Read more about the article Colorado National Monument – Grand Junction

Colorado National Monument – Grand Junction

Just south of Grand Junction lies Colorado National Monument. Never heard of it? You’re not alone. A few years ago, residents declined the opportunity to convert it to a national park. The reason? It would spoil this quiet, pristine area with traffic and tourists.

Also, the name is a misnomer as I thought it would be a single, man-made monument like the Washington Monument in DC. Instead, it is an area of red rocks, canyons and the Colorado River Valley.

The Coke ovens
The Coke ovens

And unspoiled it is. We drove the 23-mile Rim Rock Drive from the east entrance (just south of Grand Junction) to Fruita, where we hooked back on to I-70. The late afternoon sun glimmered on the rocks creating spectacular scenery. Since there was no traffic on the two-lane road, it only took 45-60 minutes out of trip. Highlights included the Coke Ovens, Balanced Rock and Independence Monument – all formed by erosion with views of Book Cliffs on the horizon. (more…)

Read more about the article Colorado & Utah (Including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Rocky Mountain National Parks) Itinerary

Colorado & Utah (Including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Rocky Mountain National Parks) Itinerary

I wanted to go somewhere that didn’t look just like home. For several years I had been researching the Grand Canyon, but flights were expensive. After talking to a friend who did a 2-week tour of the national parks, we came up with this 5-day itinerary. The focus was on the three Utah parks – Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef and we made Moab our base. The nearest airports are Salt Lake City and Denver. Since Denver was significantly less expensive and we’d get to explore some of Colorado, we chose that route. It sounds like a lot, but it worked and was the perfect amount of time. One more day and everyone would be getting cranky. Here’s our Utah and Colorado itinerary. Be sure to click on the hyper-links for detailed posts on each place. (more…)

Read more about the article Washington DC & Virginia Itinerary (Including Shenandoah National Park)

Washington DC & Virginia Itinerary (Including Shenandoah National Park)

In 2013, our vacation plans called for a week-long trip to Washington DC and Virginia as soon as school ended in May. In retrospect, we should have waited a few days. After picking up our kids directly from school on their last day, we stopped in Charlotte to have dinner with some friends and then drove as far as Durham, NC that night. Colonial Williamsburg was crowded when we arrived around 11:30 the next day (which also happened to  be the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend). By the time we got to DC on Sunday afternoon, everyone was tired and cranky. We learned a very valuable lesson – give our kids at least a day or two to unwind from the school year before going on a week-long trip! (more…)