September 2019 - Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, Moab & some more visitors
Mesa Verde
As I mentioned in my previous post, on the last day of August we headed to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. The first 600 years they lived on the mesa top, but sometime during the late 1190s, they built dwellings beneath the overhanging cliffs, probably to be closer to their source of water. The structures ranged in size from one-room storage units to villages of more than 150 rooms. While still farming the mesa tops, they continued to reside in the alcoves, repairing, remodeling, and constructing new rooms for nearly a century. By the late 1270s, the population began migrating south into present-day New Mexico and Arizona. By 1300, the Ancestral Puebloan occupation of Mesa Verde ended.
Today, Mesa Verde National Park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings for which it has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. And on top of that you get the stunning landscape of Southwest Colorado as background while you explore this Park.
The stunning landscape of Southwest Colorado
We stayed 2 nights in the campground of the National Park. The advantage of staying in a campground as opposed to backpacking, is that you can take your grill with you and prepare some decent food, ánd the availability of hot showers 😊 ... but even then I prefer the backpacking experience, just because I prefer not to share the outdoor with too many people around me.
Dinner time
There are a few dwellings in the National Park which you can only visit with a guided tour. You pay an extra $5 per person (on top of the national park entrance fee) for these tours, but it's worth it! Tours meet every half hour and last for one hour. Tickets for the tour can be purchased up to two days in advance at the Visitors Center (not online!) or the Archaeology Museum near Spruce Tree House in the Park. Some of these tours are popular, so tickets can sell out and tour groups may include 30-40 people!
We visited 2 of them: 'Cliff palace' and 'Balcony House'.
After a hearty breakfast the first day, we did 'Cliff Palace', thought to be the biggest cliff dwelling in North America. It contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas (underground rooms, likely serving a mixture of social, storage and—most importantly—religious purposes), and had a population of approximately 100 people.
The tour does include climbing up and down a number of steep sandstone steps and ascending ladders, but nothing too difficult.
After the tour we had lunch @ the Spruce Tree Terrace Cafe, where we had wine ... inside a National Park!!!😱 ... my reaction just shows how long we've been in Utah already 😇.
Afterwards we did the 'Petroglyph Point Trail', a moderate 4,2km hike where we saw petroglyphs of course, beautiful views of the Colorado landscape, ánd a very moody Willem 🙄. We almost left him there 😆! But I guess hiking with just your parents is a bit too much to ask from a teenager?
Anyway, we tried to ignore him as much as possible, and thought it was a very beautiful hike!
In the evening we moved our tents to a better spot @ the campground where we could hang our new hammocks. We made some hamburgers on our grill, had s'mores at the campfire and did some stargazing. As it was new moon (only 1% visible), it was so dark that we could even see the Milky Way. That part our teenager díd enjoy!
He loved looking at the stars that much, that he decided to sleep in his tent without the top cover.🪐
The next morning Geert and I got up early for our next guided tour, while our teenager slept in.
This time, we did the 'Balcony House' tour. With 40 rooms, Balcony House is a medium size cliff dwelling, but it's considered to be the most adventurous tour in the park because of its 32 foot ladder and tunnel you have to crawl through.
After this fun tour we returned to the campground where Willem had already packed both tents and cleaned up the complete site, so we were all ready to head back home. On our way home we stopped at Denny's in Cortez for breakfast. Denny's is a chain restaurant, mainly popular for their breakfast. We're not big chain fans, but as this one looked like a diner out of the 50s we made an exception, and I have to admit that it was ok.
The next weekend we had a dinner with friends, and 2 days later Geert left to The Netherlands for some meetings. He combined it with a short visit to friends, family ánd especially Hendrik in Belgium. He would be gone for 2 weeks, and would come back with his mom who would be staying here for 2 weeks.
While Geert was gone, I kept myself busy 😏. I started going to the gym again ... and even convinced my lazy teenager to join me:
Doesn't he look happy after our gym session 😆
I had the first book club of the season at my place, with the traditional picture that is taken after each book club 😊:
The best party of the year, given by all the companies who would like to sell their services to the F-16 fighter programs, took place while he wasn't there. Each year there's a theme to the party and we can dress up... what more do we ladies need to have fun, right?
