Mesa Verde Trip With Ashley

It is tradition for the fourth graders in our area to go on an over night trip to Mesa Verde for their end of the school year field trip. The only way I was letting Ashley go on an overnight trip was to volunteer as a chaperon. I was a little apprehensive about the idea of being on a bus crammed full of loud and rambunctious ten year olds. I had heard horror stories of puking on the bus from parents that had gone in the past so I was very relieved when I was asked to follow the bus in my vehicle with all of the food and supplies and some of the other parents. At the last minute the fourth grade teachers decided to charter a private bus and all of the parents were able to fit on the bus so just me and one other mom drove in my vehicle. Every time we stopped at a rest stop and those bedraggled parents would get off the bus, my road trip partner and I would look at each other and thank our lucky stars that we had a quiet, spacious, air conditioned car all to ourselves!

Mesa Verde is a MUST SEE!! The whole time Ashley and I kept commenting how we wished the rest of our family was here to see such breathtaking views and incredible ancient architecture. The ancient Indians who built these structures were geniuses! We will most definitely be coming back as a family! The picture above is called a Keeva. It was like a church and is still considered sacred ground. The guides were incredible and were so good with the large number of kids and all of the questions they had.








Ashley going underground

All of the openings that look like windows are, in fact, doorways. The average man was the same height as our fourth graders. Me and my fattiness would have towered over those little people!
Ashley's hat that she packed was way too small for her and just sat on top of her head! It annoyed her so bad!

It was incredible to see dwellings made inside of cliffs!

Cliff Palace

She might be a bit handicapped but you gotta love her!

It was so much fun to have one on one time with Ash. She is such a goof (I don't know where she gets it!) and made me laugh!

She insisted on wearing my hat on our second day since she had to suffer such humiliation of wearing her tiny purple one. Lucky for me, Mike had left his hat in the car or I would have been stuck with the goofy purple one...Oh the things you do for your kids!

A blue collared lizard bathing in the sun

What a view!

There were a whole bunch of latters to climb through out the park. One latter was forty feet straight up!!!

This is our half of the fourth graders and some of the parents. One of the dads in the back wore an I♥ Beaver shirt the WHOLE trip...so classy! We had to split up in two groups because the tours were limited to certain numbers of people. We would separate for the different tours and then meet up at the end of the day and go to the museum and then we all spent the night in a gym of a local elementary school in Cortez, CO, which I hope never to repeat again in my life! I don't think the poor teachers got a wink of sleep. A few kids got sick in the night and the splatter of puke could be heard as if it was happening right next to you! Luckily I had packed a flashlight and even luckier, I was not the sucker who had to clean up vomit by flashlight!

This was a tunnel you had to climb through in order to get to Balcony house (I think it was Balcony House but it could have been Cliff Palace.) Now keep in mind that the people that made this tunnel were the size of children so imagine my anxiety at the thought of getting my chubby body through there! I had to take off my backpack and scooch through at an angle and the whole time I wishing for a cube of butter or some crisco to make the job of getting through that tunnel easier!

After our second day at Mesa Verde My driving buddy, Shirley, and I snatched up our kids plus I got verbal permission to take Ashley's bestie, Hanna, home with us. On the way to Mesa Verde we drove into Utah through Monticello and Moab and on the way back we decided to drive through Delores, the San Juan Nat. Forest and Uncompahgre Nat. Forest (where I took the above picture.), Telluride, Montrose, and Delta. I have never been down in that part of Colorado and I am dying to get back down there to do some serious camping! It is beyond breathtaking and so picturesque!!!

If you find yourselves in need of a vacation I highly recommend taking some time to go down to Mesa Verde! I can't wait to go again! Maybe I will chaperon again in a year when Mikie is a fourth grader.