No matter how long we stay in Utah, it never seems like long enough and the trip home to Texas always seems to be longer than the trip out to Utah was in the first place. This year we took an extra day (4 days) to journey back to the lone star state so we could do a little more sight seeing along the way.
The first order of travel tourism business was spending nearly an entire day at Mesa Verde National Park. We visited the museum built in the 1930s during the Works Progress era, we saw ancient and awe inspiring cliff dwellings constructed by the ancient Pueblo Peoples, and hiked down to Step House where we could get an up close look at history and the engineering skills of the ancient Native Americans. What a treat!
That's my family up there and down there!
Owen has the funniest story from our trip to Mesa Verde. At our first stop inside the Park he wanted to hike down to a cave dwelling that was too far and too steep for us to get to with our young family. Well, Owen threw a big crying fit because he couldn't hike down to the house. We loaded everyone up on the van and drove 20 minutes away to another Cliff dwelling trail recommended to us by a Park Ranger as a good hike for families with little kids. We got to the trail head and unloaded the family from the van, except this time Owen threw another fit. This time his fit wasn't about not going to see the cliff houses it was because he was tired and didn't want to hike down to see them anymore. Undeterred we took him on the half mile hike crying and screaming the whole way down. When we arrived the Park Ranger was concerned he might have been injured on the trail, but then laughed when she heard our story. Owen quickly stopped crying when he saw the ancient ruins around him and cheerfully explored the cliff houses as if he had never tantrummed. Oh the exciting life and times of being a parent. :D
We also made it to the Big Texan for lunch in Amarillo on our way home. It was pretty hot outside so we decided to smuggle our three little gerbil friends inside with us. We put them in their little travel cage and then hid it inside a backpack we put on the floor under our table. Good things gerbils are quiet and nobody escaped!
The kids got a big kick out of their lunches being served in real cowboy hats they got to keep.
After all of that traveling and playing and exploring and time with family we were sure tuckered out by the time we got home.
We are so thankful we can travel to be with family so often and are so thankful for the wonderful family we have.
As by Grandma Zoie use to say, "Take your time leaving, but hurry on back anytime."
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