After Colorado, we headed to Utah. We had had mostly hazy skies in Colorado during the last of our stay due to the wildfires. I was really worried about our route, as the highway we were originally going to use had been shut down. Luckily, it opened a couple of days before our departure.
Our drive was pretty uneventful, although long. We passed several signs that said “Wildfire in Area. Do Not Call 911.” and “No Stopping On Highway”. We saw some smoke in the distance, but no large fires. However, we did pass where the fire burned next to I-70. It was immense amounts of burned trees and shrubs. It was crazy. We did get stopped in traffic for about 20 minutes or so. It was standstill, but next to a creek, so at least it was pretty.
Wildfire smoke in the distance
We arrived at our campground after hours, so our paperwork was in the outdoor box waiting for us. This time we had a pull-through spot (YAY!), so it was a little quicker getting settled in. We got everything hooked up and did a quick grocery run in town.
It was almost sunset, so we drove into Arches National Park (about 15-20 minutes down the road). We missed a lot of the sunset, but managed to catch the end. Arches looks pretty neat and I can’t wait to explore it more.
For our stay in Colorado Springs, we stayed at the Garden Of The Gods RV Resort. There were tent sites, back-up and pull-through sites, and cabins for rent. We had a back-in 50 amp site. The electric post also had a spot for 20 amp, so we could run an extension cord for outdoor use (fan, bike charging, outdoor computer use).
There was WiFi and cable, although we didn’t have any luck with the cable. The WiFi was iffy as well since we were in the back. NOTE: Campground reviews listed AT&T as working there, but it does not work in the campground. We found this out when we checked in. Our T-Mobile and Verizon worked though.
The office sold a few souvenir type items, ice ($4.10/bag, including tax), and ice cream. They did accept packages and also had an outgoing mail box inside. The office closed at 4:00pm each day.
The laundry room had a folding table, 2 carts, a vending machine, 3 driers (although 1 was broken the time we were there), and washers. Dryers $0.25/8 minutes.They were x-large capacity dryers (could hold 3 loads). The washers were normal sized and cost $2.50/load. They did sell single use powder soap in the vending machines there for $1 and had some other laundry items for sale in the office.
There were two pools, although only one was open when we were there. It was heated and had a nice covered couch area, along with some chairs around the pool. Because of COVID, you did need to sign up for the pool. (Limit of 40 people, which seems really high for that size pool. No one really checked or seemed to keep track though.)
There was also an arcade, which the kids loved. It was mostly older machines (if you grew up in the 1980’s it was very nostalgic). Most games were $0.25. We were only there a couple of times. It seemed like little kids were sent there and never had masks on, so we tried to limit our time to when it was empty. Trying to social distance can be hard.
There were no individual fire pits, although there were two grills and two communal fire pits by the playground. There was a fire ban while we were there, so fires were not allowed. You could use the charcoal grills though. The playground was small and a little older. There was also a fenced in dog area.
The campground had two shower/bath houses. The one back by the playground was definitely nicer!
There was an on-site breakfast food truck that was open Wednesday to Saturday 8:00am to 12:00pm.
We were also right next to Manitou Springs, which is a really cute town. We made several trips in and enjoyed walking around.
Garden of the Gods was pretty much right up the street, about a 10 minute drive, Pikes Peak was about 30-45 minutes, Royal Gorge about 1.5 hours. The Olympic Training Center and Air Force Academy were closed to visitors due to COVID.
The location was convenient to attractions and grocery stores. There were two Costco’s within 40 minutes! There was a horse area close by, so sometimes in the morning you could smell it, but it wasn’t too bad. There was a full time RV or mobile home park on two sides. There were tarps overhanging the campground fence in several spots. I didn’t feel safe walking on the street by myself with the kids. The Garden Of The Gods RV Resort is fenced though.
NOTE: Beware when you make your reservation. When we had to restructure our trip, we were going to shorten or skip Colorado Springs. Because we had originally booked with Best Rate, Garden of the Gods RV would not refund, only let us move our reservation. They had had few other locations, but nowhere we were going to be. If you are worried about COVID ruining your plans, please do not choose Best Rate. Everyone there was nice, it just stinks about their policy even during a pandemic.
If we were in the area, I might stay here again, because the employees were nice and it was conveniently located, but I would definitely look more closely at the cancellation policy. We did get to see a lot, but one week would probably be long enough (not the two we had).
We drove to a different Costco (they’re like Pokemon, gotta try them all!) This one had a liquor store in a separate room in the front of the store. Other than that, most of the stuff was pretty similar to what we have at home. I have found a raspberry pastry/danish in Montana and Colorado that I am becoming addicted to. It is so good! I didn’t see it back home, but maybe it’s there now. (It’s with the cookies!)
