Channel Mike

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

The plan for today was to visit Capulin Volcano in Northern New Mexico, then move on to Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs for the cog railroad ride to the top. After finding out that we needed to get to Colorado Springs earlier than I'd planned before, and after leaving Santa Fe around 9:30 instead of 8:00, we decided to not even attempt the cog railway. We'd just take it easy and take our time exploring the volcano instead.

Things worked out pretty well. Breakfast at La Quinta Inn was crowded, but fed the kids. We then moved on to the Target next door to pick up some essentials for the rest of the trip. I made a stupid remark to Emma about peeing on the rocks that lined the parking lot after she was whining about not being able to swim this morning. (bad dad, I know) I then let her out of the car and went around to let Audrey out. Jak started laughing hysterically as I came around the corner of the car to find Emma with her pants around her ankles and her back arched way back, spraying fins of yellow all over the rocks and herself. She was just laughing and peeing on all the rocks just like I had joked about. I need to do a better job of teaching sarcasm. Nearly as funny, Jak couldn't stop laughing for quite some time and Audrey followed right along. He must have brought it up a half a dozen times today.

We got on the road around 9:30 and arrived at the volcano shortly after a crowded McDonalds lunch in Raton, NM. As we got within about five miles of Capulin Volcano, we could see Sierra Grande straight ahead. As we got closer, we could see the distinct symmetrical shape of Capulin's cinder cone. There were cool round hills popping up from the landscape all around, but they didn't look too strange, just slightly different than what I'd expect of normal hills. There were also jagged patches of igneous rock staggered across the landscape. It wasn't until we got to the top of the volcano and could see all around from above that it became clear what the volcanoes were and where their lava flows had changed the geography. Perspective is everything in this case.

We arrived at the visitors center and noticed three full bus loads of kids. All of a sudden it became very important for us to get up the volcano and on the trail before they loaded the buses and wrecked the whole experience for us. We put extra shirts on Audrey and Emma since it was getting cold and took off up the road. We beat the tour groups and got on the one mile trail that rings the caldera. Jak, of course, was in the lead and stayed ahead the entire time. After a few pictures, Audrey took the camera and was distracted about every six inches by a bug, a plant, a view, other hikers, etc. She got to play photographer by instructing four people from Kansas on where to sit, how to pose, where to go, and when to smile. They cooperated very well and allowed Audrey to take their camera and snap their picture. Some of her photography follows.

After the hike, everyone but Jak was tired. Emma got carried for about two thirds of the way, but still fell asleep before we got out of the park. Audrey didn't sleep at all because she got hooked on LocoRoco, a PSP game. She became a real gamer for the first time today repeatedly getting frustrated enough to growl and yell at the machine. Jak helped her through the difficult parts in a couple of the levels and all was well.

We made it through Pueblo and on to Colorado Springs. Nice place. Our hotel is right across from a nice shopping center where nearly everything was closed because it is a Sunday night. We found a place to eat, came back and wore out the kids in the pool until 10:30, and now they're in bed asleep. My favorite time of night. But I'm more tired than normal tonight, and I'm not proofreading anything. Let me know if it's really bad, but leave it alone otherwise.