You would think that after being up at 2am that we would have decided to sleep in. At least the kids were finally sleeping peacefully together. To bad this isn’t what it was like all night:
THE MIRACULOUS TICKETS
Unfortunately, there would be no sleep for us adults. Today, we were driving and touring the Long House at Mesa Verde at 2pm. According to our exact calculations we had almost no time to spare, especially if Four Corners was open. We were hoping, despite warnings that it was likely closed, that we could just jump out, stand on all four states and leave. We didn’t need any of the official tour information or gift shops.
For Mesa Verde, Mom the Great had gotten up early 14 days before our visit and attempted to buy tour tickets at the exact moment when they went on sale. However, as she tried to log in using my account things went horribly wrong. She could not remember the password. That morning, she frantically tried to wake me, but by the time she got logged in it was too late. The booking screen looks something like this (excuse the wrong dates but this example is from today):
A day later, when I looked to see if we just got the wrong day, the system was really messed up. The most popular tour, the Cliff Palace, was closed due to construction. The other tours showed NA, and the few that showed availability showed 0 tickets. They should have just showed not available. I called, trying to weasel my way into getting more information and to see if maybe the system was broken, or they were in the process of changing things. I was able to gather a little information, such as one of the sites that said it would be available would never be available. However, nothing helped get tickets. We had given up.
Randomly, on another day at lunch, I decided to check as we knew if we didn’t get tickets then we would not get to see much. As it so happens the Long House tour (2nd most popular tour) was available the exact moment I checked. We quickly booked, praying it was real and not a computer glitch. Within 5 minutes, all the tickets were gone, but we had managed to snag a reservation.
THE DRIVE
As we drove the car down the highway we enjoyed the scenery, even if it looked similar to what we had seen before.
FOUR CORNERS
When we arrived at four corners, we passed the main entrance! I forced Mom the Annoyed to turn around. Tween the Blog Master and I snapped some quick photos to prove we were there and onward we journeyed.
As we got closer to Mesa Verde the landscape changed a little. We saw weird hills with caps and large rock formations jutting out of the ground. I am pretty sure it was an Alien tombstone, but we didn’t have time to check it out as we were running short on time.
The more we drove, the more we realized how tight the schedule would be. While we had made up some time due to Mom’s quick driving, we still needed to have lunch. Thinking ahead, we called the place Mom had picked out, but found out they were closed! I quickly found a new place, despised by Tween the Picky because it was Mexican food and she had suddenly decided that she could not eat anything from a Mexican restaurant. This was not a great time to make this decision, given we were in the southwest. However, Nachos, Quesadilla, Burrito were now taboo. When we arrived at the new restaurant we knew it was a quality place because they had a sign that said it was real:
To save time, I ordered ahead and the restaurant was great at having the food prepared. We grabbed the food to go and ate it in the car to save time. Since Tween the Picky wouldn’t eat, but we had no time to find anything else, we forced a quesadilla down her throat by holding open her mouth and shoving it down. Whoops, that was just how I thought we should do it. In reality, we just used threats, but it sure felt like we needed to do all that work.
WE ARRIVE
As we entered the park, we took a quick detour to grab junior ranger booklets at the entry visitor center (just before you actually enter the park). The kids really like getting the ranger badges after filling out the booklet. It also helps them learn about the national parks. While there, we talked to the ranger to see if the Long House tour was worth the trip as it is in an entirely isolated part of the park. He insisted we go, told us we could make the main part of the park after (which we thought we wouldn’t have time to do), and told us we needed to hurry as it is a long drive.
As we piled back into the car, Dad the Crazy Driver took control of the wheel. As we entered the park, we realized the drive would be challenging.
