard to get hurt in the sand and we could pretty much just through each other down the slopes with little or no pain. At one point, I tackled Dylan low with his legs, he fell backwards and then flipped me over himself with his legs and I went tumbling down the mountain of sand. This game quickly got tiring, because climbing in sand takes a lot of energy out of a person. Following this game, we buried Dylan in the sand.
Next we continued our trek towards the highest peak in the sand dunes. It is a little harder than it looks because the sand moves under your feet and absorbs a lot of the energy. Once we got there we could see the entire sand dune area. I would have taken a picture, but by the time I got up there sand particle had gotten in the lens area, preventing it from being able to open when I turned it on. Soon we started the most fun part, the way down. Some of us would sprint down the steep hills, some would roll down and some would slide. We got to one place which was basically like a "sledding hill" where we went up and down many times. By this time, there were a lot of other people coming to the dunes, just in time for us to be done.
Playing in the sand dunes was a lot of fun, but it came with consequences: sand. The sand was everywhere! Pockets, ears, hair, nose, fingernails, neck, toes... The park had some outdoor showers (like you would find on a beach) for us to wash off at. The water was freezing cold and it was hard to get completely clean without private showers. We continued to remove sand from our hair for a few days.
After we were finished seeing the sand dunes, we began the drive to Denver. The big city was very different from what we were used to seeing. We walked around the "16th Street Mall" which is a road full of shops, and only buses can drive through (and the buses were free!). In the middle where the median would be, there were pianos that anyone could play. Dylan enjoyed this idea and took advantage of the opportunity. Soon after, we left the mile high city.
Boulder, Colorado was next. Dylan had told us that this was the most liberal and progressive city that we will have ever seen. He was right. We spent the time walking around the "Pearl Street Mall" which is much like Iowa City's Ped Mall, an outdoor strip of stores with only pedestrian traffic. This area was full of life, with tourist, vendors, street performers, and homeless people. T, Andrew and I stopped at one street performer's show. His name was "Blue" and he juggled fire and knives. He was very energetic, outgoing and friendly, which made for an enjoyable show. Somehow, he chose me to help him with one of his stunts. I went out there, he introduced me to the crowd, and then explained his stunt. He was going to stand on my shoulders and juggle fire. Fortunately he didn't weigh much, so it was pretty easy to hold him up. All I had to do was hold onto his ankles, and then he juggled fire sticks! It was a lot of fun.
Later, Andrew, T and I went to a place called "MaiBerry" and got some strawberry lemonade. We had never heard of it, but it was very good! I would highly recommend it. Shortly after that we decided to go look for a campsite since it was getting late. The other three guys wanted to stay longer, so we drove to the closest campsite we could find. It was in Lyons, a town about 20 minutes from Boulder. Pulled in at about 9:30, didn't look like there were many people camping there, which made sense because it was a Monday night. I went up and knocked on the door of the Campground Hosts' RV. He was an older guy with a southern accent. I told him I needed a spot, so he grabbed for his reservation book while asking if anyone in the party was older than 21. I said no. He said we can't camp there. I asked why. He said that one time a group of kids came and had a party with alcohol and he doesn't want that again. I assured him that none of us ever drink alcohol and that we would be going to sleep right away and not cause him any trouble. He reconsidered, and grabbed for the book again, and asked how many people we had. I said six. He then scoffed, and said that I would have to go somewhere else, as he does not host parties at his campsite. At this point I was furious with the guy, because now it was dark, we had driven all the way there to get the spot, and we no longer had a place to stay. I pleaded with him once but he insisted that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. So I left without saying anything. I'm still angry with this man. Never go to "Lyons Meadow Campground" in Lyons, Colorado.
So, the three of us had to drive back to Boulder to pick up David, Dylan, and Robbie, and drive all the way to Fort Collins, about another hour away. I had not eaten dinner yet, and by this time we were all irritable. We ended up staying in Fort Collins and it was fine, but I still cannot believe that guy at the campground. His loss though, he didn't get our money.
Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 6
Woke up today in Mesa Verde. Dylan, T, and David had already gone to try to get into the self-directed walk through tour, but it wasn't open yet. Instead they went to the Museum. Meanwhile, Robbie, Andrew, and I went to an All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast in the park. The others joined later. The pancakes were very filling and prepared us for a full day of adventure in Durango, CO.
Durango is yet another town which thrives on a tourist economy, with a large and busy Main Street. We spend a good portion of the morning exploring the various shops and looking into possibly White Water Rafting down the Animas River which flows through the town. After seeing what the town had to offer, we decided to go tubing down the Animas. We stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods after a tip of cheap tubes there. At $10 each, buying the tubes was a lot cheaper than White Water Rafting. T chose to sit out this time and pick us up at a large park located down stream. The river was much more energetic than the portion of the Colorado we were on a few days ago, so it was good we had tubes this time. The tube ride was a lot of fun with the fast rapids and very warm sun. After drying off we headed to Francisco's, an authentic Mexican restaurant located on Main Street. The nice food and service was a welcome change after fending for ourselves on camping food for a while.
