Bryce Canyon to now! (Rocky Mountain NP and Denver)

We spent the next day in Bryce Canyon, seeing its wonders. I was fascinated, since the last time I was there I was seven.



We continued on to Zion National Park, which is not far away.



We kept driving south and camped just outside Grand Canyon NP. The next day we saw that canyon at the north rim and I reminisced about my family's hike down it three years ago.



The rest of the day was a lot of driving as we went towards the four corners (of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico). It was cool to drive through the Navajo Nation (I think it's called). We went to Navajo National Park where you could see cliff dwellings on the other side of a canyon. We stopped at the four corners right before it closed, then camped by a Navajo casino in the bottom corner of Colorado. We spent $2 in nickels at the casino and slept in a teepee.

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at the casino and drove to Mesa Verde National Park, which had cliff dwellings that we were able to take a tour of.



I think it was my family's same trip when I was seven that I was there last (same with the four corners). It's still amazing. It was also incredibly hot. We drove from there to Durango, CO, where we stayed the night, having ordered tickets for a train ride the next day.

The train left at 9:45am. It goes from Durango to Silverton in about four hours, winding along a lovely scenic route through the mountains along the Animas River. We had less than two hours to spend in Silverton, a relatively remote former gold-mining town, so we had lunch at a quaint restaurant that used to be a brothel. The ride back was just as long but much more sleep inducing, even though there were somewhat better views of the river and mountainsides. We got back at 7something, so we stayed another night in Durango.



We continued onto Colorado Springs. We meant to see the white sands somewhere in between, but we missed a turn and didn't realize it until we were well past, so we just kept going. Upon arrival we went to dinner at nice inn near the Garden of the Gods and had a engagement celebration dinner. Shannon had elk, and I had duck, pheasant, and ostrich. Delicious. We also saw a movie and then stayed the night in town.

We went to the Garden of the Gods and ran into a couple of Shannon's students at Balanced Rock. I was distracted from rescuing some children who were stranded on top of it.



We also drove to the bottom of Pike's Peak, but they told us it was too foggy to drive up to so we turned around and headed north to Denver.


Shannon with one of the several Deborah Butterfield horses at the DAM.

We went to the Denver Art Musem downtown. I was most impressed by the pre-Columbian Native American collection, although there was a lot of incredible stuff. Then it was on to Heather and Fred's house, where we spent the night. Heather is one of the daughters of our next-door neighbors in Columbus. (Her youngest brother is my age.)

This brings us very close to the present. Shannon is a counselor in a weeklong Youth for Christ camp in Rocky Mountain National Park, so the day after we arrived in Denver we drove up to Estes Park (which is just outside the NP). We had Mexican food at the Grumpy Gringo and spent a few hours looking at shops. Then I dropped Shannon off at the campground and came back to Denver. When I got back I was greeted by Heather's friend Audrey and her husband Josh. The four of them had made dinner expecting I'd be there, but I missed it by a lot. Still, they made me some leftovers which were absolutely amazing. It was a feast. We had fruit & yogurt and s'mores for dessert, and some kind of chocolate and coffee martini or something that they made up.

The next day (Sunday), Heather, Audrey, Audrey's "sister" (from a Big Brothers/Big Sisters-like program), and I went to the pool, which was nice and relaxing. Then we had really good pizza from a place just down the street from Heather and Fred's house.

The day after I came up to Shannon's camp and spent the night so the next day I could go whitewater rafting with them. It was a blast. I was sort of scared at first because I'd only been canoeing, but it got fun fast - even after ten people or so fell out of their rafts. The girl sitting in front of me even rescued someone who fell out. Cool.

Right now I am in the library in Estes Park, the first place I've had internet access on my laptop since San Diego. Hence the long wait between posts.