Robby and I were awake around 7 this morning. We quickly walked the dogs before waking up the kids. We weren't in too much of a hurry, but we did want to leave at a decent time. I'm glad we did leave when we did because the weather was fairly decent while we were out and not blazing hot. This afternoon in the camper, we could tell that it was warm outside because the air in the front was struggling to keep up because of the windows.
We about a mile from the entrance of the Colorado National Monument. I was disappointed at the entrance because we couldn't buy a park pass-it is the 115 birthday of the National Parks today so there was no admission. I wanted to buy the pass, use it, and count the $25 from today's fee towards our total of money saved by buying the pass. The park is beautiful; we even discussed why is the Grand Canyon the most popular of the National Park places when there are so many other just as pretty sites.
We had just began the climb up the hill when we turned the curve, and there was a big horn sheep on the side of the road. We slowed down and snapped quite a few pictures before our next stop. We were a few minutes before the visitor center opened, so we pulled off into the park campground to check it out.
Robby said that the camper could make it up the hill, but I'd prefer for it to stay on level ground. We would even be able to fit in a few of the spots size wise-though after seeing the spots I'm not too sure. However, we do enjoy being able to plug up and those sites didn't have any of those amenities. However, the view on some of them were excellent.
At the campground, we walked around a short nature trail, Window Rock Nature Trail. We had actually just stopped for someone to go to the bathroom, but after a bit of exploring, we decided to do the trail too. Then it was on to the visitor's center.
We watched the video, and I tell you even just the room that they show park movies in makes me sleepy. I was struggling to stay awake listening to the man talk about the video before he started it. And it was a good movie, but gracious I guess I'm used to listening to everything in 2x speed because the video could have been sped up a good bit. I suggested that we leave in the middle, but Robby said that we were almost done.
We bought a postcard and a sticker for the camper before turning in our Jr. Ranger book. Whitman has helped me on some of them, but since even adults can do the books, I did most of them this year. I would turn them in myself, but Whitman went with me and before we knew it, he was being sworn in as a Jr. Ranger, and it took forever. The man was thorough and wanted to talk about every page, and every page was completed.
We went to Otto's Trail next. John Otto pretty much founded the Colorado National Monument and made most of the trails. He even suggested that the park be named Smith National Park because it draw lots of Smith families to come and see it. It was just a short little trail, but gracious the views were impressive.
From there, we continued driving over Canyon Rim Road. We stopped at quite a few overlooks. The prettiest part of the park was definitely the beginning. However, the end of the park put as in the town of Grand Junction which had a ChickFilA.
The plan had originally been to eat CFA for supper tonight, but since we were in the town, we had our lunch there. We wanted to the try the waffle sandwiches. They were good, but too pricey to buy regularly. Keaton and Whitman just had nuggets though Keaton wanted to try it but was afraid she wouldn't like it.
After CFA we stopped at the post office in Fruita before going back to our campsite. The puppies were happy to see us-we left Marley in her kennel, and we also left Bentley's food out for her to eat. She doesn't always eat, and she will not eat if Marley is around because Marley will snatch it all up. Bentley had not eaten, but she had taken Marley a few pieces of food-she didn't get them in the kennel, but she had laid them close by the kennel door. Maybe she was buying nice or maybe she was taunting Marley.
We had a lazy afternoon-Robby worked and did the laundry, I napped and did math with Campbell, Cambpell and Keaton also napped before doing their school work, and Whitman, who has never been a napper, played on his ipad before doing his school work.
Around 5 everyone had some supper, and then we loaded up to go and eat some gelato from the Fruita Gelato Company. It was really good-Robby and I had birthday cake and chocolate. Whitman had vanilla while Campbell had chocolate. Keaton saved her dessert for a Starbucks drink at our next stop. Keaton did want to buy a tote bag from the store-she really debated it, and then decided not to. However, tonight she is regretting not buying the bag. I told her that Grannymom could help her make it, so they might have another project coming up soon.
After picking up our snacks, we headed back to the Colorado National Monument to watch the sunset. On the way, much to Campbell's delight, we saw more big horn sheep. Then we stopped at Independence Monument View where we didn't watch the sunset-we couldn't really see the sun setting, but we could see the sun changing the colors of the landscape, and it was super pretty.
Then it was back down the mountain, where we saw more big horn sheep on the way down. In the camper tonight, Whitman showered, I emptied the trash, Robby unhooked most things, Campbell and Keaton straightened. Then we took the dogs on a walk before playing a game. Now, it is my shower time, plus bedtime for this sleepy crew.
