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Single Moms Tame The West: Colorado With Kids
Two Single moms share their tips on how to save money when taking a road trip with active kids to the Wild West of New Mexico and Colorado in a two-part FTF series.
Upon our somewhat reluctant departure from Taos, New Mexico, we drive west across an unassuming but incredible bridge that spans the Rio Grande Gorge. It's not visible until the car is almost upon it; then, suddenly, it's almost as though we're crossing the Grand Canyon on our way to Colorado.
Later, we stop in Chama for a picnic lunch at the station of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Narrow-Gauge Railroad (where a family of the tiniest, cutest field mice we've ever seen keep the boys entertained for over an hour.) Then, just past the affluent town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, we stop briefly to admire several llamas in the middle of the road--it seems they have wandered away from a llama farm just below.
Durango has Cowboys and Trains
We spend our first evening in Durango at a somewhat hokey but very enjoyable Chuck Wagon Diner that we had read about in a tourist guidebook. There, we share our barbecued chicken and baked beans with lots of other tourists and locals at long picnic tables in the open-air arena. After dark, we listen to cowboy songs and jokes performed by the "Bar-D Wranglers." Much to Ann's and my surprise, our otherwise jaded, sophisticated East Coast kids beg us to buy cassettes of the cowboy songs to take home with us.
We have also come here to ride the famous Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (800/675-6900), which we do the following morning. To keep the kids from getting bored, we opt for the railroad's bus tour on the way up to Silverton; the bus follows a winding mountain road with gorgeous views, and makes a stop along the way for the boys to do some fossil collecting. After lunch, with great excitement, we board the huge, puffing steam train for the ride back; it runs through a gorge alongside the lovely Animas River, stopping to pick up and let off an amazing number of backpackers and mountain climbers, and gradually making its precarious way up the side of a cliff on the dramatic "High Line". We ride in an open car; though we're covered with cinders and soot by the end of the trip, we have a real appreciation for the backcountry beauty of the Rockies.
Early next morning, we head west toward Mesa Verde National Park (800/449-2288). The park entrance is only about 30 miles from Durango, but the visitors' center, museum, and ruins are another 20 miles south within the park, up a steep and curving road that feels like an accomplishment in itself. Around each turn, we come upon different and spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and plains; we are amazed at how far we can see and how the landscape changes.
Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings seem more elaborate and advanced than those of Bandelier; rather than the two or three hours we had anticipated spending here, we spend the entire day, exploring the Balcony, the Cliff Palace, and the many large ceremonial fireplaces, called "kivas" (which the boys think are really neat).
We keep up a running dialogue with the boys about how ancient peoples might have found these sites and how they were able to build such impressive structures on this difficult terrain, all the while making up silly answers to the riddles and jokes that Roni insists upon reading to us constantly from Josh's joke book.
Before leaving Durango the next morning, we drive north to the ski resort of Purgatory for a ride on the chair lift. The view of the valley as we descend is truly gorgeous, but thunder and lightning at the top of the mountain rule out the possibility of the Alpine Slide, a warm weathered toboggan ride, (personally, I am relieved rather than disappointed), and we head south on our return trip to Albuquerque in a brief but heavy rainstorm.
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