Austin - Boulder (the long way...)

This has been a long, eventful leg of our trip. Our drive from New Orleans to Austin was nice and easy except for a torrential downpour, but although I was thoroughly freaked out, Jason wasn't fazed. Austin was super cute. We stayed in the private room at Hosteling International in Austin it was a great deal at $65 a night. We ate some super yummy Mexican food at Plovo's. We shopped the vintage stores on South Congress, I bought Jason a lime green plaid shirt for his birthday. It was in the high 70's but we were determined to swim at Barton Springs. It's a spring fed, non-chlorinated pool with plants and fish living happily on the bottom. We visited the Bat Bridge which was awesome, at sunset we watched 750,000 bats fly out of these little cracks under the bridge. For Jason's Birthday we went to the Salt Lick where mass quantities of BBQed meat were consumed.

After that we were off across the wide expanse of West Texas bound for Guadeloupe National Park. This campsite was nestled at the base of a mountain range that included the highest point in Texas. Our book says its one of the most beautiful and least visited parks in the system, and our experience confirms this. After that we headed North to Carlsbad Caverns. The cave is immense and you definitely get the sense that people have left their mark on this place. Between the lights and the paved walkways its very easy to experience the cave but I feel bad for being part of tainting the cave's natural state. It was spectacular but very hard to photograph, even Ansel Adams says his work in the dark was a failure.

From Carlsbad we drove up to Albuquerque to visit Jason's buddy Seth. He showed some excellent beers, eats and his amazing farm. Then the next day we made our way North and West to Mesa Verde. We found out from the ranger their camping didn't open until the following Wednesday, but it all turned out for the best because we wound up at Mancos State Park. The next morning, Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde was home to the Ancestral Puebloan people for hundreds of years but the famous cliff dwellings were built in 1200 and only inhabited for 100 years. All of the wood in the structures is original (this is how they came up with the exact age). The museum had a really beautiful collection of ceramic artifacts (may favorite is the flowery one on the right). We spent a full day here and feel like we only saw the tip of the iceberg. After our long day of climbing ladders and squeezing through tunnels it was back in the car for our 9 hour drive to Boulder.

We have spent the last two days with Steve and Aimee, relaxing, hiking, driving in Steve's baller Jeep, drinking heady brews, cooking and marveling at the beauty and general fitness of Boulder. In Tennessee we felt young and fit, in Boulder not so much.... Today we took the car to Jiffy Lube for a well deserved oil change (we have already driven over 4,000 miles). Tomorrow we are off to Ft. Collins to visit Jeremy and New Belgian Brewing Company. Then Big Sky Country!

If your in Texas, your gonna need some boots

Barton Springs

Danna nunna nunna nunna nunna, Bat Bridge! (we took a dozen  pictures of the bats flying out of the bridge  but you can't actually see the tiny super fast bats in any of them)

Birthday Salt Lick Dinner During

and after

West Texas

Its windy

These two have made it pretty far

so has Katie, she's doing her morning stretches 

Basically the Campground at Guadalupe National Park

Nightime Campground

Dawn over the desert

watch out for those killer cacti

Future Profession?

Carlsbad Caverns, an example of stalactite "drapery"

Stalactite meet Stalagmite

The "Lion's Tail"

Albuquerque with  Seth at the farm

Welcome to Colorado

Pretty typical set of wheels in Durango, CO

Campsite Mancos State Park

Colorado Jason

Mesa Verde Museum

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde built approx 1200 AD, approx 200 rooms, largest of over 5,000 archeological sites

Rabbit Bush, Katie Likes

Ladder up to Balcony House, just like the ancient puebloans

Kate drinking from the seep spring

Kiva, a ceremonial subterranean structure

mexican cat, remembering his heritage

Balcony House

the exit from Balcony House

Cliff Palace

Sandstone block, clay mortar and timber construction

Boulder, Steve and Aimee's community garden plot 

A boy and his toys

Specific Gravity, or love at first sight?