Dylon then took us back to camp, we made ourselves some dinner, and then luke fed a wild dog his turkey sandwich from lunch! The poor thing was starving :( on reflection we shouldnt of fed it because it wouldnt leave us and sat by our tent! But we hate seeing the animals go hungry. We then went and sat in the laundry room and charged all our cameras in the warmth and we got chatting to a guy in there who had done a lot of travelling and we was telling him all about our guide and group! He found it very interesting! He had done a few group tours in the past and decided they werent for him! And thats definately the conclusion we have come to!! we then enjoyed lovely hot showers, there was also a hairdryer! Something i hadnt seen for a while! So i took full advantage of that and washed my hair! We then went back to camp where luke made me a tea and a hot water bottle in our water bladder and put it at the feet of my sleeping bag to warm it up for me! And then we sat in the tent and looked at all our grand canyon pics :)
...our camp & the wild dog luke fed!The next day we were leaving at 8, me and luke were up at 6.45 packed everything away, i did breaky & lunch and luke put away the tent, we were ready to leave at 7.30, we really were a good team together, this trip had really enabled us to build a stronger relationship and team. Some of the younger ones werent ready at all and were still in the shower at 7.45 and thats the time the breaky and lunch stuff is put away! We helped two people put there tents away, clear the table and then us with one of the other guys andy packed the trailer, still while one pair were putting away there tent! I run the risk of sounding old !.....but....being up and ready at a certain time is not something that comes easy to the younger ones, we have an hour basically (depending on what time you get up!) to get up, get washed, have breaky, make lunch, put away your tent and pack your own bags, and also help pack up camp and the trailer ready to leave at 8am! And if you dont have a good system/routine it will go tits up and the group will be waiting for you! Anyway we got away about 8.20am. Today we were off to mesa verde and then to durango to camp.
Not far from were we were staying we had a photo stop....it was the place where they filmed the part in forest gump were he stopped running! It was great we did a reinactment of that scene!
Next we stopped at a spot where you could view a rock formation called "the mexican hat"....
We had a reasonable drive to our next stop which is Mesa Verde national park, here we were goin to do a tour of cliff palace. When we arrived obviously it was cold and windy ! Thats just standard everyday! We had a look in the visiter center and then me, luke and jasmin ate our lunch outside in the cold as we were told this is where we would eat our lunch! While the rest of the group went & ate there lunch in the van! Anyway we got to the van and were told that we were going to do a tour....we took the hour long journey into the mountains and then we arrived at our destination....we were going to do a tour of cliff palace which is the crown jewel of mesa verde national park, which is a architectutral masterpiece and is the largest cliff dwelling in north america. The collection of rooms, plazas and towers fits perfectly into the sweeping sandstone overhang that has largely protected it since the thirteenth century. We had a a tour guide that took us around the site. She was great she also taught us all about different birds at the park it was really interesting! I learnt alot ! We then started our descend down to the cliff palace which ment climbing down stairs and ladders! It was a relatively small area compaired to now days but for back then it was a grand site! Around 700 people would live here at the same time only in a few of the rooms the rest of the rooms would be used for storing supplies for winter. It really was a great piece of history and we enjoyed experiencing it and learning about it.
After this the guide took us to another spot for a short walk but me, luke and jasmin couldnt be bothered and we were still so so cold we sat in the van! We werent to bothered. After that we began the journey to durango.