We looked up and up and up and the road never seemed to end. Cars were seemingly driving along cliff roads with hair pin turns. As dad raced around the curves and up the hills Backseat Super Cop (otherwise known as Rocket Monkey and Marshmallow) emerged. I was continuously told how unsafe my driving was. “Dad, the speed limit is only 35 and you are driving 45.”, “Dad, you are speeding”. “Dad, you are still going faster than the speed limit. I can see the sign”, “Dad, you are a really unsafe driver”. I tried changing the display so she could not see me committing a crime, but to no avail. I only hoped there was no cops as it would be hard to pretend I didn’t know what I was doing when a 7 year old in the back seat tells the cop everything I was did. wrong. Maybe she cared so much because she was getting sick? I used my standard expression just in case, “If you are going to throw up, make sure you turn towards your sister or mom and not me. Maybe she was freaked out because we were driving on the peak with deathly plunges on either side? Either way, my goal was to make the Long House tour on time.
Somehow, we survived. It was probably because I closed my eyes the entire time (joke… I was driving). Not only did we arrive, but we were early. We sat at the waiting area for a bit, admiring the bugs. The tour began with a nice easy (cough cough) stroll down switch backs that hugged the cliffs.
As we rounded the corner, the prize was in view. We could see the Long House. The tour was cool. We learned how the Pueblo Native Americans lived. I personally think they were crazy as this seemed like a really difficult area to live in. At night, when you need to go to the bathroom if you take one wrong step you plummet to your death. What a real crappy way to die. Get it? Crappy way to die (obligatory Dad joke).
We got to see the Kivas that they lived in, climb ladders, and learn about how South was a very important direction. It was so important they had a stone and other devices to know which way was south. Picky Tween and Back Seat Cop seemed to really enjoy it.
As we walked back to the car, we realized how high up we were. The switchback nearly killed us. By the time we got to the top I was sucking air and we wall stopped to take a break. It was at this point that Mom the Fearful was probably conjuring up images of what the drive down all those hills would be like. We had made it to an elevation that was as high as 8500 feet. I am not sure we have ever used the low gears in the car, but we would use them extensively as we drove through the park.
On the way back to the parking lot we looked for wild horses. We saw a lot of horse poop, but no horses. We arrived just as the rangers were leaving and were unable to get the junior ranger badges. They were literally all loading into a car, but the kids got confused when I told them to run to the rangers. After the Long House, we made our way to the main part of the park to see the Cliff Palace (from a viewpoint) and, the Spruce Tree House, and other sites. These were all pretty amazing to see.
As we worked our way down, we were hoping we could catch the ranges in the main visitor center to get the junior ranger badges. However, Mom the Fearful did not drive as crazy as Dad. The Back Seat Cop was very appreciative of the careful driving. About half way down, since she was being so cautious, the Pueblo Gods decided to make it more challenging by making it rain. We knew it was the gods because we were in a desert, and it rained. It was either that or we were in a Wild E. Coyote movie. We also saw what looked like pyramids, so maybe it was Aliens.
Mom the Cautious turned into Mom the Brilliant. As we passed through the exit gate she suddenly made a sharp u-turn and headed towards the entrance gates. I thought she had suddenly found her love of roller coasters and wanted to do the park ride one more time, but she stopped at the gate nd asked the ranger if he had any junior ranger badges. Amazingly, he did!
The ranger took one look in the car and came up with the perfect vow. “Do you promise to take care of Mesa Verde park? Do you promise to help look after all national parks? Do you promise not to fight with your sister in the back seat?” Mom the Brilliant and I looked at each other and then simultaneously gave the ranger a thumbs up. If only he could enforce the vow.
As we left the park, it was time for dinner. However, once again, the preplanning failed. The restaurant was closed. I quickly found what seemed like a decent alternative. It had numerous vegetarian options listed and seemed like it would be a good choice for us. The food ended up being ok. Even though we were in a rush as we still had a long drive ahead of us, and even though we didn’t order anything exotic, it was the slowest dinner we have ever had. After 25 minutes of sitting at the table we had to ask if there was someone who was going to come serve us. Mom was in new mood to wait. She growled and grumbled and wanted to leave. However, just as she started to look or we talked about leaving we would make the next step from getting a waitress, to ordering food, to getting the food. It was like having a bunch of small cliff hangers all in a row. After about 1hr and 45 minutes we were finally back on the road. We arrived late at the hotel, but we had successfully navigated one of the most time sensitive days on the trip!
