The Nelsons Go Southwest - Four Corners and Mesa Verde

Our agenda for day three (Thursday, November 4th) of our trip was a busy one. We woke up in Farmington, New Mexico and hit the road early for Four Corners Monument, which was just over an hour's drive from where we had stayed. 

I had read that the monument could get very busy even in the off-season, so our goal was to be there no later than 9:00am. We made our goal, but what we didn't anticipate was how COLD it would be at that time of the morning. It certainly wasn't busy, though!

Brecklyn in New Mexico, Brenson in Arizona, Brianna in Utah, and Brooke in Colorado!

So fun to be in four states at the same time!

Brenson

Brooke

Brianna

Brecklyn

Chris

Masks were still being required at the monument - which we found to be annoying - but they did help keep us warm, lol. I hate the way they look in photos, though. 

You can see from the background of the photos that the place was pretty empty while we were there. As I was taking photos of my kiddos on the monument, a native American woman walked up with her elderly parents waiting patiently for their turn on the monument. I had all my kiddos step to the side, and then took photos of this lady and her parents. She was so grateful, and that kind of birthed a fun little banter between us. She was hilarious and sarcastic, and we enjoyed her jokes and company throughout the rest of our visit. She reminded me of Tia in many ways, and I feel like I should have gotten her phone number to keep in touch, haha!

She kindly took this family photo for us :-).

The official survey marker

Each side of the monument a beautiful and unique view.

On the perimeter of the monument area stand buildings that are divided into cells of sorts. This is where souvenir venders set up their shops. Only about half the shops were open while we were there, although more were opening as the morning went on. 

Loving the views!

Different direction . . . different view!

We enjoyed browsing the shops and even buying several souvenirs before we made our way to our van.

The next stop on our itinerary for the day was Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It wasn't long at all before we crossed the Colorado state line!

The Mesa Verde National Park visitor and research center is only about an hour's drive from the Four Corners Monument. We made great time, and were so excited to visit our first National Park of the trip!

Bren

Brianna

Brooke

Brecklyn

The visitor's center was fairly small and still actively practicing social distancing and masking. This meant that only a few of us were permitted in the center at a time and the movie about the park wasn't running :-(. We were disappointed about that, but we knew this was a possibility when we planned the trip. 

The good news was that we had more time to explore the park. We knew we were on a time schedule, so having a bit more time didn't hurt, for sure! We started driving south on the scenic road that cuts through the park. Our first stop was Mancos Valley Overlook, and it was incredible!

Brooke

Mancos Valley Overlook

By this time, we were all about ready to have some lunch, so we drove just a bit farther into the park and stopped at Morefield Campground to eat. The campground was actually closed for the season, but we were able to use the picnic tables. 

It was a peaceful and beautiful spot to have lunch, although it was very windy and chilly. The kids got a little excited when we first walked up and saw signs warning of bears in the area . . . a couple of them were ready to just eat in the van! No bears this time, though. 

After lunch, we continued our way along the scenic drive. We stopped for a few minutes at Montezuma Valley Overlook. 

Daddy and Brecklyn

As you can see from Brooke's hair, it was a bit windy, haha!

Momma and Bren

Our next stop was at Park Point, which is the highest point in the park, as well as home to a fire lookout tower. 

It was a short hike to the summit of Park Point, so of course we had to take it!

The fire lookout tower was very interesting, and the kids had alllll the questions about it. The best part was being able to see so much of the park!

At this point, we had sadly spent all the time we had to spend in the park. We started to make our way back north to the entrance and visitor's center, but had to stop at this neat tunnel on our way out. 

We made a quick stop at the visitor's center to use the restroom before continuing our trek north to Moab, Utah. 

We made it to Utah!

It was a little over two hours driving time between the Mesa Verde visitor's center and Moab. Most of the road was a windy, two lane road that cut right through amazing rock formations and desert landscape. We were all amazed at the rock formations that were *seemingly* randomly here and there.  

Church Rock (about 41 miles south of Moab)

Brooke

Brecklyn

Brianna

Wilson Arch (about 25 miles south of Moab)

As we were getting closer and closer to Moab, a little bit of anxiety started to get the best of me. The road felt SO narrow and windy, and we were constantly being passed by huge RVs and tour busses that looked like they were going to run right off the road. The scenery was amazing, and I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to enjoy it more and take a few more photos.

We finally arrived (safely) in Moab around 5:00pm. Our lodging reservations were at the Holiday Inn, which is located on the North end of town. This meant we got to drive all the way through Moab on the main road before reaching our hotel, AND that we were closer to the National Parks we planned to visit. We had a first floor suite (which we've never had before) which made coming and going from our room very easy. We were very happy with our accommodations!  

As soon as we got checked-in and moved-in, we headed back into the main part of Moab in search of dinner. We landed at a Mexican restaurant right on the "strip". Parking was busy, so we had to park a ways away and walk to the restaurant, but that just gave us more opportunity to see the town. Our initial impression was that Moab was a charming, touristy, rugged little town with good food and fun shopping!