I also had the first activity with my Energy Club. We hiked the Skull Crack Trail, to witness the Kokanee Salmon Run at Causey Reservoir. It's a very unique event, which happens once a year and only lasts about two weeks. The Kokanee salmons , which are a shade of silver, change to a fluorescent red prior to travelling upstream to spawn and hatch, after which they die. Last year they where with so many that the river was coloured red, but this year we saw maybe 30 in total. No idea why.
And the day before Geert and his mom arrived, I had a breakfast/hike/lunch with the international spouses club. We did the 'Bear Canyon Bridge trail' in Sandy, where we first had breakfast at the trailhead, and a lunch afterwards at Iris' place who lives in Sandy, a town south of Salt Lake City (we live north of Salt Lake City).
Breakfast at the trailhead
Lunch time
And meanwhile I also got 'entertained' by a wildfire really close to home. During the day it was impressive to see the helicopters fighting the fire, and during the night Willem and I sat on the porch and were in awe by the power and glow of the flames.
On Friday September 20th, Geert & his mom arrived in the morning @ SLC airport. It was more than a year ago since I saw her, but thanks to FaceTime it didn't feel like that at all!
The next day Willem had a referee game in the morning, so that left us only the afternoon to do something. To start slow, we decided to go to the farmers market in Ogden in the afternoon, where you can enjoy different types of vendors, local artists and live music.
The next day we visited the Rio Tinto Kennecot Coppermine in Salt Lake City. It had been closed for visitors for 6 years due to a massive landslide which took place in 2013, and re-opened this year in April.
As it is an active mine, you don't get to go inside the mine itself, but you do get a view on the three-quarters of a mile deep open pit, which is the largest man-made open pit excavation in the world, and it really is an impressive sight!
When you realise that the haul trucks, which look like trucks straight out of a 'Bob The Builder' ('Bob de bouwer') episode, are in fact 29 feet (8,8 meters) wide and 51 feet (15,5 meters) long, you start to get an idea of how big the pit is that you're looking at.
We were even lucky enough to witness a controlled explosion that took place inside the mine.
Yellowstone
The next day Geert left to Yellowstone with his mom for a few days. I stayed home with Willem, as he had to go to school.
Last time we visited Yellowstone (ref. post July 2019), we hardly saw any wildlife, but shortly after Geert and his mom entered the park, they already spotted a grizzly bear ... too bad I wasn't with them to record this better with my camera!
They spent 2 days at Yellowstone National Park & 1 day at Grand Tetons National Park. Ingrid, aka 'mams', loved every minute of it! They did the usual stops in Yellowstone, and as I've covered this park already a few times in this blog, I will not overload you with too many pictures (which is very difficult though, because it's just all so pretty!). Here are a few pictures of my favourite stops.
Grand prismatic spring
Morning glory pool
Mammoth hot springs
They also did Lamar Valley (NE part of the park), something we were not able to do during our previous trips, and this picture proves it is absolutely breathtaking!
At the Grand Tetons, they did part of the 'Cascade Canyon trail' which starts at Jenny Lake. I did this hike with Geert in July 2017 (ref. July 2017), but back then the trail via Inspiration point was closed, which was not the case this time.
Up to inspiration point
The majestic view of Cascade canyon
View from the boat on Jenny Lake, bringing them to the Cascade Canyon trailhead
When you travel to Yellowstone from Utah, you pass Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. So on top of all the beauty Ingrid saw during this trip, she can now also add 3 more states to her list of states she visited.
While they were gone, I had my first Bunco (typical American dice game) of the season with my American military 'family', ánd a 'photo-shoot' of one of my favourite international families. It was because of the latter that Geert didn't take my camera with him on his trip ... luckily these pictures turned out ok, so it wasn't in vain! 😅
Wednesday evening they got back home. The next day, when Geert was at work, I took her to Sill's Cafe, a local breakfast place that I love. They're known for having the best American scones in the neighbourhood 😏. Nothing like the dry English scones we know ... this one is more like a giant dutch doughnut or 'smoutebol' with honey butter on top of it 🤤.
