July 13th- Mesa Verde

Hi All,

Time is flying out here. Our days go by quickly, but are not too packed with things. We have tried to pace things out and take time to enjoy things.
On Saturday night, we had pulled into Glen Canyon National Park and Lake Powell. It almost looks like a movie set. A beautiful blue/green lake surrounded by vermilion (red) cliffs and canyons. Amazing. On Sunday, we headed to the coves to swim. We spent all of the morning and a few hours of the afternoon just lazing about, swimming in the 79 degree water. The kids loved it. It was soo nice to be near the water because it was probably 100+ degrees anywhere else. Mid-afternoon, we took a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. That is a pretty impressive structure. We took an elevator 500 feet down into the dam where the water temperature kept the place at 65 degrees. That felt good after being in the sun most of the day. This dam is the 4th largest in the country and puts out 1.5Gig Watts of power! The kids loved saying 'We are going on a dam tour!'
This campground was very different than the rest. Probably due to where we were (lake Powell being a huge boating haven), the boys with their big toys were all around. Huge RV's (40+ feet) pulling trailers with jet skis, power boats, dune buggys, etc.. Our 30' RV seemed small! Felt like I was back on the 38' boat in Newport harbor with the 100+ footers on each side.
This morning, we took a boat tour of the Navajo cliffs and Antelope canyon. Due to the heat, they had complimentary lemonade and water down below. I think our kids drank nearly all of it. Our small bladder 7 year old, spent about half of his time in the bathroom! He was never without a cup of lemonade in hand.
After one more look in the gift shop (kids favorite part of everyplace we go), we hit the road for Mesa Verde. It was a long drive- ~230 miles with a few detours for road construction and pit stops. 90% of the drive was through the Navajo Reservation.

We lost an hour heading into Colorado and so arrived here at 8:30. From what we can see of this place, it is really nice. We have a tour of the cliff dwellings first thing in the am and have also booked a trip on the Durango to Silverton railroad. It is the only remaining narrow gauge railroad left in the country- and a train ride was one of Anna's few requests.

Will try to post some pictures and an update tomorrow night.

May God bless you all!