Spring Vacation - April 14 - 23, 2003
Above is a picture I took somewhere in the vicinity of Durango, Colorado. Not sure of the exact day, but my guess is April 16. Lots of snow still on the mountains surrounding Durango, even though there was no snow in Durango itself.
What was I doing in Durango, you may ask. There is a long version of the story and a shorter version. The gist of both is that I was there to visit Mesa Verde National Park. In the long version of the story, there were portions (well, most portions) of the part I was unable to visit last year. In 2002, the National Park Service had closed a lot of the park because of the fire danger. And, actually, the Service was prescient (I am sure you have a dictionary somewhere); as it turns out, a fire did go thru the park about a month after my visit.
The parts of the park I was unable to visit last summer was open this time around. And, although some snow did remain at the park, the amount was small and you could only find it in the shade on hillsides. No snow where I went.
Mesa Verde was not the only National Park, National Monument, or other type of place on my itinerary for this trip. Like last summer's (2002) Grand Circle vacation, I made a loop. Unlike that vacation, I turned right at Mesa Verde instead of left, going east to Denver and south to New Mexico instead of Utah.
What was my itinerary, you ask. So happy you asked, Glad to let you know. As mentioned, I made a loop. From my home in beautiful but rainy southern California (it was raining when I left) I headed to the Grand Canyon, then onto Durango, Denver, Pueblo, Carlsbad, Willcox, and back home. I stayed longer in some places than others, and took more pictures in some places than others.
Below are the links to the various places I stopped on my vacation. I put them, more or less, in chronological order. You will see a lot of National Parks and National Monuments in the mix. Several reasons for that but the two most important: 1) they are very pretty, and 2) they were, more or less, free.
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