Day 16-17: The LONG DRIVE HOME

We left for Michigan from Colorado at 8am on Saturday morning. We drove all day through Kansas. . It was plain, no trees, and even worse than Ohio. We stopped in Kansas City, Missouri (misery). As soon as we pulled in we went to the pool because it was so so hot. Then we had icecream.

We got up early on Sunday and drove all the way through five states: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. We played on our tablets ALL  DAY except for short post card and ukelele breaks and to finish our blog.

Here are our ratings on the trip.

Charlie   4 stars because we had really cool things to do BUT there were long drives

Molly    100 stars because we went on an ATV ride, rafting and a bunch of cool stuff

Dad        4.5 stars because it was jam packed with fun stuff but so many fun things that we may have worn out the family

Mom       4 stars  everything went almost exactly as planned BUT the tornado was a bit much.

Day 15: Pikes Peak, the Old West and Cliff Dwellings

Today we did all kinds of things.

First, we went to an Old West museum. We learned how to shoot guns and we panned for gold.

Then we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings where we learned about native Americans called Anzasis and they were tiny! Charlie would be taller than all the adults. They were Molly's size.

We ended the day by driving up to Pike's Peak. Mom was scared to death because dad kept pretending to swerve off the edge. We saw a bunch of yellow bellied marmots and bighorn sheep. 

Day 14: White Water Rafting

Unfortunately, we don't have many pictures of this day, but overall rafting was the one of the most fun thing swe did on the whole trip.

We got up and drove to Canon City for rafting. First we got geared up in wetsuits and helmets. Then we rode a bus to get to the river. During the bus ride we got a explanation about safety. It made Molly scared because he was making her worried that she woudl fall out of the raft. Mom was worried too.

Once we got in the raft, it was so exciting. We even jumped out of the boat and got in the water! I hope we can do it again.

Afterwards, we had pizza. One other thing we did that day was get sworn in as junior rangers for the state park. This time before we took our oath the ranger even quizzed us with some exceedingly hard questions!

Day 13: Colorado!

First we went to a gold mine called the Mollie Kathleen Mine because it was named after a lady that found a special rock (gold). She hid it until she could stake her claim. Molly thought the mine was awesome because she got gold. Charlie thought it was spooky because we had to go down 1000 feet in an elevator and he thought we would drop to our death.

After the gold mine we went to Cripple Creek to check out the jail museum which was pretty creepy. We also fed the wild donkeys that roam the town. Apparently, when Theodore Roosevelt visited the gold mine, he ordered them to stop using donkeys in the mine and they just released them! So these are their ancestors.

Finally we went back to the campground and mom and dad had a steak dinner because it was their anniversary (we had hotdogs). Then we hiked to Grouse Mountain but we call it Gross Mountain.

Day 12: A looooong day in the car

Today we drove from Bryce Canon to Colorado. It was a long day in the car but here is what we did:

• spin the wheel (see below)
• math (charlie learned long division)
• at a lot of snacks
• watched the mountains
• had a snowball fight at a stop
• mad libs
• did NOT play on tablets because we had no internet. 

 When we finally got to Colorado we rushed to the wolf program where we met a REAL WOLF. We learned they have yellow eyes and they have been reintroduced to Yellowstone but not Rocky Mountain National Park. They would probably help control the elk population. Then we had a fire. our site was really nice.

Day 11: Bryce Canyon by Molly

Today was a long day. We went on an ATV ride. It was AWESOME. We saw a prairie dog. Charlie says we need an ATV. After that we hiked 4.5 miles. It was cool scenery and we kept going through tunnels. Charlie thought the last part was hard. I was thirsty and hungry. At then end we walked up a really steep hill that made my heart beat like a dinosaur charging at you. The Bryce Canyon one was easier because we didn't have to go to a program. Then we had lunch. We stopped at the ranger station and got sworn in as Junior Rangers again. AFter lunch we went mountain biking. At first that was fun because I basically got a new bike (we rented it) and i was riding in the woods. We saw elk, cows and a pronghorn. Unfortunately, we went the wrong way and it was a very very steep hill. It was tiring, boring, and i wanted to quit. I got like a thousand bruises. When it was all over, we found out it was TEN MILES. Charlie actually loved it until the last two miles. Dad said we bit off more than we could chew. One very good thing about mountain biking was finding Delaware. We went by a random campsite in the woods and the van there was from Delaware. Now we only need Hawaii.

Day 10: Zion to Bryce

We squeezed in one more hike for mom before we left Zion--the Watchman Trail. Mom was in heaven again. We liked it more because there was more climbing involved. Then we drove to Bryce Canyon. On the way we stopped at Red Canyon National Forest and did the most awesome hike. Mom almost died because she was so scared Molly would fall. Then we went to Bryce and the tiniest campsite ever. We went to the visitors center and booked an ATV trip for the next morning.

Day 9: Zion National Park

We got up early to hike and took the shuttle to the end of the park after a 20 minute wait. We did eight miles of hikes! Charlie did not like them at all. Molly liked the first one. Dad liked Weeping Wall. Mom was in heaven. After we hiked we went back to the pool and swam. It was cold and fun.Then we had dinner at Zion Brewery and heard some pretty terrible dinner music. Molly played bean bags with a random kid. Then we went to a ranger program so we could earn our junior ranger badges. It was very long and not our favorite but we worked hard on the other junior ranger stuff so it was worth it. Zion was definitely the hardest junior ranger badge so far.

Day 8: Bye Bye Grand Canyon!

We left Grand Canyon early and drove to Utah and Antelope Canyon. It was blazing hot and we had to wait forever. It was a very skinny canyon with lots of cool colors. It was a slot canyon because it's basically a slot in the ground. On the tour we took thousands of pictures.

 Then we drove to Zion National Park. It looked more like Montana than Utah because it was all trees and mountains. Molly saw a bighorn sheep--our first one!--and we got to drive our camper through a tunnel. When we got there there was a POOL!