New Mexico Day 2

It's nice to have all these family photos on this trip!

This morning we had pancakes in the RV and got everything cleaned up. We wanted to get an early start and see what little we could see in our brief time in Mesa Verde. We drove out the first loop to see a few ruins before our tour at Balcony House. He made a couple of stops at overlooks and walked around a small area with Coyote House and a few other ruins. The boys really liked this stop because you were allowed to enter Coyote House, one of the few you can enter at the whole park.

Seth liked finding all the fire pits.

Mark really liked how much you could explore in Coyote House.

The boys loved peeking up at me in this ruin.

This is a reservoir that is HUGE! Dax and Seth wanted to walk all the way around it.

Square Tower is always a favorite. 

Riding in the back of the truck was a huge privilege.

We spotted a bunch of ruins at this stop. The boys were super excited.

We made it out to Balcony House just before the tour started and Mom, Dad, Mark, and Dax made the trip. Seth stayed with Laurie and Glen and checked out the museum at Spruce House. Balcony House was pretty exciting for the boys because there is a small tunnel and two huge ladders, as well as a balcony. They weren’t a bit scared, and we all felt bad between chuckles for the two people on our tour with serious fear of heights. Our guide was really good today and we learned a lot. It was fun to do this tour, and we can’t wait to come back in a few years and do it with Seth.

Dax and Mark were excited to visit Balcony House.

Balcony house has some amazing ruins to see.

They loved crawling through the tunnel.

The ladders are a lot of fun to climb.

After the tour we looked at Spruce House, which is a favorite, but it is currently closed due to falling rock. Then we drove out the second loop. They recently closed the shuttle on the second loop, so I’m not sure why people even go out there. We did Step House and left Laurie and Glen in the truck. Then we made the long drive back to the entrance where the boys became Junior Rangers.

Seth loved finding these huge seeds.

He also loved climbing the ladders. 

He would climb, then run back to the ladder, and do it all over again.

We had to hurry to drive to Durango for our chuckwagon tonight, so we couldn’t stop when Mom thought she saw a fox, or maybe a coyote. It’s difficult to see anything in the motorhome, and it would be impossible to turn around if you actually spotted anything. We were surprised at how beautiful Durango is, though. It reminded us of Jackson or Park City, a nice little resort town nestled high in the mountains. We got checked into the campground and made it to Bar D Chuckwagon when it opened at 5:30. The grounds are fun. They have a lot of shops, a playground, and a train that we took a ride on. We even spotted an Abert’s squirrel in the ponderosa pines, which was a first for all of us.

The campground we stayed in had a playground.

Seth liked to drive the wagon.

We took a train ride while waiting for the Bar D chuckwagon to start.

We also panned for gold.

Then we played at the playground. Seth loved this train!

Dax liked digging in the sand.

Here is the Abert's Squirrel we saw way at the top of the tree. 

The food was pretty good, almost as good as at the Bar J, and the music was pretty good, almost as good as at the Bar J. Still the kids loved this show so much that we bought a CD. We love eating the chuckwagon beans and baked potatoes and listening to the old western harmonies. We didn’t get back to the RV until after 10 pm, but tomorrow is a bit of a travel day, so the kids should be able to sleep a bit along the way.

We had a lot of fun at show!

Mom and Seth took a selfie while we waited for dinner.