Our 1999 vacation was designed to be less busy than last year. Did we succeed? Read on and find out.

Day 1 (1 Aug 99) Corrales to Denver, CO

Amazingly, we left home about 1/2 hour earlier than planned (but we lost that waiting for the Bernalillo McDonald's (the only one we visited all vacation) to open). We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. I attended the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry, so we only paid the difference between single and double conference rates. While I attended the Bruker Solids Users' Meeting, the guys went swimming at the Marriott's pool (the one at our hotel was closed). We took the kids to the mixer and then to dinner.

Day 2 Denver CO

I attended the conference again, while the guys: went to the US mint and to the Natural History Museum Both are well worth visiting. Afterwards, the boys went swimming again.

Day 3 Still in Denver, CO

I dutifully attended still more presentations, while the boys went to the Denver Zoo. We went to dinner in Boulder at Ted and Debbie's (cousin and spouse) house (after the kids went swimming).

The mandatory picture of the kids at the zoo.

Day 4 (Wednesday, 4 Aug 99) Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (East Side)

We left Denver and headed northwest. Having visited Boulder earlier, we stopped just for groceries. We ate lunch in Estes Park and then headed to the park. We stopped at the Moraine Park Museum to get our Junior Ranger workbooks, and then headed for camp. We camped at Glacier Basin Campground (reservations needed in the summer) We set up camp in a drizzle and then it really began to rain.

We drove up to Bear Lake and waited for the rain to slow down. It did, and we hiked around the lake (hike #49 in "best Hikes with Children in Colorado") in the fog and drizzle. It was quite nice, actually, and not at all crowded.

Here we are at Bear Lake. Can't see the lake? Well, I told you it was foggy.

Back at camp, it rained so long and so hard that the tent leaked. Dinner was sandwiches in the car. Sleeping was in the car. (I managed to re-arrange everything so that the kids could put their seats back and the adults could sort-of lean back.) It was not the most comfortable night I ever spent. Here is a rainy, dark, out of focus shot of the guys "sleeping" in the car.

Day 5 RMNP

We got up early and headed back to Bear Lake. This time we did the hike to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes. (Also listed uner #49 in BHwCiC)

Here we are at Nymph Lake- early in the hike.

Here we are at Dream Lake.

Here is my attempt to show Emerald Lake and the snow melt (glacier melt) waterfalls that feed it. No rain, but plenty of mud. With lots of rest stops, Dylan made it the whole way, about 3.6 miles total.

Here is Dylan checking out Emerald Lake. He decided it was very cold!!!

We tried to talk him into another hike, but no way. We ate lunch at camp and then drove to the Beaver Meadows visitor center and looked around. It looked like it might rain again, so we opted for the ranger program at the Moraine museum. It was given by the current artist in residence, who is composing music inspired by bird songs. I am not sure the kids liked it.

The rain stopped in time to cook dinner, and then Ryan and I went to the Ranger campfire program on canines. Ryan can now tell the difference between an wolf, a fox, and a coyote.

Day 6 RMNP, west side

We drove the highest paved road in the US (Rt 34) across the park. This road tops out at over 12,000 feet. They were working on the road, and took longer than planned. We ended up waiting almost an hour for the road to open, and then had to stop for 10 minutes or so for one-way traffic. We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center and then did the hike through up to the top of the nearby hill. Boy, was it cold!!!! We got back to the visitor center as the fog turned to rain. But, the fog held off long enough for us to get great views. Here is a picture on the trail.

We also checked out the west side Visitor center, attended a Ranger presentation on bones and pelts of animals in RMNP, and turned in our Jr. Ranger workbooks!

We camped at a private "resort" in Grand Lake. (Winding River) Of primary interest was the hot showers.

Day 7 RMNP, west side

We got up and out fairly early, and drove to the Never Summer Ranch (in RMNP). We did the 1/2 mile walk to the actual ranch (hike # 53) and looked around. This was a tourist "dude" ranch at the turn of the (last) century. The buildings were still closed (too early) but we peeked in windows and the kids got to see the farm tools and stuff. Here are the kids pretending to sharpen pieces of wood on the sharpening wheel.

Back to the camp to wait for Joe and Sandy. (Joe and Gorbo were roomates in Seattle.) They arrived only slightly late (delayed by the Trail Ridge Road construction, no doubt). We drove into Grand Lake and then to one side of the lake to do hike #54 -Adams Falls. The trail up to the falls was a little crowded, but the falls were quite nice. We continued on, hoping to find a beaver lodge, but Dylan got tired and made us turn back. So, we did only a mile and a half.

Here are pictures of Joe and Sandy and the guys(I think Joe has a friend for life.). Joe took a picture of us. Can you tell we were in very bright sunlight? My picture of the falls does not look very impressive, so I am not including it.

We fortified ourselves with ice cream, and let the kids play on the Grand Lake playground. Then back to camp for yet another yummy camp dinner. (Wine, spaghetti, sauce, salad, brats (not me!) , and cookies.) Then we went to the ice cream social at the campground.

Day 8 (Sunday, 8 Aug 99) Dinosaur National Monument, CO and UT

Sunday was a long driving day. We traveled from Grand Lake all the way across Colorado and into Utah. About 6 hours in the car. But, we were prepared. Our van had a tape player and Gorbo recorded (and brought) a bunch of tapes. I bought two "books on tape" and today we listened to the entire story of Stuart Little. Our only stop was in SteamBoat Springs, for lunch, gas, and groceries- to replenish food eaten in RMNP.

(We had brought dry, canned, and prepackaged food with us. The grocery store stops were for perishables like milk, salad, lunch meat, bagels, etc.)

