(Sorry for the slow updates, been having some internet problems uploading photos!)
We slept in a bit before getting up to start our day with the ever lovely free hotel breakfast. It was starch a rrific.
We went back to Arches where we were greeted by the same ranger as the day before. And strangely enough, she said the exact same thing! “Hello, welcome to Arches. Oh, wow, one of the new annual park passes! We’re not allowed to sell those yet, I thought you could only get them on the internet!” We joked that she was a robot as we drove up the road.
There were a few more arches we wanted to hit before we left the park, so we headed over to The Windows Trail first which had North Window, South Window, and Turret Arch.
North Window
South Window
North and South
Turret Arch
When we were looking at Turret Arch, this funny, little Asian man accosted us and asked if we wanted him to take our photo. If he wasn’t with his family, I would think he was weird but instead I thought he was cute.
Turret means a small tower that projects vertically.
After that hike, we headed over to Double Arch which would be our last one at the park. It turned out to be this massive, beautiful arch that was criss crossed, hence the name.
Rubber Chicken loves Double Arch
This one gives you an idea of how big it is! Where’s Greg?
Found these in the parking lot
One last shot
Next we were en route to Albuquerque, New Mexico to get our hot air balloon ride! We drove through Colorado and some of its small towns.
This one looks like a tourist trap
Since we had missed the Utah sign when we first went there, here it is
And on the other side
On our drive, we ran into a herd of cows and their cowboys.
We saw Mesa Verde National Park on the map and decided to hit it up after reading the description in the AAA tour book. It contains a number of pueblo communities that were built by the Anasazi people hundreds of years ago.
Getting into the park turned out to be an adventure in itself. There were signs at the visitors’ entrance saying that you needed to have snow tires or chains before going up the mountain. We drove slow, slow, slowly up and at some point I had to give the wheel over to Greg since he has the experience driving in icy conditions and I am a California girl through and through.
When we finally got to the top (~6200 ft), we were still in time for the last tour of the day. In the winter, you can go on this particular trail on your own but during the winter, it’s ranger led. It seems really awesome when it’s not snowing because you’re allowed to just go down all these trails and climb around.
The ranger who led the tour was this burnt out hippie named Craig. He’d punctuate everything with “man!” As in, “Yea, you have to be really careful going down that mountain, man!” He was really funny, could tell a joke one second and be completely serious the next when talking about native people.
The black stuff is from the fires they used to burn
We literally got to go up to the pueblo ruins and take photos as well as go into a kiva. A kiva is an underground room accessed by going down a ladder where they performed ceremonial rituals and whatnot.
Down to the kiva
We left the tour a little bit early because Craig had told us about this one main loop that was worth driving and stopping at 3 overlooks. We were in a race against time!
This one was big, I forget how many rooms though
We saw some Indian dudes who had their car stuck in a ditch. We think they lost control of their car and slid into the ditch. Bummer deal, man. We asked if we could help so they asked us for “plow” which I assumed was a shovel. They said a ranger had already been by and was calling a tow truck to come help them out.
The way down was a little scarier than the way up but of course Greg did a great job and we got out alive. The sunset was really pretty though as we were coming down.
We got into Albuquerque (“the quirky”) quite late that evening. It was strange coming into a city again although I’m not sure I would call it a city. We found our cozy, little place, The Monterey Motel. Apparently the lady (I think she was Russian from Greg’s reenactment of her accent) had stayed up waiting for us as we were the last guests to arrive. Another couple had called asking if they could reserve a room for the night and she told them yes as long as they got there before midnight since that was when we were arriving.
It was a funny, little hotel. The sheets were not your typical hotel white but had print on them. I felt like I was staying over my aunt’s house in her guest room or her basement. The room was heavily 80s but it was clean plus it was kind of quaint because it felt like a mom & pop shop. Either way, we were bound for the hot air balloon ride in 6 hours so it didn’t matter too much!
Lots more pictures at the album!
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