girlonahalfshill

We woke up on Thursday morning refreshed – a full night’s sleep for all of us. We stopped by the little store in Hite, UT and were pleasantly surprised to find it well-stocked and clean. After grabbing coffee, water, and milk for the boys’ cereal, we asked for directions to Mesa Verde and were on our way.

We made one quick double-back to grab a snapshot of the bridge over the Colorado River, but then pushed on with all of us commenting on the colors of the rock formations. I think that my most consistent exercise during this trip (so far) have been my frequent photographic forays. I’ll pull the car over and hop out, and then find myself scrambling to the top or bottom of the nearest hill or ledge to get a clear shot or to frame the picture better. This is quite often followed up by an impulse to make a quick jaunt over the next hill as well…
On our way back to civilization, I noticed the sign for Natural Bridges National Monument and held my breath. Utah was one of the hardest legs of the journey for me to plan because I wanted to see it all – Natural Bridges, Arches, Mt. Zion, the Petrified Forest… so much incredible beauty here. So, noticing that one of them was right on our path felt fortuitous, to say the least. With a brief pause for adolescent approval, or at least manageable static, we veered left and headed down the two-lane road to the visitors center.

On another occasion, I may find time to hike to the top of Kachina Bridge, but at this time, I’m grateful to have been in eyeshot. We rounded the loop at Natural Bridges and we’re back on the road, headed to Cortez, Colorado and Mesa Verde National Park in about an hour. I had worried about not buying our tour tickets in advance for Mesa Verde, but, as it turns out, their $4 tours are not available online. We toured Balcony House and the Cliff Palace and both were remarkable, although the boys would certainly confirm that the Balcony House tour was more fun. I was astonished to find that we were entrusted with climbing up wooden ladders, crawling through a tunnel on our hands and knees and walking around kivas and ledges without five feet of caution tape or foam padding insulating the ruins or us. As a result, it was more exciting, memorable and engaging. 

The night ended with us taking advantage of the free wifi to catch up on correspondence, the coin laundry and writing our first postcards of the trip. There are fewer photos today because we used the Olympus at the national parks.