First time I’ve seen dividers at the sinks
We grabbed a pizza for dinner (I love the self service order stations they have out here.) on our way out and packed up the truck. A thunderstorm rolled in, so we thought we would wait it out. It was about a 30 minute drive back to the campground, so we sat and ate the pizza while watching the rain.
This is where it started to get a little dicey. (And unfortunately I did not have the dash cam running.) The wind picked up and a severe thunderstorm warning went out. We started getting hail. The truck was pretty exposed in the parking lot. The one thing we do know about Colorado is that they must get a lot of hail damage from storms, because there are signs and shops everywhere to repair hail damage. We noticed all the trucks hightailing it out of the parking lot to find shelter, so we followed suit. The wipers were on high and we could still barely see out the windshield. Our fellow trucks had stopped at the nearby strip mall and jumped the curb to wait under some trees. We joined in the crowd. The truck was mostly covered.
Once the hail stopped, it was still raining pretty hard, but our phones were still going off with weather alerts. We decided to head back to the RV. The roads were insane. Flash Flood Warnings and Emergency Alerts were going off almost constantly. Storm drains couldn’t keep up with the deluge of water and roads were covered in gushing water. The normally dry culverts were rushing like rapids. I am so glad we were in the truck and sat higher up. If we were in a car I would have been terrified.
We made it back to the RV safely and we luckily didn’t any damage to the truck or RV.
I do have a video of the rain and hail we got on the cell phone with a few still photos.
The boys started online school Monday 8/24. Will’s first class started at 8:00 ET, so 6:00 am here in Colorado. Nick had a much later start time and got to sleep in a little bit.
Unboxing the school supplies
We had a mostly successful first day of school. Nick had an issue with logging on to one of his classes that caused a lot of frustration. We got it figured out though. It seemed like it was a pretty common thing for the first day of school with other students and the teachers.
They have online lessons with the teacher talking to the class and everyone sees the same screen. They also have assigned work, which could be online or with their physical books. They have to have a certain number of hours each day, and I have to log them online by 11:30 pm each day. It is slightly flexible in that they can work on assignments and book work any time during the day. They do have to attend the teacher “live” classes. Those classes are recorded, so if they were sick or had an appointment, we could let the teacher know and he could watch the recording later and still count towards their attendance for class.
Most of the time, Will comes out to the kitchen table to work and Nick works at his desk. Sometimes they will both be working in their room. It seems to be working out pretty well so far.
We kept it pretty relaxed today. We drove up to Manitou Springs looking for a birthday present. It was packed! We ended up parking up the hill by the school and walking into town. We did find a couple more Little/Free Libraries along the way. Will dropped off a book he had finished, but didn’t have much luck finding a new one this time.
We just kind of browsed and meandered through town. We tried a fresh squeezed blackberry lemonade. It was pretty good, although tart. The boys loved it and it was a nice treat on a warm day.
Remember how I had trouble finding a parking spot? It turns out they were having the Pikes Peak Marathon. What?! I can’t even imagine running from the town to the top of Pikes Peak and back down. We got to cheer on a few people crossing the finish line.
After town, we headed to Walmart to pick up some grocery and clothing items. It was a pretty relaxing day.
Today we ventured into the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive each way. The one thing this trip has taught us is not to be afraid of driving each day. We very rarely made trips longer than 1.5 hours at home. We saw a few animals in the campground this morning, which is always fun!
The park offers some hiking, a campground, the dunes, and a creek. The creek is usually dry in August, from what we were told. You can sled down the sand dunes, but the park claims you need a specialized board. Apparently snow sled and cardboard will not work well. There are a few stores to rent these boards from in the towns of Alamosa (which was not on our drive in), Hooper, and Blanca. We drove through Blanca and didn’t see any signs for board rentals. It was the 2nd closest rental to the park entrance, so we were hoping we wouldn’t miss the last store. The other rental is at a store right outside the park entrance. The store is called Oasis and it is open seasonally. They offer sand boards (stand up kind like snow boards) and sand sleds. Rental is $20/day/board and you need to return it by 6:00pm. They also provide you with a thing of wax for the bottom of your board.
There was quite a line to rent the boards. The store’s interior was closed, so everything was rented/ordered from the outdoor windows. The line moved slowly, but surely. It took awhile because there was a rental form to fill out, the deposit to sign, rental fee, and then the instructions. In the store’s parking lot, they had three portalets and a 2 pump gas station (no diesel). The store also offered ice, ice cream (cones and sandwiches), some hot food items, and convenience items (postcards, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc.). There were not any picnic benches around though. (TIP: Stop and use the portalets here. The Visitor Center is closed due to COVID and there could be a long wait at the park.)
