Colorado

Durango, September 4 and 5, 2012

Our first stop. 16,000 souls. 6,500 feet above sea level.
The sun shines here more than 300 days a year. There are tons of restaurants and bars.
The town brews loads of beers right on site. Forget Stella here!
A good stop for us after a week spent in Utah's parks.

Durango is a "real" American town, founded by settlers in 1881.
Workers using nothing but hand tools brought the steam railroad to Durango, carving huge passages through the mountains around town: a true titanic effort!

Today the town still remembers it, and for good reason: the steam train between Durango and Silverton is still running. In fact, it's become the town's tourist business.

In 2004, Robert Zemeckis modeled this train for the famous "The Polar Express", one of the first animated movies made in 3D. Almost 10 years ago already!
Since riding it is out of the question (way too much for our budget), we choose to spend 2 nights at the United Campground in a prime spot: the railroad tracks run right through the campground and we get a front-row site. Twice a day, the kids enjoy the show, hands over their ears because the noise is... deafening!
We also visit the railroad museum, free for us (nice!) and really well done.

Near Silverton is the famous Old Hundred Gold Mine, a gold mine with a little train to get in, where former miners tell you the story of the gold rush and lend you the gear to try your luck.
Alex had already promised his mom "a nugget in a little box with a cushion inside, you know, like for rings."
The kids are raring to go: up at 6:30, dressed by 6:45, "we're going to find gold!"

So we take the Million Dollar Highway, one of the most "expensive" roads in the United States, given how much ore was buried during its construction!

The problem is, the parents are a little (well, a lot, actually) fed up with kiddos trashing the camper on every drive.
This time we warn them: "It's 30 miles to the mine. If you don't calm down, we're turning around!"
"No way, they actually did it!" This time the parents held firm, and 3 kids missed out on the gold mine — 3! Huge, huge disappointment, followed by whispered score-settling in the back of the camper: "It's your fault! No, it's yours!"
As for the parents, we hope they'll learn their lesson (for at least 2 days).

Mesa Verde National Park, September 6, 2012

Apparently Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is awesome.
On the agenda: exploring 12th-century Native American cliff dwellings.

One of the best-known sites is Cliff Palace, 150 rooms tucked under a huge alcove in the cliff, reached by steps cut right into the rock and wooden ladders propped against the cliff face over the drop!
That's where we're headed. Unfortunately, for a few years now you can no longer wander freely through the dwellings (so says a tourist who was here back in 2000).
So we sit through a 45-minute talk facing the cliff village — very interesting for the parents (less so for the kids, the English was too technical...).

Luckily the kids had the famous Mesa Verde JUNIOR RANGER booklet in hand, determined to be on their best behavior this time. And one more JUNIOR RANGER badge — yay!
We found the self-guided visit to Spruce Tree House (right behind the museum) much more interesting, and above all more fun.
Here we can climb down inside an ancient structure and really get up close to the dwellings.
The vultures are watching for the slightest sign of fatigue on the kids' faces so they can devour them, but a bit like us, they quickly realize it's a lost cause!
That night we sleep at a really nice campground in the park, with several deer grazing freely around us.

Monument Valley road, September 7, 2012

On Route 163 in Utah, Henri suddenly feels like taking a back road (Note to Anne Pascale and William: not the one in Gruson).

After putting KIFONS through its paces on the road of death, here we are on a dirt track that takes us to the foot of the famous Mexican Hat.
KIFONS pitched and rolled. Up, down, right, left. We're not feeling too brave aboard our house on wheels on this 4x4-only road.
We reach amazing landscapes. So glad we pushed on along this gorgeous track.
Who spotted the Mexican Hat in the photos?!?!