taychellewis 
Hello friends and family!
We recently took a long weekend trip to some national parks around the Colorado area over Labor Day. We needed a bit of a break from all the home renovations we’ve been doing, so it worked as an adventurous vacation.
We started our trip by flying into Denver on Wednesday around 9:30 pm, getting our rental car, and driving about an hour south to Pueblo. The next morning after breakfast we drove the rest of the way to Great Sand Dunes National Park. The view was beautiful from the visitor’s center, with the sand dunes in front of mountains.
That afternoon we drove to Farmington, NM, and had a relaxing evening with Mexican for dinner. We were tired from the long day before!
Friday morning we stopped first at Mesa Verde National Park. Without paying to take in-depth tours of the old cliff dwellings, the main thing to do is drive the road throughout the park and stop at sites and viewpoints along the way. These cliff dwellings were built into the canyon wall by Ancestral Pueblo people between AD 600 and AD 1300, and they’re pretty cool to imagine people living in. Here are some of the views.
We tried to see Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, and drove pretty far out of our way to get there, but we never passed a sign and our GPS quit working. When we did try to take a shorter route recommended by Google Maps, we ended up turning off the paved road onto a dirt road, driving a mile-long half circle past some mobile homes back onto the paved road we were originally on. Since we have the worst luck with car tires, I expected this to be the end of our happiness for the day and was waiting to hear a flat tire, but the Lord looked after us and kept our car safe. So besides the pointless detour, we made it smoothly to Arches National Park (Utah) in the afternoon!
Since Arches was infested with tourists taking silly pictures, we made it a rather quick visit and headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and our hotel in Grand Junction.
Saturday morning we visited Black Canyon National Park, drove along the South rim, and enjoyed some local food for lunch at a place called McDonalds.
In the evening after the rain passed, we saw Colorado National Monument and caught a cool rainbow there. Take a look below.
Sunday morning we made a long drive back to Denver and hung out around town until Taylor took me to a Gregory Alan Isakov concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater! This is likely the coolest concert venue I’ll ever go to, and the great music made it even better. I definitely recommend visiting here if you ever go to Denver.
To enjoy a leisurely Sunday morning before flying back home in the afternoon, we visited the Denver Botanic Gardens. I realized I need to step up my garden game.
For lunch we walked around 16th street, which has a lot of restaurants and shops to stop in, then headed to the airport. It was overall a great trip, just a little bit more relaxing than our usual trips. Much needed! Next post will be of our house after all of our renovations (or at least all the ones we’ve finished). We’re so excited to reveal what it looks like!
Love,
Taylor and Michelle
