Road Trip UT-CO

I’ve had the week off. I went on a road trip with my sister and her 3 year old twins. My sister is my favorite travel buddy and we haven’t been on any trips like this since the twins were born. She’s been a few places, and I’ve been a few places but not together. It was really fun. We did have to cater to the kids a bit but it wasn’t a problem. And if they had a few hard spots, she got to deal with them. I only got impatient a few times when I was tired or hungry, and I didn’t get tired of being with them, which made it even better. 

We started by dropping the dog off at my other sister’s house (Thanks Anna!) and headed south. 

By the time dinner came we were in Moab and found a food truck park. The kids had corn dogs and Amy and I split a falafel wrap and a gyro. Both were excellent and it was a nice break. 

We spent the night in Monticello and in the morning headed to Mesa Verde National Park. I had reserved tickets for the guided tour to Cliff Palace 2 weeks earlier and we had the 2 pm tour so we had time to get there and explore a bit beforehand. 

Spruce House

Cliff Palace

We didn’t walk/hike too far since we needed the kids to be able to do the stairs and ladders on the tour, but still had fun looking at the sights.  The Cliff Palace tour was good and I’m glad we were able to do it. The kids thought the stairs and ladders were an adventure. They got antsy as we listed to the ranger but after we got to a certain spot, we were able to leave when we needed to. Strangely enough, I thought the ladders and stairs would be in the “palace” itself, but you don’t get to do anything but walk by it, which makes perfect sense because it is a sacred place to the people and their ancestors. But there are very steep stone stairs and a few ladders to get in and out of the place. 

After Mesa Verde we headed to Durango, CO. The kids fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake up until we got to the hotel. We had a great time in Durango. Again, we did things the kids would enjoy as well as checking out the town. We spent some time every day at a park so the kids could play. It was just so nice to be outside. Plus, we had fun in the hotel swimming pool. And we got to see the Silverton train leave the station. We had already decided that even the shorter train ride would be too much for the kids at their age but they had fun watching it leave. 

Then when we left to drive home, we went up the mountains to Silverton. The San Juan mountain range is really beautiful. They still have snow and we saw a bunch of “waterfalls” as the snow was melting and running off the cliffs. 

Storefronts in Silverton

Of course after the fun in the morning, the rest of the drive home felt super long. I got home just before 10 pm and got to sleep in my own bed again. But it’s been a great week and I got to mark another place off my travel list. We would totally love to do it again one day when the kids are older.