Oasis store
The sky, both on the drive in and at the park, was a little hazy due to smoke from wildfires. The parking lot closest to the dunes was packed! Luckily, right when we got to the end of our first lap, we found a spot. I was driving home, so I changed into my sandals since I didn’t want sand stuck in my shoe for the whole drive home (big mistake). Everyone else stayed in gym shoes and left their Crocs for later. There is about 1/4-1/2 mile walk through sand to get to the dune area. It would have been great if there was a boardwalk there. Although this might not work well since the Ute Native Americans called this area “sowapopheuveha”* or, the land that moves back and forth. With the sand blowing around it might just cover the boardwalk.
The book stated the tallest sand dune was “750 feet and 3.8 miles (one way) difficult trudge to the top.”* So, we weren’t doing that! We stayed towards the front of the dunes, the smaller ones. It is quite the work-out to climb up the dunes to slide back down. Ben and the boys tried the sand board, but I stuck to the sand sled. The boys did pretty well for their first experience on a stand up board. Everyone had a few tumbles in the sand, but had fun sledding down the dunes!
I had secured my keys and ID in a zipper pocket, but thought on my last run I could video the trip down the dune. Dumb idea. I took the biggest tumble so far and my phone got buried in the sand. Luckily I found it pretty quickly. I would recommend using some sort of cord or something that is attached to both your phone and you, if you want to have it out.
Eventually we were tired and hungry, and began our journey back to the truck. At the parking lot we rinsed off at the outdoor showers. There were two shower poles, each had nozzles at 3 different heights. We ate our picnic lunch in the truck. We were facing the dunes, so we had a nice view. There is a picnic area down the street, but not at the dunes parking lot we were in. We could also people watch. Ben stated everyone coming in looked excited and happy (think Disney world), but coming out everyone looked exhausted and were dragging. We were definitely tired, but it was a good experience.
The park cautions that the sand can get up to 150 degrees F. I don’t think it was quite that warm when we were there, but it definitely got very hot. My sandals were not the right choice, as the sand kept sliding in or covering my feet as we walked. In the beginning, the temperatures were fine. However, on the walk back, I had to take multiple breaks to keep my feet out of the sand and stood on a board. By the time we got back, the sides of my feet and under my big toes were red and I had a couple of blisters. I’m not sure if the blisters were simply from sand rubbing between my feet and sandals, or from minor burns from the hot sand. Even after the cool water from the outdoor shower and sitting in the truck without shoes on, my feet were still red. I ended up putting aloe on them before bed, but they were still sensitive the next day (and a little the day after that too). I may have lightly burned them. If you go in the summer, I would recommend wearing closed toe shoes (we saw someone wearing boots) so your gym shoes are not saturated with sand. If you really want to wear sandals, I would maybe wear socks with them (and socks with Crocs is honestly one of my biggest no-no’s…but guys, the sand burns!).
After lunch, we drove around. The park isn’t very large in terms of a road driving through it. There was a primitive road and a campground. We headed back out and stopped at Oasis to return our boards. We also bought some ice cream and postcards. We haven’t been able to find any other Great Sand Dunes postcards, so I wish I would have bought a few more.
Today we went to Royal Gorge Bridge and Park when Ben was done with work. It’s about an 1 1/2 hr drive from the campground.
This was one of our more expensive outings so far. General admission included the gondola ride, bridge, and playground. ($29/ages 13+, $24/ages 6-12, 0-5 free. There is an online price as well, which is a couple dollars cheaper.) The zip line and Sky Coaster rides are extra. If you are even more adventurous, you can climb the gorge with Via Ferrata.
The gondola rides are conditional based on the weather (if it gets too windy they stop the ride). We didn’t want to miss the gondolas, so we headed over there first. There was a bit of a line, but with 6 cars (3 each way) it moved fairly quickly. They were putting each family group in their own gondola, so you weren’t riding with strangers. It was a smooth ride, no real bumps or jostling. It was crazy to see how deep the gorge was. We could also see the train moving along the bottom of the gorge next to the Arkansas river. Once on the other side, they disembarked passengers one car at a time for social distancing. (Sidenote: They claim the gondolas are the longest single span aerial gondolas in America, and the bridge is the highest suspension bridge in North America.)
