Durango , Colorado

Today we woke up covered in snow. We knew it was going to snow, but not like this. It was about 3 inches of soft dry beautiful snow. We weren't freezing as we had a snow blanket covering the tent. It was awesome and very inconvenient at the same time. We were not prepared for snow. We don't have gloves or boots for any of us. Inara was intrigued by the snow, Brandon didn't like the cold.

The reception cafe did an all you can eat pancake breakfast so we jumped in the car, with pajamas on, and headed there. It was a busy place as the other tenters had the same idea.

We then got in the car and drove about 40 miles east to a town called Durango. It was not as high in elevation so the snow turned to rain. The kids and Josh got dressed at the bathrooms at the kids discovery Center. It was too cold to change in the tent.

We spent 2 hours or so at the kids discovery science center in town. It was busy with school students and they were all excited with many things to do. Brandon dressed up as an astronaut, made a rocket out of paper and launched it from the launching pad, built mountains and oceans in the sand topo map installation, used a bike to power up light globes and pushed the piston in and out to spin a little carousel. Inara played at being a vet, found nemo (clown fish) and blue frogs, had a go at building circuits and enjoyed the magnetic fidget spinners.

After the science adventure we took the suggestion from the staff to have lunch at Streamworks brewery. It was a big place and pretty busy for a wed afternoon. The adults split a flight of beer to get a taste of the many different selections they had. The meals were huge and delicious. The kids meals were great, and Brandon's hot dog was in a pretzel bun for something different. While having lunch the rain came down harder and really was a miserable day.

Durango, from the short visit, seems to be this rugged mountain town with endless outdoor adventure stores. There is a river that runs through the town that can be kayaked /canoed and not very far from ski mountains. The buildings in the center of town were historical looking but well looked after. It would have been nice to explore the center when it wasn't cold and dreary.

After lunch we drove around and went to the Durango mall, which consisted of maybe 10 shops. We were on the lookout for gloves for all and a pillow for Elisa, as Inara steals her pillow every night. Josh was the only one that got lucky with gloves.

We got back up to Mesa Verde National Park and stopped in to check the night weather. It was going to be a low of 28 F or -3, a few degrees colder than last night and 60% chance of snow. It wasn't snowing when we got back and the tent was as dry as it would be, so we did a mad dash, got everything packed. Elisa took the kids scootering to the laundry room, where it was dry,and warm, while Josh and his new gloves put the tent away and packed the car. Snow flurries started happening during the pack up. On the way to the sheltered laundry room, we saw 5 deer near the path. With the snow starting, it was a perfect moment.

The kids had vegemite sandwiches for dinner, as by the time we left the national park, it was 7pm. Our next destination was originally to be Albuquerque, but there was no way we could put up a tent 4 hours away at 11pm. We stopped at a town called Farmington in New Mexico at the very busy Motel 6.

The drive was easy and we saw some beautiful cloud and colorful sky's from the sunset.Read more