Meteor Crater and Journey Home

It was our final day of vacation, and I was happy to get home. I tried to not have more than 4.5 hours in the car on any given day. So, we had a visit to the meteor crater scheduled at the midway point of driving today.

Here's some more of the beautiful desert landscape. I'm being sarcastic. I felt like my eyes had a buffet feast of color for 5 days and now I'm just hungry.

 Ben is really into science this year. I think he really likes his Science teacher, so he wanted to see the crater. Noah did too. He's studying Arizona this year, so he's seen all these places on the maps they've been working on. 

 The crater is about a mile wide. It's pretty impressive when you see it up close.

 Emily was not as impressed. Ah, teenagers. She said she came here on a field trip, but I don't ever remember that happening.

 David thought we'd be there for 5 minutes, but they have a cool museum to walk through, so we were there for like 90 minutes. The kids like all the exhibits. They aren't at the bottom, but it sure looks like it.

 Here's a piece of the actual meteor. Most of it shattered upon impact.

 And this cool picture window was neat.

 Then, it was time to hit the road again. The best part of getting home was that Noah's Halloween costume was here. It's this inflatable dinosaur and it's hysterical.

I'm on my fifth load of laundry and trying to salvage the five pairs of sneakers that were covered in mud after the Jeep got stuck. I always bring an extra pair of sneakers. And this time, they were very much needed. 

It's good to be home.

Telluride

I was having a hard time blogging the last few days of our trip. I didn't want to get out the laptop, and what I can post on my phone is so limited. So, here it goes.

We woke up to some snow on the mountains and more rain. But, these mountains. Gosh, they are gorgeous, and I think even more so covered in snow.

I can't even apologize for all the fall tree pics. Every single corner, I was oohing and ahhing. It was just amazing.

 We got to Telluride and took the gondola up the mountain. At the top is the Mountain Village with condos, restaurants, shopping, etc. Obviously, for the uber rich. Not us. But, we can enjoy the free gondola ride! 

 Going up the mountain we saw more and more snow. At the top, there was lots of snow and then the gondola goes back down the other side, and no snow. It's pretty cool.

 We got off on the other side and headed for a pizza place. I'll admit, I thought it was going to be a bunch of snobby people and overpriced food. I couldn't have been more wrong. We got two huge salads and a pizza for $40 and it was delicious. I realized on this trip that if our family can eat for under $50, we are doing great.

 The service here was so good too. And how cool is free foosball?

 We stopped to look at the ski map and wouldn't you know it, the highest baddest peak in all of Telluride is Palmyra Peak. That's my middle name. I'm named after my grandma that passed recently, except she spelled it Palmira. In any case, I've rarely seen Palmyra anywhere. So, I took it as a sign that my Nana was watching over us. It's no wonder we had a great day.

 We headed back up the mountain and got off at the op for a snow ball fight.

Then, we headed back down the other side of the mountain.  It's all fun and games until someone farts in the gondola. We were dying. They have these tiny windows, so we were trying to get air in there. Whatever you do, don't fart in a gondola.

 There was this sweet golden walking around named Parker. We gave him some love and as we walked away, he just sat and looked at us. How cute is he? It's a very chill town. A lady walking by said he belongs to someone who lives in the building and he just hangs out.

 Isn't this a beautiful town?

 Then, we were headed to Gallup, New Mexico. So, we had a 3.5 hour drive ahead of us. But, don't worry, I took plenty of pictures!

 When we finally, got to New Mexico, I was kind of sad. Where are the trees? Where is the color?  Blah, desert. I know everything has it's own beauty, and my Aunt who lives in Halifax and sees trees and colors all the time thought this picture of a rock was amazing. It is prettyish, I guess. When you live here all the time, it's harder to find the beauty of dirt and rock.  But, every landscape is beautiful.

 What's even more beautiful was this amazing restaurant named Jerry's Cafe in Gallup. Wow, just wow!  It was such good food and service. We were loving it and wanting to find an excuse to come back to Gallup just to eat there.

 You get sopapillas at the end and can drizzle honey and sugar on it. Oh my, it was so good. That's my kind of dessert. Not too sweet or heavy.

 We finally made it to our hotel, and David used my massager for a bit. I got it for my birthday. It's awesome.

And check out this clock. It's actually three sided and genius!  Why haven't we seen this before? It just makes sense in hotels.

I took the kids to the hot tub and we crashed. That was the end to our first day without any major hiccups. Thanks, Nana!

What a Day!

I'm too exhausted to blog. But, we started the day with a glorious Jeep ride until we got stuck. So thankful for people who helped get us out. We're safe, and that's all that matters. Nothing has gone as planned this trip. Maybe we should skip the gondola up Telluride tomorrow. God only knows what may happen. But, this scenery was amazing!