Chasing Life

 Day 18 Colorado We spent almost all of today skiing at Wolf Creek (the kids' second time ever). Everyone enjoyed it and improved a lot. Alana stuck to the green circles (because of her bad knee), but everyone else briefly tried out a black diamond and plenty of blue squares. After finally leaving the hill, everyone was exhausted and sore during the drive to our hotel in Durango.

 Day 17 Utah, Colorado This morning we decided to drive to Mesa Verde National Park. Along the park road, we encountered some slippery snow and tried shoe skiing on it. We drove around a loop that had several pueblos and kivas, including pit houses, multi-story buildings, and cliff dwellings. After leaving the park, we drove to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and tried out the free hot springs along the river. They were very relaxing, and we were sweating even in the 17-degree weather. Before we left, Kade dunked his hair in the water and it froze into spikes. After the hot springs, we drove on snowy mountain roads, through Wolf Creek Pass, to our lodging in Monte Vista. Our room was Mule Deer themed, and had antlers, figurines, and other decorations scattered throughout the room.

  Day 16 Utah Our plan this morning was to see Arches National Park, but it was closed because of snowy/icy roads, so we instead drove to the north entrance of Canyonlands National Park. That too was closed because of the weather, and we then drove to the south entrance of Canyonlands (called Needles). It was open so we drove the length of the road, then turned around and drove back to Arches, which had finally opened. We stopped at Double Arch, and the South (or North, we don’t know) Window Arch. At Double Arch, we saw someone proposing, and were able to send them some great pictures. We took many pictures of the spectacular sunset, while there, and driving to the end of the park. We spent the night in Moab again, because it was too late to drive.