By the time we made it back to our suite, we were all tuckered out and ready for bed! We had big plans for the next day, so we were ready to be well rested to take them on.

Colorado Trip 2018 - Steamboat Springs and Coming Home!

This will be my final post about this trip. If you need to catch up, you can find my other posts about our 2018 Colorado trip here, here, and here. 

I left off in my last post with us leaving Granby on Tuesday, July 24th and heading for Steamboat Springs. Our vacation had not been going according to plan with car trouble, sick kids, and weather issues inferring with the guys' big Long's Peak climb, but we were hopeful that things would turn around for our last few days in Colorado. 

Our drive to Steamboat Springs was just beautiful! I don't think I'd ever been to this part of Colorado before, and I really enjoyed the scenery. 

We arrived in Steamboat Springs at about 4:30pm, and our first stop was the visitor's center.

Brooke and Brecklyn

After the visitor's center, we went to find the house we had reserved for the next two nights. Shawna and I had worked together to make the lodging reservations, and we both thought that the house in Granby would be ok accommodations while the house in Steamboat would be fantastic accommodations. Well, it turned out to be the exact opposite of that! We all loved the house in Granby and it fit our needs well. The "house" in Steamboat turned out to be a second floor condo (which was not disclosed in the listing). It was right off the highway and located in a large complex of condos. The living room, kitchen, and dining area were much smaller than they looked in photos, and the back deck was tiny with no view. It certainly wasn't at all what we were expecting and that was the source of some disappointment, for sure!

We all got settled in our condo a bit, then we headed to downtown Steamboat for dinner. We ate at a fun little diner with tasty food, then we all did our own things for a while. Brianna went with Uncle Jeremy and JT to find patches, and they sent me these fun photos of her:

Meanwhile, Chris and I took our younger three kids to a nearby park to play and run off some energy.

Brenson

Brooke and Brecklyn

The sleeping arrangements at the condo were less than ideal. On the second floor, there was a bedroom with a bathroom and an open loft with two double beds. Chris and I slept in the loft with the twins, and it just wasn't a very comfortable situation. Bren slept in the bedroom on his cot with Jeremy and Shawna, and Brianna slept with Kaylee in one of the main floor bedrooms. I wasn't feeling great that night, and then I didn't get good sleep on top of that :-(.

None of us had made any plans for our time in Steamboat because we thought there would be plenty to do there. I'm not sure if we just didn't know where to look or what to look for, but we struggled a little to fill our time. On Wednesday morning, we did decide to make the short drive to Fish Creek Falls and take a small "hike". I say "hike" because it was a paved, wide sidewalk that led to a view of the falls. I woke up that morning feeling really bad (sick to my stomach), but it didn't occur to me that maybe I had what Brooke had suffered with in Granby. I tried really hard to just push through the morning, but I actually ended up throwing up on the side of the sidewalk while walking to the falls. It wasn't pretty!

Grampy and G-Jo with part of their grandchildren

Jeremy, Shawna, JT, and Kaylee

Bren, Momma, Brecklyn, Brianna, Daddy, and Brooke

G-Jo and Grampy

We were grateful for gorgeous weather and lovely views!

Fish Creek Falls

Chris and Chelley

There was a trail to walk down to the stream produced from the falls, and Chris, Dad, Jeremy, Brianna, and Brenson all took that trail while the others of us waited on them. I would have liked to have gone with them, but I was on the struggle bus with feeling barfy!

Once we finished at Fish Creek, the guys decided they all wanted to go ride a roller coaster at a place in Steamboat then grab some lunch together. I hated to be a party pooper, but I asked Shawna if she would drive me back to the condo to lie down because I was so nauseous. It was definitely not what I had imagined for our day in Steamboat Springs!

While I rested and tossed and turned with whatever stomach issue was plaguing me, Mom, Shawna, and Kaylee took care of Brooke and Brecklyn. They played some games at the condo, then went for lunch. Brianna and Brenson had both gone with the guys, but unfortunately the roller coaster was closed for maintenance this day. They ended up spending the afternoon walking around Steamboat, shopping a bit, and then later hanging out at the condo.

That evening, everyone but me went for dinner at a local BBQ place. I was sooooo sad to be sick, but thankful that no one else was affected . . . yet.

JT at dinner with "the Briannas" as he calls them :-)

Wednesday was our last full day of vacation, and our plan for Thursday was to hit the road that morning to head toward home. I slept decently that night and woke up feeling somewhat better. We got up pretty early that morning to get our things packed to leave, and as I was packing Shawna came to me and said, "I hate to tell you this, but Brenson is throwing up." Nooooooo! I went to check on him and the poor kid was as white as the sheets. THEN, about 20 minutes after he started throwing up, Brooke threw up again. What in the world?!?

I didn't know how we were going to drive anywhere with two pukey kids because even trying to get packed up was taking way longer than it should have. Mom, Dad, and Brianna went ahead and left while Jeremy and Shawna hung back with us to help us get loaded. Before we left town, we stopped by Wal-mart where I got a pack of disposable bowls, wipes, bottled water, and paper towels for the road. It was after 9:00am before we finally left Steamboat.

