Hello family and friends! It seems like it has taken me forever to get this post written! Thank you all for the kind "inspiration" in moving this one along.
We spent time at back to back campsites where we didn’t have cell service or WiFi! Who knew such places still exist on our planet. It was glorious and stressful and forced us to contemplate just how much we use/over use and rely/over rely on our electronic devices. More to come on those adventures in the next post!
We have been so lucky to follow spring as we have moved from state to state and destination to destination.
Seeing that soft green popping up in the landscape gives everything a feeling of newness and possibility and is so invigorating to the soul.
Pagosa Springs
Our next destination was Pagosa Springs which is a quaint little town that has been built around the natural hot springs that bubble to the surface here.
We enjoyed exploring the town and walking along the river.
And of course we spent time at the local playground! This was a great location along the river where AJ and I could relax in the shade and listen to the water while B1 and B2 could expend some energy.
These two kiddos need lots of time in wide open spaces where they can move their bodies and jump and stomp without fear of the camper walls falling down around us.
I often daydream/daynightmare about B2 bursting through the wall of the camper like the Kool-Aid man in one of her fits of uncontrollable energy expulsion.
So, needless to say playgrounds have been key to our COVID travel survival plan.
Plus, it is really their only interaction with other mini humans - which they desperately need and desire.
I will be so thankful for the time when the kids can finally be vaccinated and their lives can become less fraught with worries and we, as parents, don’t have to second guess and fret about every decision we make for the kids.
We are lucky beyond measure that these two have taken the limitations and challenges of this time in stride and have been so flexible and understanding of what it takes to keep everybody safe.
Happy kiddos!
Yes- Tacocat spelled backwards is Tacocat😂.
Like most sibling duos these two waffle from being lovey-dovey best mates to full on mortal combating enemies. Thankfully the majority of the time is spent happily playing together in a shared imagination space.
I love these pictures for so many reasons. The looks of pure joy on their faces. B1 pushing B2 and being, in this moment the best big brother. The sun was shining and we were out in the world seizing the day, enjoying nature and being together as a family having fun and making memories.
Chimney Rock National Monument
The southwest is full of preserved ruins of ancient Pueblo dwellings that give insight into how early civilizations lived.
Each one we have visited has given us the opportunity to experience and learn something new about how these people forged an existence from this unforgiving landscape.
The staff and volunteers at Chimney Rock were outstanding and took so much time with the kids and I to share their knowledge, show us hidden details and answer our questions.
This was the first place we visited that had an interactive game the kids could play while exploring the monument. They followed a map on my phone and earned “badges” for every question they answered by investigating their surroundings and learning about the lives of the ancient pueblo people.
I highly recommend this app and will be more diligent in seeing which parks have something similar. The kids loved the idea of being “agents of discovery” and were so engaged and interested in solving the puzzles.
We wandered and explored and earned our junior ranger badge!
At this park we learned lot about what plants were used for food, making supplies and for medicines.
Our horse obsessed kiddo looking adorbs!
One interesting fact is that they actually think that the ancient Pueblo people permanently changed or altered the vegetation landscape. They believe that there are more drought resistant plants growing here today because of their foraging/gathering and farming practices.
And we spied some beautiful wild flowers!
This is the first recorded selfie B1 has ever taken…and I am not sure how I feel about this…
It was really neat to hear the kids verbalize and conceptualize how these structures would have looked hundreds of years ago.
Lots of space to climb and explore!
The Hot Springs
We couldn’t visit Pagosa and not spend time at a hot spring. The kids and I got a day pass to The Springs Resort and Spa. We spent a glorious day pool hopping and soaking up all the warmth and relaxation…well relaxation by B squared standards - meaning we sat still for no longer than 5 minutes at a time and had to be fed every 20 minutes. But hey - does it get better than a day at the hot springs?!?!?
Colorado Springs
Next up we traveled to Colorado Springs. Although it is very hard to rank all the places we have been and our travels in between each destination this stands out as one of the most epic drives yet. We spent several hours traveling through a very flat valley between mountain ranges and approaching the base of the Rocky Mountains. It was wild to see these hazy shapes on the distant horizon turn into giant snow capped mountains.
We continue to constantly be surprised how quickly the landscape can change in the span of a mile. In fact I think the family is getting very sick of me breaking out into song “just around the river bend.“
The roads going into Colorado Springs were built into the mountains and I am pretty sure it is where Disney got their ideas for Big Thunder Railroad. Jutting rocks, zero shoulder space and the potential for falling boulders made driving around town very exciting!
Dinosaur Resource Center
One of our first destinations in Colorado Springs was the Dinosaur Resource Center. This is a privately owned paleontology lab that is funding digs and making new fossil discoveries all over the United States.
As part of our admission we received a guided tour that lasted over an hour.
Our guide Danny was so interesting to listen to and we were all completely enraptured and learned so many cool new dinosaur facts.
B1 was a complete rockstar and impressed both us and our guide with his diffuse and complete dinosaur knowledge. His recall ability is unreal and he interjected so many facts and had so many smart exchanges with the guide.
We got to see some of the new dinosaur species that this lab discovered and got to watch paleontologists in action examining and studying real dinosaur bones and fossils.