The Great Sand Dunes National Park was next on the agenda, so we started the long drive and said goodbye to Durango. We didn't arrive at the sand dunes until around 10:00 PM, and the "Campsite is Full" sign was out. Not a good sign. We backtracked about 3 miles to a privately owned campsite, which appeared to be creepy, and closed for the night. The group had an overwhelming "no" vote for trying to stay there. On a last ditch effort to avoid sleeping in the car on the side of the road, I decided to drive up to the Sand Dunes Campground and talk to the Campground Host. Fortunately the woman was very nice and offered us to stay in the only spot left, the Handicapped spot.
After setting up the tent we were finally ready to get some good quality sleep... until I felt some pressure down below. It was a good thing we got the handicapped spot instead of having to stay in the car on the side of the road, because the spot was close to the restrooms and I had to run there about three times thanks to some diarrhea.
And that ended day 6.
Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 5
I woke up today feeling great, having had the best night sleep since the beginning of the trip. The others felt the same. For the first time we had very nice weather; a low of 56 degrees and a high of about 67. This, along with the flat and level tent pad at the camp site provided for a very nice nights sleep. After a hot shower and breakfast, we were off to Mesa Verde. (Ever since this became a roadtrip instead of just hiking, there has been a lot less "roughing it" 
).
On our way to Mesa Verde, we stopped in Telluride. The town of Telluride is small and very tourist oriented. It has a long, lively Main Street with many fun shops and vendors. But the best part of the town, and the reason we stopped, is one of the tallest free falling waterfall in the state. Bridal Veil Fall is located high up on a cliff, and to get to it we had to drive the large Suburban up a long, winding, rocky gravel road. It had many switchbacks and was somewhat scary to drive on at times. The drive was worth it though, as the sight of the waterfall was an experience we all enjoyed. We took many pictures of the falls and of each other standing by it. Up on the cliff at the source of the waterfall stood a very expensive looking house. We drove all the way up to it, but it was gated off as private property.
On our way down we picked up a hitchhiker. He had had hiked all the way up to the falls and was now on his way down. He was a very friendly guy, probably in his 40's or 50's from New Orleans. He told us some interesting facts about the town and asked us about our college plans. We dropped him off in town, and then took a walk around Main Street. Everything there was VERY expensive, so we didn't stay long.
A few hours later and we were in Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde is a National Park and was once home to the pueblo people known as the Anasazi, or "Cliff Dwellers." This large park has a nice campground complete with showers, laundry room, gift store, general store, gas station, and wireless Internet (which I am using now). The park has many exhibits of the Cliff Dwellings left over from the 1200's AD. We took a tour (for only $3 a person) through the largest Cliff Dwelling know "Cliff Palace". A park ranger was the tour guide and told us about how the people lived and built these dwellings. The tour was very interesting and informative, and we got to walk around the "palace" and check it out.
About half of Cliff Palace
After the tour, we headed back to the campsite and discussed what we wanted to do with the rest of our trip. Somehow, driving to San Francisco, California came up. We were all really excited and wanted to go, until we found out that it would be a 17 hour drive. Scratch that idea, we will be staying in Colorado.
Stay tuned!
Max
Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 4
The original itinerary had us hiking 6 days straight without getting to the car. This would include summiting Mount Elbert and Mount Massive. After the strenuous climb of Mount Elbert, we figured summiting one fourteener was enough. We got the mountain climbing experience and the accomplishment of summiting the second tallest mountain in the contiguous 48, so we were ready to move on. We decided to make this more of a road trip and see other parts of Colorado (hence the change in title).
Waking up at 8:00 was a pleasant change! We all felt very refreshed after a good long nights sleep. We ate breakfast and packed up the tents. After some arguing on how to best pack the car for a road trip, we were on our way to the Glenwood Hot Springs. On our way we drove through Independence Pass and Aspen, two places with nice scenery.
Me standing on the overlook above Independence Pass.
When we arrived in Glenwood Springs we parked at the Hot Springs resort and had lunch. After suiting up, we were ready to go swimming in a naturally heated pool. When we got to the entrance we found out that it cost $16.75 per person. Three of us still wanted to go and three didn't. An argument ensued. The "no" side argued that $16.75 was way to much to go swimming in a pool. The "yes" side said that vacation experiences can cost money and sometimes costs must be put aside in these tourist attractions. In the end we got back in the car and drove another hour to Grand Junction.
In Grand Junction we found a State Park on the Colorado River. The argument over the Hot Springs disappeared when we decided to take a swim in the Colorado River. We had fun building a dam out of sand and shale on the side of the river where a small spring dumped in. Then we took a ride to find the next closest place downstream, where we would float to from the state park. David didn't want to, so he drove the car to the take out place and the rest of us took a swim down the river. Swimming down the Colorado was extremely thrilling, with the small rapids every now and then that we got to float through.
The next destination was Ridgway State Park in Ridgway, Colorado to spend the night. The campground was full, but the lady at the park office called the sister campground three miles up the road to reserve the last spot for us because, "she couldn't look Dylan into the eyes and tell him she had no more spots." This campground was located high on a hill with a great view overlooking the valley and mountains. After a spaghetti dinner we were off to sleep.
End Day 4.