This is called Rabbit Ears Pass. I thought it was cute! 

With two sick kids and one adult who wasn't near 100 percent (me), we ended up stopping about every 30 minutes to empty out the puke bowls. Thankfully, the kids were great about puking in the bowl which made clean up not too bad. Jeremy and Shawna stayed right with us as we pulled off time and again to deal with puke.

This poor kid was so sick :-(.

Despite the puke, we still enjoyed the views!

We stopped for lunch at Taco Bell on the west side of Denver, but I stayed in the van with Brenson and Brooke while the others ate. Once we finished with lunch, we headed toward downtown so Jeremy and his family could go to the Hard Rock. It's a family tradition for them to get a souvenir glass. While they ran inside, I got the girls out to stretch and snap a few pics of us in downtown Denver.

After the quick stop in downtown, we headed for the airport because JT was catching a plane back to Tennessee so he could be home in time for a prior commitment. The traffic was pretty heavy (in my experience, it always is in Denver), and of course we had to pull off for sick kids. We told Jeremy and Shawna to go ahead to the airport, and we'd plan to meet up with them down the road a ways. Talk about a stressful way to travel!

Once we got back on the road, we were actually able to make some time. All the kids fell asleep, and it seemed that Bren and Brooke's tummies were somewhat settled for the time being. We ended up meeting up again with Jeremy, Shawna, and Kaylee at a rest stop just west of the Kansas state line.

Our hotel reservation for that night was at the same place the gals had stayed in Colby, Kansas on our way to Colorado. Dad, Mom, and Brianna had already made it there and were getting settled for the night. As we were trying to make some decent time heading east on I-70 across the plains of Kansas, we could see a very large storm up ahead. Dad texted us to let us know that it was severe weather (with tornadoes) and to make sure we were weather aware. The problem with this was that there was literally no place to take shelter or even exit the highway. We really had no choice but to keep driving right into the storm.

I definitely don't love severe weather, but this was truly pretty frightening. The wind, rain, and hail was seriously affecting our visibility, and we could only drive about 40 mph through it. We missed a tornado crossing the interstate by just minutes, and the winds were so strong that we saw four semis blown over on the road! I only thought our trip was stressful a few hours before!!!

To say we were grateful to FINALLY make it to our hotel that night is an understatement. I was beyond exhausted!!! We stopped in town and grabbed food for those who were eating (Brooke, Bren, and I were not), and ate in the hotel lobby before turning in for the night. I was just hoping and praying for a smoother travel day on Friday!

We hit the road on Friday, July 27th at around 8:30am. We made decent time that morning, and all stopped in Salina for lunch at Wendy's around noon. Upon leaving Salina, Mom and Dad headed toward their home while Jeremy, Shawna, Kaylee, and Brianna went to visit Granny Tiger for a bit in Wichita. Chris fueled up the van, and he and I agreed to drive until we absolutely had to stop. We were so ready to be home at this point! We weren't 10 miles south of Salina before I looked back and saw Brooke sound asleep (with her puke bowl on her head, haha!).

Just a few minutes later, and all the children were asleep. WIN!

Chris and I burned up the road that afternoon, like we had agreed. After a hundred and fifty miles, we were both tired and both kind of needed to use the bathroom, but there was no way we were going to stop and risk waking the children. We ended up driving for 210 miles before we stopped at a rest stop on the turnpike in Oklahoma! It felt so good to be in Oklahoma after being able to really DRIVE for the first time on the whole trip home!

We made it to our house at around 5:00pm, and Jeremy, Shawna, Kaylee, and Brianna arrived a little over an hour later. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, then all went to bed early that night after visiting on our back patio for a while. On Saturday, July 28th, Jeremy, Shawna, and Kaylee began their trip home to Tennessee at around 9:00am. Chris, the kids, and I spent the day unpacking, cleaning out the van, doing laundry, and getting settled back at home. Everyone was doing much better, and I was so thankful to be done with the sickness! 

I really wish I could end this here, but sadly the story continues. After having a day of everyone eating well and feeling well on Saturday, we thought we were in the clear. We got up Sunday morning, got everyone ready for church, and were two minutes from walking out the door. I took Brecklyn potty, and as she was sitting on the potty she looked at me with distressed eyes and barfed all over the bathroom! No, no, noooooo!!! 

She and I stayed home, and she spent all day Sunday and Monday with the same stomach junk the others of us had had. 

I received a text later that day that Kaylee and Shawna also ended up getting it!

On Tuesday and Wednesday of the week following vacation, everyone seemed good. However, Brianna went to spend the night with Chloe Jo on Wednesday, and I woke up to a text from Lisa early Thursday morning that Brianna was throwing up. I was like, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! She had her turn with it for about two days, then we were FINALLY freed from the barfing! I still can hardly believe that Chris never got it. 

Having all the issues we did on vacation is certainly not how I would have written things. Despite that, though, we have really nice memories of some wonderful family time in Colorado. At least we had beautiful views and fresh mountain air to enjoy while we were sick. I would do *almost* all of it again, haha!