July 4- We hold these truths to be self-evident: that this is a big, beautiful country, and it was our privilege to spend Independence Day at one of its most glorious places. But I am getting ahead. Yesterday was our "extra" day in the San Juan Mountains, since we weren't able to get a Jeep rental until today. We drove over to Telluride, which is a very nice little town. Its coolest feature is a free gondola up the mountain- the only public transportati...

July 2- With the frenetic pace we've been maintaining to get across the country so quickly, today felt a little like a vacation from our vacation. We did a nice leisurely pace from Durango to Ridgeway, passing through some of the most spectacular mountains imaginable. The main stop along the way was the town of Silverton, a "Victorian Mining Town" turned really cool tourist village. We strolled through town, got lattes and hot chocolates, took a stageco...

July 2- With the frenetic pace we've been maintaining to get across the country so quickly, today felt a little like a vacation from our vacation. We did a nice leisurely pace from Durango to Ridgeway, passing through some of the most spectacular mountains imaginable. The main stop along the way was the town of Silverton, a "Victorian Mining Town" turned really cool tourist village. We strolled through town, got lattes and hot chocolates, took a stageco...

July 1. The slavedriver—I mean, my spouse—got us all up at 6 this morning to go over to Great Sand Dunes while it was still early and cool. It was definitely worth it, we had a great hike up to the top of the main dune, and the kids had a great time jumping and rolling in the sand, and then playing in the little creek that runs next to the dunes. We also spent some time in the visitors' center, which had great exhibits on the uniqueness of the area and the ...

June 30, 2010 - A day of driving, and history - and then some more driving. I posted my last blog after Tallgrass Prairie yesterday. We drove on that afternoon and did some birding at Cheyenne Bottoms, a world-class wetland area just west of the middle of the state. We were there at the wrong time of the day and the wrong time of the year (e.g., at the "right" time of year there are whooping cranes), but we still saw a ton of birds - scads of great blue...