I was very curious to understand how a private lab functions and how they fit into the scientific community. They fund their digs through sales of their discoveries to museums (and I would assume to some private collectors) around the world. They supply both original specimens and casts of bones and full skeletons to institutions focused on educating the public about dinosaurs. They work closely with universities and other higher education institutions to share discoveries and information. Once a new discovery is made and fully excavated the bones are sent to a university where further study and examination happens.
It was fascinating to see how the landscape and climate of where we were standing in Colorado Springs had changed over millions of years.
This information along with intense study of the geology helps the scientists predict where they might find fossils preserved, what era they would be from and what types of specimens they will find from land or sea.
Only 1% of all living bio matter becomes fossilized. 1%!!! To me it is shocking that any of it exists today and that scientists can glean so much information from what they discover. We learned about how fossilized dinosaur skin shows follicles that helped them prove that most dinosaurs had feathers. We learned about how unlikely it is for them to find complete skeletons but from the bones they do find they can typically hypothesize what the complete structure looks like- for example three fingered dinosaurs were almost exclusively carnivores and five fingered dinosaurs were herbivores.
The bones can tell them about injuries and disease- even instances of dinosaur cancer and ultimately what caused the dinosaurs demise.
I cannot say enough good things about this place. We have continued to discuss our visit and all the crazy things we saw and learned.
Climbing Gym
One of the things the kids have come to love to do is visit climbing centers.
In Colorado Springs we visited one of the coolest climbing spaces we have ever seen.
The kids had a blast and B2 has really built up her confidence and stamina. B1 better watch out because B2 is on a mission to be just as good as her brother!!!
Lunch Bunch
There are days where, even with all the exploring and adventuring happening, we start to feel the confines of living in such close quarters.
AJ needed some downtime to recover from his second vaccine- woot woot! so the kids and I hit the town solo.
Twenty years ago I don’t think anyone would have predicted that I would be the care-free, fun-loving parent and AJ would be the serious, strict parent.
My lunch buddies and I dined on chips, queso dip, sprite and sweet tea as our main course followed by a trio of desserts to share and sample. We had no one there to tell us we had to finish our food and eat actual protein before dessert!!!! Consequences ignored!
We had a silly time living our best lives while AJ was at home feeling under the weather - poor guy.
Garden of the Gods
We followed up our lunch a trip with a visit to Garden of the Gods. We explored the monument and all the wild and crazy rock formations and of course earned our junior ranger badges! The views were spectacular!
Did I mention AJ wasn’t there to say no to more fun sugary treats?
After we completed our books and the kids were sworn in as junior rangers the staff announced their names over the loud speaker and everyone in the building clapped for them. I wish I had captured the look of pure delight and pride on B2’s face.
Boys Day Out In Denver
AJ and B1 had a boys day in Denver where they saw Mile High Stadium and took in a Rockies game. Both of these things were on AJ’s bucket list.
AJ scored tickets behind the visiting dugout and because of COVID protocols they were basically seated by themselves and in the front row!
The Rockies took home the ”W.”
It was an all around good dudes day and father son bonding time.
They even managed to get on TV!
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
This was one of our most favorite days in Colorado Springs. The zoo was incredible and it was a cool day so the animals were up and about being active.
The zoo is built into the side of the Mountain so both the enclosures and the view were unique to anything we had ever experienced before.
Our first stop was at the giraffe exhibit where we actually got to feed the giraffes!!!
The deck for the humans was right at eye level with the giraffes and I had never been so close to a giraffe before.
They went bananas for lettuce. We could barely keep in in our hands they were so fast darting their tongues out to grab it.
Giraffe eyelashes are so gorgeous! Jelly!
It was an awesome way to start out our visit!
The newest members of the zoo family were a couple of hippos. We were able to see them both in the water and on land. Big babies!!!
At one of the enclosure we got to experience alligators chuffing. The sound was vibrating the water and making little ripples all around them.
Lions and big cats and wolves, oh my!
This zoo had so many unique experiences. We walked through one area where there were wallaby’s on either side of us in the grass - just chillin’. They reminded me of lazy dogs just stretched out soaking up the sun and the heat of the day.
One of the highlights of the day was seeing brother bears wrestle and play in the water. They were so close to us they kept smashing each other into the glass right in front of us!
There was a young male moose that was nicknamed “the prince“ and is a favorite of the zoo staff.
We rode the sky rail which Brayden was not too sure about.
I loved it! The breeze and the views and seeing some of the animals from above was amazing!!!
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Florissant Fossil Beds are known for giant fossilized redwood stumps and bug fossils.
There most famous fossil is of a Palaeovespa wasp. My love of bees made this a very exciting place to visit!
We learned here that just as much information about pre-historic plant life is gleaned from fossilized pollen as actual plant and flower specimens. So many things my brain had never even contemplated.…fossilized pollen….microscopic fossils…who knew?!?!?
There are so many things I didn’t know I didn’t know about. So much to learn and see and do!
Look at this handsome junior ranger all badged out!
These stumps were enormous! It made us very excited to someday see their modern day relatives in California.
Whether or not they would admit it these two are pretty fond of each other♥️.
As you can tell we (meaning the kids and I) are really into the junior ranger scene and the kids take their job as junior rangers very seriously.
AJ was sitting outside with B2 when a piece of trash blew away from our campsite.
AJ said to her “Quick, Junior Ranger! Grab that trash!”
B2 dashed around the camper at full throttle.
She came back holding the piece of trash above her head and triumphantly declared “Not on my watch!”
Love you all!