The white ball is not ice scream, but honey butter
Afterwards we went shopping as all the grandchildren back home were expecting to get spoiled with some typical American goodies of course 😏.
In the evening we went for a hike close to home to catch the sunset.
On Friday, when Geert got back from work, we headed to Big cottonwood canyon (my favourite canyon in the Salt Lake City area) for a short hike, and took the scenic drive to Park City afterwards for a quick visit.
Evening walk at the Bonneville Shoreline close to our place
Silver lake in Big Cottonwood canyon
Silver lake is often frequented by moose ... we were not that lucky to see one, but we did get to see this cute little dude 😉:
From Silver Lake we took the scenic, but apparently dangerous, 'Guardsman Pass' to Park City.
View @ the Guardsman Pass
Park City was one of the few Utah towns established by non-Mormons. It was discovered in 1868 when soldiers, stationed in Salt Lake City, traversed the mountain from Big Cottonwood Canyon to find silver ... which they did! During the silver mining boom (late 19th century) 27 saloons existed on Park City's Main Street to "wet the whistles" of thirsty miners. This rebellious streak continues today, with Park City home to over 100 bars and restaurants. So visiting Park City without hitting one of their bars is just not done!
Roof terrace with the scenic Main St of Park City in the back
After the mining boom, Park City was almost a ghost town by 1963 when the first ski resort opened. From then on it all went upward again. More ski resorts opened and it received international fame when 40% of the Winter Olympic Games took place here in 2002.
Today it's the perfect place to enjoy outdoor activities in its gorgeous mountains during the day, and finish it off in the many bars located on its historic Main St.
Arches, Dead Horse Point & Canyonlands
As the forecast was pretty bad for the weekend, we decided to head to the South of Utah and visit Arches National Park, Death Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. 3 Parks she hadn't visited yet, and to be honest, you can't leave Utah without having done that!
I've been there already so many times since we live here, but I enjoy it every single time!
We left early Saturday morning and did the 'Double O Arch Trail' in the afternoon. Quite the accomplishment for Ingrid as she has fear of heights (much more than I do!) and although this trail isn't that hard, it does have a few exposed parts ... but she made it 👊🏻. As a result, I got really cute pictures of Geert & his mom hand in hand throughout the whole hike 😆.
On the way back, she did however hurt her back while sliding down a short, but steep part at the Double O Arch 🥴. I even caught that moment on camera:
Although she was in a lot of pain, we still did the little spur trail to Partition Arch, but there was no way we could do Delicate Arch @ sunset that day as we had planned.
Tthe gorgeous view from Partition Arch
It wouldn't have been a good idea anyway, because it was already very windy while we were hiking, but by the time we got to our AirBnB the wind had picked up and had the strength of a full blown storm! It was time for dinner anyway, for which we headed to 'La Sal House' in downtown Moab. As you already know, Utah is not known for its culinary qualities, but this restaurant proved otherwise! Best restaurant in town for sure!
The next day, the wind was still very strong, and Ingrid's back was definitely not good enough to do a real hike. So we skipped Delicate Arch all together, and limited ourselves to easy, level walks. Luckily Arches has something for everybody! We took her to the 'Windows & Turret Arch' instead.
View on the windows from Turret Arch
On the other side of the parking lot at the Windows area, there is a short trail to 'Double Arch', which also looks really pretty, but very crowded! Since we still had Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands on our agenda for that day, we merely enjoyed it from the parking lot.
Double Arch
As I said, after this we continued to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park, about 40 minutes from Arches. In both parks you have gorgeous view points which require limited or no hiking at all, which was ideal for the way Ingrid was feeling!
Since we still had a long drive home ahead of us, we only did the viewpoint at Dead Horse Point, and Green River Overlook & Mesa Arch at Canyonlands.
View at Dead Horse point
Green River Overlook
Mesa Arch
Heel leuke foto's. Groetjes aan Uw mama, Ingrid.
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