On the other side of the gorge, we walked around for a little bit. There was a playground (we didn’t go on, too many little kids), some food options, and a stage where a band was getting ready to play. The only audience waiting for the show to start were the big horn sheep who were munching on the grass. We watched the gorge’s history video at the Plaza Theater and then walked the bridge. The original aerial tram and incline burned in a wild fire in 2013. The gondolas replaced the tram. There is no incline anymore, although the track is still there. It looked really cool, so I hope they bring it back.
Tiny red dots are people zip lining, 1 of the gondolas (we were in the other), kid area/playground
We walked over the bridge to get back to the parking lot/Visitor Center side of the gorge. I had been here many years ago as a kid (maybe when I was 12?). There were definitely wind gusts still and some swaying, but not as bad as I remember. I think the kids enjoyed seeing it.
We walked around Old Colorado Springs for a little bit today. There are a few cute stores down there!
We stopped at a bakery (La Baquette) and of course got a baguette and some croissants. Next we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got a chocolate covered apple (The best part was how they sliced it! I loved that option. It makes it much easier to eat/share.), a piece of dark chocolate toffee (this one was really good!), and a pecan bear (a turtle).
Next we headed to Bear Creek park. Ben finally got to try out his hammock that he got for his birthday. He has been missing relaxing in his hammock chair that he had at the house. Since we bought the hammock, there hasn’t been anywhere to hang it. However, when we were driving around exploring a few days ago, we saw this park. It has the perfect hammock trees, as evidenced by the multiple hammocks in use.
He relaxed and I took the boys on an obstacle course. It was a little overgrown in spots, but they had a blast. We finished it off with the boys kicking around the soccer ball. We headed off when some rain moved in.
The boys needed to stretch their legs. By that I mean I needed to wear them out a little bit. They had too much pent up energy, which is never good in 400 SF.
I found a walking/hiking area not too far from our campsite, the Red Rock Canyon Open Space. There are a few different trails in the park. It had two parking lots, one with a portalet.
It was 91 degrees F when we went hiking. We wore our sunscreen and hats, plus brought our water bottles. AllTrails app didn’t pick up on the trails until we were at the park, although I’m not sure why. The app at least still showed our GPS on the trails so we didn’t get too far off track.
There were several rock formations that were interesting to see. Even though it was hot in the sun, the trail did have several spots for shade from the trees and/or rocks, which made it really nice. We saw a few birds around, but no other animals. I did get to see a woodpecker looking for food in a tree, which was fun to watch. The trail was frequently lined with small flowers and cacti along the edges. There were both bikers and hikers on the trails.
At the beginning of the trail, we also saw the rare moody teenage boy. He was in the beginning stages of what we affectionately call “Trail Rage”. It doesn’t happen on every trail, but it does often come out when video games are interrupted to go on a walk/hike. There are several stages of Trail Rage: grumpiness (“Ugh, really?” is often heard.), pouting (“Why do I have to come? It’s just another dumb trail.”, or something similar.), angry face, storming off ahead and ignoring that he is with anyone else, extreme angry face, and eventually we calm back into acceptance and if we are lucky happiness.
We eventually headed back and took a shorter way to see the pond. It was beautiful! The rocks looked white towards the water and turned to red. There were a few trees and shrubbery around the edges. We didn’t get down to the water to dip our toes in, as there were people on the paths down and the boys were tired.
It was a pretty nice trail and a great walk for the day.
After an orientation session for online school in the morning, we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings today. I remember going to Mesa Verda when I was a kid, and being amazed that anyone could build on the side of a cliff. I wanted the boys to get an idea of these dwellings, but Mesa Verde was way out of our way (like 6 hours one way). I found the Manitou Cliff Dwellings while searching for things to do online.
According to their website, the dwellings were originally in McElmo Canyon. To help preserve the ruins, they moved them to their new location and reassembled the structures. They used a concrete mixture to reassemble so that people could walk through the buildings.
Entrance was $33.08 for the three of us. It doesn’t take a long time to walk through the dwellings, maybe an hour. Although they are amazing, they won’t take your breath away quite as much as Mesa Verde. However, if you can’t make it to Mesa Verde, these are still historical ruins and a great history lesson. The boys actually enjoyed it and Nick read a few of the signs.
There is an inside museum, as well, in the visitor center. The boys read about baskets, water containers, weapons, and pottery. Nick liked learning that they smothered the fire in the kiln with horse manure to get the black color on the pottery.
We ran to Walmart for a few items.Once back at the campground, we did a load of laundry and went swimming in the evening. It was amazing because we had the pool all to ourselves! We discovered that Will has finally passed me up. The beginning of summer, I still had a little height on him, but it looks like he finally eeked past me a little bit.
I have a YouTube video of our walkthrough at the Cliff dwellings.
