If I have said it once I have said it 3000 times. I am determined to see the world and prioritize memory making over stuff having. But man....its a lot of work, planning, and commitment! Getting our van this year was really an exciting thing for us because it made the idea of road tripping much more accessible and fun. There are so many amazing things to see, but honestly the chaos of road tripping in a Prius was a HUGE downer to my plans.
I have been planning this 9 day road trip for a while and it was so much fun to pack our car for 9 days, with dinners, food, bedding, hiking, and glamping stuff while still having a TON of room left over. Y'all I bought stacking boxes and for the first time EVER got to be completely organized and fully planned. SO much FUN!
Our first goal was a quick overnight stop in Mesa Verde National Park on our way up to Ouray. I wanted to show the girls the four corners so we planned our route to make its way through that monument.
Truly, the Four Corners is not that exciting or impressive. Its out in the middle of absolutely nowhere surrounded by nothing, with only dry desert to see for miles. I mean the actual monument has improved since I saw it as a kid, but its still a concrete slab in the middle of the desert with a few local native vendors selling stuff. Honestly the jewlerly and local handcrafted merchandise was the coolest part! Well that and the handstands and backbends in 4 states.
We did the thing, and got the picture. Check 4 corners off the list.
We arrived at Mesa Verde National Park and tried Evie's brand spanking new fee 4th grade parks pass. Worked like a charm and we were fast crawling up the mountain to our Far View Lodge.
After a day in the car we all took a walk and enjoyed our day one sunset.
I think this picture above is one of my absolute favs. Its real, and raw, and chaotic, and a perfect capture after an appropriate tickle fest.
The next morning we decided to take an hour or two and explore what we could in Mesa Verde. I hadn't planned a long and involved stay in this park, but by golly, it was really cool. The Old Pueblo Indians made incredible cliff dwellings. We couldn't get a permit to see the big ones, so we just toodled around some of the smaller sights and decided that we could always come back one day!
While on our way out of the park, our good friends Demetra and Doug who moved from AZ to Cortez reached out to us and we decided to stop by their house for a quick stop and a lot of hugs.
Our next goal was to hit Ouray CO via Durango and the Million Dollar Highway.
Durango led us to Honeyville, and a wonderful but short visit with my cousin Jessie! Oh I was just so excited that she was available on a last minute basis to come and squeeze us. Turns out Honeyville is only 5 minutes from her house. YAY!
The Million Dollar Highway is spectacular and as always, CO views are just awe inspiring.
We stopped as often as we could to take in the sights and enjoy the journey.
We pulled into our camp site for the night, dropped our stuff and then headed quickly to the Ouray Hot Springs! The girls were thrilled to see a big slide and plenty of water!
We glamped it up in this adorable camping cabin and made all of our plans for our big Ouray hike the next day!
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