It was a few hours until we got to durango and by the time we got there it was raining hard :( we stopped at the super market on route and luke found me a hot water bottle! I was soooooo happy i litrally wanted to jump on him! At last maybe a bit of warmth ! Our camp site was only 30 minites away and as we began to drive there it began to snow a lot! Me and luke were dreading it! We had been cold since the word go and this was going to be a nightmare! I dont no why but i half expected the guide to say we are not sleeping in these conditions and take us to a motel, at our expense obviously! We wouldnt have minded! But he didnt! And it was snowing so hard :( poor jasmin had the back door of the trailer smash into her back in the morning so she didnt want to camp especially in the snow! So we was going to share a cabin but the office was closed so she spoke to dylan then she manage to get a motel for the night he had to take her and then we would pick her up in the morning, no problem its an individuals choice to not sleep in the poxy snow! But dylan was not happy about it which pissed me off because e eryone can do what they want, as i have said before he is not our dictator just a guide! And i thought maybe we could all go to dennys for dinner as who wants to cook in the snow! But no ..dinner was cooked and we set up our tents in the snow it was awful :( i sat in the laundry room doing my blog while luke showered and then he went back to the camp and filled up my hot water bottle, and made me a tea while i showered! We went straight into our tent and tried to warm up! We got to sleep as we had the warmth but staying asleep was a joke i woke up several times and at several times i thought my toes would fall off litrally it was awful and my bones really ached :( at 6.15am i decided to get up i was so angry and rediculously cold after brushing my teeth i made my way back to camp and i felt like crying i was so fucking cold :( but i made the sandwiches and started breaky and luke started to put away the tent, the tent had ice in it and all over it and it was hard trying to put it away with no gloves :( but we did it and were ready stupidly early again, so helped the others with there tents and eventually we got away at 8.20am !
....snow just above our campsite.I was just so cold i had well and truly had enough, today we were off to santa fe where we hoped it would be hotter!
We did the journey to santa fe without stopping....around 4 hours. And when we arrived it was snowing a blizzard :( the camp ground was the rockiest sloppiest camp ground we had ever seen! After checking us in, dylon said there was 3 cabins available that sleep up to 4 people for $45! We were definately going to get one! Jasmin wanted one aswell so we headed down to the office followed by some others! It was funny as when we were in the van and everyone was saying its freezing two of the girls behind me said "yer it was cold yesterday it was cold the day before and we survived"! I dont give a shit if we survived it was bloody freezing ! What was even funnier is that they ended up getting a cabin!! You cannot put a price on being warm! Obviously dylon was not happy about it! I just dont know what his problem was it was at our expense and if we want to stay in a cabin we will! Its minus degrees no one is prepare for this weather so he should assume if there is a cabin then people should be offered it! There was only enough cabins for 12 people but we said people can sleep on the floor on thei inflatable mats then we can all be warm! But one girl didnt want to pay....it would have been about $8! And i dont no what was wrong with the others, one of the group ended up having the cabin to himself! It was silly! however we didnt care we were sleeping in this cabin whether he had a tantrum or not! It was a double bed bunk bed and it had a heater :)
We were all taken into the town at 3pm he said he would pick up whoever wanted to go and have mexican food with him at 18.30 and if you didnt he would pick you up at 20.30! lukes phone had broke and dylon told us there was a apple store in town we were going to try to get it replaced. However when we got to town it was clear therew as no apple store! It was a Traditional old sante fe town and it was full of small expensive shops.....like $150 for a pair of gloves expensive! So not really aimed at tourists or a group of young travellers! It was still snowing and as soon as we got off the bus we realised there was no way we could spend 5.5 hours here! But dylon had not given anyone his phone number and we had no idea where he was, we were t going to eat the mexican doid at 18.30 so we were litrally stuck we didnt even no what the camp site was called! Which is both our faults dylon should tell us what its called and we should have checked before we went to town, he also should give his number to everyone for emergencys!
....our cabin in the top left and sante fe townAnyway jasmin had a idea to go to the information center and ask about getting a bus back to camp, we went and asked and luckily i had a reciept saying the name of the camp site, there was no bus that goes there and a taxi would be very expensive, we all just did not no what to do :( we were stuck in this town, it was cold and crap. Then the lady said she would give us a lift back when she finishes work in 30 minutes time. We couldnt believe our luck :) we were so thankful, we offered he some money but she wouldnt take it. We was all very angry about being left there with no way to contact the guide anoter clear example of incompetence.
We got back to our cabin it wasnt as warm as we wanted it but it was warming up pretty quickly and it was defo warmer then the tent! :) we just chilled out, had showers, wrote postcards and went to be at 20.30 nice and warm :) i actually slept without my coat and hat! And in the night took my jumper off! I still had the hot water bottle at my feet as they just wouldnt warm up! We got a relatively good nights sleep.
Tomorrow we go to Roswell and Carlsbad caverns.
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