Jun 7 2014

Prospect RV Park in Wheatridge Colorado and a day in Golden

Our drive from Clayton Lake was a long one, but we have an audiobook to keep us focused.
The clouds moved in and we caught a little rain, which wasn’t too bad considering one of the towns we drove through had multiple tornados touch down.
So many things to see…mesas, windmills, animal-crossings, outcrops, “points of interest,” and rain

I believe this was in Huerfano County, it was off the interstate and we didn’t stop to figure out what it was…so I googled it! But I couldn’t find the info when I went to post this. I believe it said that it is an ancient volcano and it’s all alone so the Spanish named it Huerfano which means “orphan.” So it’s an ancient orphan volcano!

Jacob bought Slap Bracelets to remind him of things to do before we leave a campground.

After we set-up, we headed over to the closest grocery store for some quick-meal items for the next few days, cause there’s no fire allow here either.

The next day we went into Golden to write up a few blogs before going to the Geology Museum at the Colorado School of Mines.

While I was hard at work Jacob went off on his own to get a hair cut….and it’s super duper short.

The Geology Museum was fan-freaking-tastic! They have so many specimen on display, I was in awe and I took a lot of pictures! I didn’t realize how many minerals are found in Colorado, these Mountain-people are so lucky!

This one’s famous, it made the cover of a Mineralogy textbook. That’s not the version I had in school, mine was like old and decrepit.

Rhodochrosite, pictured above and below, is the Colorado state mineral, I didn’t know it could be found inside of stalactites…mind-blowing

Jacob is such a trooper, I know that’s not his thing but he pretended to enjoy it.
When we got out of there, the sky turned dark and scary. We looked up and saw people floating in the air from the mountain, so the weather couldn’t be that bad!

So we walked a few blocks to a farmers market.

After a quick bite to eat we headed over to Coors brewery for a free tour.

We finished off the day in Golden with pizza, beer, and a UL win!

Jun 7 2014

Clayton Lake State Park in Clayton, NM

Clayton Lake State Park is a state park of New Mexico, United States, featuring a 170-acre (69 ha) recreational reservoir and a fossil trackway of dinosaur footprints. It is located 15 miles (24 km) north of Clayton, close to New Mexico’s border with Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. The landscape is characterized by rolling grasslands, volcanic rocks, and sandstone bluffs, set on the western edge of the Great Plains. The park area was a stopover point for travelers along the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail. (Wikipedia)

The sites along the way were pretty much the same as the day before.

Roux just chill’n, wondering why we’re going so slow.

These massive windy energy harvesters (LOL, patent pending on that name) are everywhere here, it’s very smart since it is freakishly windy.

And suddenly the horizon began to change…

UGH, HUMANS!

And then there was a 15 mile stretch of highway off the interstate that had me thinking “man, I hope this isn’t the wrong way!”

The temperature was mild with no humidity when we arrived. There was nobody in the visitors center and there was no place for camper check-ins. Thankfully I had the reservation site # and there were only 7 sites that we could see anyway, so it wasn’t hard to find our spot.

Our site had a terrific view of the lake. The lake is surrounded by rock cliffs and has a rocky bottom. There were a few people fishing, they said they had caught several trout. Unfortunately for Jacob you need a New Mexico fishing license.

After settling in, we headed off on a hike to see dinosaur tracks which are located on the opposite side of the lake from the camp sites. There are tracks from a variety of dinosaurs, tail marks, and fossilized mud cracks and tidal ripples. We saw beautiful plants, rabbits, deer, and tumble weeds.

We had the whole place to ourself. Wouldn’t ya know right as we were leaving a herd of geology students were head our way. We were so happy to have been able to view the tracks alone.
Jacob unfortunately had an encounter with a pretty vicious flower. It got him good!

The view from our camper was truly spectacular.

The next morning was humid with thick cloud cover, looked like rain was coming in soon. We were up and out of there early and on our way to Colorado.

Jun 6 2014

Lake Arrowhead State Park

On the drive we stopped at a gas station that Mrs. Judy would appreciate. You can order Sonic while pumping gas! There was also an outrageous array of candy to satisfy the child in anyone! Most of the drive was flat farmlands of mostly wheat and tons of nodding donkeys.

Some of the sites along the way…

As we got closer to the state park, we began to see a change in the landscape. There were so many trees that looked like they were burnt and there was cacti everywhere. I don’t know why I don’t have a picture of all the burnt trees…must not have thought it was picture worthy?!?

Oooweee it was hot here! 103 at 3 p.m. and the ground was hot hot, Roux was high stepp’n! Don’t worry I always touch the ground before letting him walk, I don’t let him walk on anything too hot, I’m a good mommie! They had record high temperature, lucky for us?!? Thank heavens we got our air conditioner fixed. It was so windy, hot-wind, like a desert without sand dunes. Jacob kept saying, “It feels like hot breath,” a phrase that disgusts me. There were 3 other travel trailers parked here, but we didn’t see 1 person.

This poor place is in desperate need of a good rain. The lake is extremely low, everything is so dry, and there’s a no burn notice. Too bad we couldn’t bring some of that Louisiana Monsoon we left back home.
This park would be pretty cool under better circumstances. The lake is huge, great for boating and fishing and there’s a beach for swimming.

Another really cool thing is a Prairie Dog Town…..it’s like the show Meerkat Manor….they are SO CUTE!

We drove into the town of Wichita Falls to see the falls and to get some groceries.
The falls can be seen off the interstate, but to get a closer view it is about a half a mile walk in Lucy Park. The walk is completely paved and mostly shaded. The water is really low here too, somebody needs to do a rain dance! The water fall is man-made but it was still a nice walk after driving all day.

Back at the camper, we had an absolutely scrumptious diner of chicken tacos. Jacob grilled some chicken breast on the Green Egg before we left. I sautéed a sweet onion and toasted corn tortillas. It was better than a restaurant, YUM YUM!

We left the next morning for Clayton, NM. I took a few more pictures on the way out of the park.

Allons Danser Blog

Our Adventures…

Tag Archives: RVing

Prospect RV Park in Wheatridge Colorado and a day in Golden

Clayton Lake State Park in Clayton, NM

Lake Arrowhead State Park