We drove to Dillion in four days, the first stop was Carlsbad Caverns to see the bats, we were not supposed to take any pictures of the bats, but a quick search on youtube for 'Carlsbad Bats' brings up a bunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLufIO5fZ6o
We left at five in the morning to be sure we got to Carlsbad before nightfall, we made it with about 3 hours to spare... There was time to do the scenic overlooks that I had never seemed to have the time to stop for.
The third stop is some old Indian caves and a small lake
The last stop before the top is a small hike to the top of a hill that has a great view
The entrance to the caverns:
Leaving there is a little shop with some aliens, being so close to Roswell there are aliens everywhere
The trading post nearby had some neat pictures:
We ate at a French Restaurant called Yellow Brix,
The second day we went into the caverns, one of my favorite stalactites is the tiger tail:
We were in Roswell the day before the guy jumped off a balloon to break the sound barrier
One of the biggest scrapbook stores in the world is in Roswell...
Then we hoofed it over to Albuquerque to see the Balloon Fiesta, there were probably more than 200 balloons in the air. If you go it is worth it to see the first balloons at dawn that light up in the dark.
We took a Left Turn at Albuquerque to go through Jemez Springs, and then on to Valles Caldera, which is an active volcano that has not erupted for 40,000 years. There are hot springs all around this area of NM.
We made a stop at RoseMarie's house in the mountains, the view is spectacular there.
We had to go through Los Alamos just to say we have been through Los Alamos. They do have a checkpoint that you have to stop at before you get there. After Los Alamos is some of the most hair raising roads on a cliff on the trip so far, there was one spot where the guard rail was almost gone
We took a scenic route through Chama, it had a nice rail station. There were some nice view through the rockies.
Third night stay was in Alamosa, A little college town in Southern Colorado.
On the way to Dillion the last day, we stopped in Leadville, which is an old mining town that used to mine for lead, until they found silver. Now the mines are shut down and they have a nice Mining museum and a great pizza place.
They had a mac in the museum ;)
We took a short hike to the old Dillion Reservoir, which would have been prettier if it had water in it, but it still had some nice views.
A short drive to Denver to the Art Museum and the Science museum was neat. The kids favorite exhibit was the Egyptian Mummies.
Playing in the river was a highlight of the trip!
Thursday we took a trip to the Hanging Lake hiking trial near Glennwood springs. Just the drive was worth a lot of views, but the hanging lake is quite something to see if you can make the ascent.
Had to stop at the Blue Moose Pizza in Vail on the way back to Dillion
Picture of the Condo
Coming home, we went through Breakenridge to go over the Continental divide.
The first town after the continental divide is Alma, which claims to be the highest town in the United States. Also the town of South Park is there with appropriate decorations on the highway.
We went through Divide and Bust that go right by Pikes Peak.
Right past Pueblo Colorado was a big concrete plant and there was a Vestes Plant that makes windmill parts.
We stayed in Amarillo for the night, it was a bigger town than I expected. The next day we went through Lubbock to get to Wilson to look at the mote factory, which was really interesting. And on the way back looked into Ingrid's Rug Factory in Paint Rock.