We bypassed both Visitor centers to head straight for the campground at Green River. We did not have reservations, but I had been assured that it "never" fills. I don't know about never, but it did not fill while we were there. We found a nice shaded site, set up the tent, and had a snack. Our plan was to go to a ranger station and pick up our Jr. Ranger workbooks, and a map of the auto tour that starts near the quarry.

So, we drove to the dinosaur quarry. In the summer, you can't drive up to it, you have to take a shuttle. And, the ranger station/visitor center is at the quarry. So, unlike Stuart Little, we did not let a slight change of plans upset us and we took the <5 minute shuttle to the visitor center at the quarry.

This was an actual quarry where lots and lots of dino bones were removed and sent to the Smithsonian and the Carnegie Museum (among others). They have stopped excavation, and one wall of the visitor center is the wall of the quarry. Yes, you are allowed to touch (some of) the bones.

Here is Ryan standing next to a dinosaur leg.

Dylan is sitting on a fossil still embedded in the wall of the quarry/visitor center. Yes, this is allowed! Note that part of the bone has a plaster (white) cast and part does not.

After examining the bones, we got our ranger books. We drove back to the campsite, stopping at a couple of the "Auto tour" stops. One with petroglyphs was on the list of activities for the kids.

Day 9 DNM

This was to be a hiking and a little driving day. We did the auto tour, stopping at all the overlooks. We drove all the way to the end (on 2 miles of dirt road) to Josie Morris's homestead. The buildings are pretty run down, but you can look in them. She lived here for most of the 1900s. After a picnic lunch, we walked around,down to the orchard, and then into Hog Canyon (where she kept her pigs(hike # 35from BHwCi Utah)). The kids went quite a long way- almost to the back of the canyon. We did about 2-3 miles.

After returning from the past, we drove into the town of Vernal, UT for supplies. We also stopped at Adrift Adventures to check in for our trip on Wednesday. We went back to the quarry so the kids could find out the answers to questions in their workbooks.

Dinner, sleeping in the tent as usual.

Day 10 DNM

Today was to be a longer driving day. We drove back into Colorado to the visitor center near Dinosaur, Colorado. There was a nature trail there that we wanted to do, but it had been washed out in a flash flood earlier in the summer.

We proceeded to do the 31 miles (each way, an out and back) Harpers Corner Auto Tour. In the morning, we just drove to the end so we could hike before it got too warm. We did the Harpers Corner Trail. (2 mi round trip) There were spectacular canyon views all along the trail, which ultimately takes you out to an overlook where the Green and Yampa Rivers join. It was somewhat confusing because both of these rivers wind around a great deal. (Usually, windy rivers are found in flat areas, but these are windy canyon rivers. Current theory: The uplift that created the mountains buckled them as well. The rivers started flowing through the rubble instead of around the mountains. Once they started cutting through the rubble, they were stuck. So, windy rivers in canyons.)

After the hike, we started back, this time stopping at all the lookouts. The kids were required to do one other hike for their Junior ranger badges - the Plug Hat nature trail which was only about 1/2 mile total. Then we went to the ranger station and turned in our workbooks. Because DNM is so large, they have 3 sets of activities. If you complete all three, you get a certificate, a ranger badge pin, and a patch.

Day 11 DNM

Today we went white water rafting on the Green River with Adrift Adventures They do one day and multi-day rafting trips. (Thanks to Dave VanderVelde for telling me about it.) Our trip was through Split Mountain (so named because the Green River splits the mountain.) We drove about and hour and a half to the put in spot- stopping briefly to look at petroglyphs. Our trip had 4 "named" (Class III) rapids. the picture below was taken while we were running the third one. Dylan is pretty hard to see, hiding behind Gorbo.

After the third rapid we had lunch and then continued on. We ended up not too far from our camp- but of course had to drive back to the office where our car was. All in all, a great time. I would like to do one of their multi-day trips.

Day 12 Grand Junction, CO

Today we drove mostly south from Dinosaur to Grand Junction. No vacation is complete without delays caused by road construction. We _thought_ that our stay on Trail Ridge Road counted, but apparently not. While headed south on a small, narrow road, we came to a point where they were resurfacing it. This road was too small to divert traffic while they worked on one side, so they simply tore up the whole road (for 5 miles!!!) and let people drive on dirt. This did not improve our average speed. During this drive we listened to an audio book of the tales of King Arthur.

Before we got to Grand Junction we went to Colorado National Monument. The kids again participated in the Junior Ranger program and we did two short hikes (BHwCiC #60), a nature trail and a hike along the rim with nice views (about 2.5 mi total). That evening, we stayed in a motel for the first time in eight nights. The kids were happy to be able to go swimming again.

Day 13 Montrose, CO

We left Grand Junction and drove a couple of hours to our 4th national park/monument, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument . This is very pretty with spectacular views of dark granite canyon walls, and not very visited. I highly recommend it. The kids again got junior ranger badges, and we hiked the Warner Point Nature trail (BHwCiC #61, 1.5 mi r.t.). That evening we again stayed in a motel so everyone got to go swimming.

The Gunnison is waaaay down there.

Day 14 (August 14) Dylan's BD!!!!!!! Montrose to Corrales via Durango and the million-dollar highway.

A long driving day. Got home mid-afternoon, after stopping for brunch in Durango. The kitties were glad to see us, and the house and plants had survived.

Dylan got his birthday at home.

After last year's vacation, we vowed that in 1999 we would go for: No more than 14 days and we stay at each place 2-3 days. So, did we meet out goal????

*** For those that remember last year when we had car trouble. We bought a new minivan (Dodge Grand Caravan) in June.

For more information, contact karenann@unm.edu

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