Everyday in the Life of the Harts: Grand Canyon Vacation - Day 2 (Garden of the Gods, Bishops Castle, Sand Dunes, Mountains and "Vacation" Photo Ops)

Day 2 - We knew that this would be a long day in driving alone (7 hours). We had a ton of stops that we had planned for this day too. Because of these factors, we woke up and left the hotel by 7:45 am. Our first stop was a quick drive back through Garden of the Gods. We knew that we wouldn't have time to stop and hike, but we did want to drive through in the daylight and get some quick pictures. Being so early in the morning, we were blessed with minimal crowds.

We stopped at Balanced Rock and had the kids climb on the rocks for some pictures.

It was really bright out!

The parking lot was EMPTY!

Further into the park, we stopped at this overlook for some pictures.

One more stop along the way before leaving the park.

As has become our routine, we typically end our travel days with checking into our hotel and ordering pizza/dinner. While Matt goes to pick up the pizza, he will stop at a gas station to top off the gas tank and grab drinks while the rest of us stay at the hotel and unpack, start showers, swim, etc.

With Day 1 ending as late as it did, we were all hungry (having grabbed dinner on the way to the hotel) and exhausted...and the gas tank got overlooked. Matt realized how low the tank was when we were halfway through the park. Needless to say, we pulled into the closest gas station on fumes and said a loud, "Thank you, Jesus!"

While planning this vacation, we searched for movies that were filmed in Monument Valley. One of the films was "National Lampoon's Vacation" - One of THE best movies ever made and a family favorite! As we did a bit more research on their filming locations, we realized that we would be driving by a handful of the stops. No brainer! Those stops were added to our itinerary!

While we were able to locate most of them on our map, we had to scratch a few of the stops due to time and location constraints. The first one to be crossed off the list was Cousin Eddie & Katherine's "Coolidge, Kansas" house - which is actually located in Boone, CO. We figured out that going to this house would add an hour to our day. Since it is also privately owned, we passed on that stop.

We did stop in Pueblo, CO at the Coronado Motel. This motel was where the Griswold's spent the night after they lost some of their luggage.

Notice the window from the movie clip vs the next picture. That scene was filmed right here!

While walking around and snapping pictures, the owner came out to meet us. Very nice guy! We talked about the movie and our vacation. He then told me about a neat attraction that we may want to stop at. "But it's on the other side of the mountain". He then described Bishop Castle and suggested it as a stop. I was thrilled to tell him that we had visited the castle in 2015 and that we were heading back there - it was our next stop. He wished us well and we were on our way!

As we headed up the mountain on Hwy 165, we came across Lake Isabel. Um, how did we miss this during our first visit? We pulled off the highway and spent a good amount of time (too much time, in the long run!) enjoying the view.

We left Lake Isabel and continued up the mountain to Bishop Castle. We knew that we could easily spend a few hours here, so we wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

Kaitee asked if she & Alex could get their picture taken in the big chair again - like they did in 2015.

The Great Ballroom - beautiful stonework with stained glass windows and an open air top. Maddie & I spent most of our time here.

Everyone went different directions and paths were crossed from time to time. With everyone having their phones/cameras, there are a lot of unique perspectives!

Matt took this picture from the high bridge - that is me on the first level walkway (black shirt). This picture gives a good perspective as to how high up the sphere and bridge are!

A picture that I took from that same point, looking up at Matt, Alex, Kaitee & Will.

Will in the sphere...

Will took a picture of Matt on the bridge after Matt took the picture of Will in the sphere.

Something that pictures can't covey; given the nature of the steel structure, everything was shaky and wobbly. There was give with every step you took . . . sometimes the give more than anticipated, and would take your breath away as your eyes go wide. The sphere would sway back and forth with the steps of other people climbing up the structure (or from a slight breeze). Just standing still in the Sphere, you feel like you're standing on a deck of a boat, rocking back and forth with the waves.

The Castle is really a test of your own limits. For some, their limits were on ground level - and there is nothing wrong with that. Other's limits may take them up to the first level with The Great Ballroom, and for others the Sphere or the tallest Spire.

No matter where your limit is, Bishops Castle will test even those.

Kaitee climbing the highest tower. Will also climbed to this - the highest point of the castle. (see the overall picture of the castle below to see how high this is!)

Kaitee conquered the castle!! She wasn't able to go up too high in 2015 because she felt sick to her stomach. It was her goal to make it to the top and she achieved it!

If you say that Bishop Castle is unique, beautiful and absolutely terrifying - that would be very accurate! All built by the hands of one man, Jim Bishop, starting in 1969.

We left the castle and headed back down the mountain.

We exited Interstate 25 at Farista and headed west on Hwy 160, stopping at Costilla County Veteran's Memorial Park (Fort Garland) for a quick letterbox and photo op (snacks and water break too!).

Back on the road, we headed north to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Our family hates...absolutely hates...sand. We call it herpes! I know that the kids have formed their opinion from how Matt & I feel about it...but sand is just evil. There, I said it!

So, why did we go to Great Sand Dunes National Park?!?!? Because it is a National Park. We want to show the kids as much as possible while we still have them in our care. And bonus - the van was a rental! Any and all remnants of sand would go away with the rental, HA!

Looking at pictures online, we were hopeful that the creek bed would be plentiful. Unfortunately, it was non-existent. All dried up.

Alex & Maddie headed towards the sand "mountain". They climbed a portion of it but turned around because of the heat and time.

While the Sand Dunes definitely won't make the top 5 (or 10!) of our favorite National Parks, we are so glad that we took the time to visit and see it in person. Also, a quick side note about the Great Sand Dunes - this was the filming location of the scene where Clark Griswold was hiking through the desert, looking for help after he jumped the family truckster "50 yards" off the road.

Next Stop - Alamosa! When Matt was 5 years old, he and his dad drove out to Colorado (from north Chicago area) to visit their "Colorado Property". Matt told us that the property was located in Alamosa. He asked for this picture to show his parents that he was there again.

We stopped for gas and then realized that our next stop was right next to the gas station! HaHa!

This restaurant used to be a Drive In - and was the location where Clark Griswold took his family to eat but didn't want the waitress to put the food tray on the door because "new car"...If you look closely, you can see the holes and paint from the poles (that held the overhead canopy and the individual speaker boxes of the drive in)

Leaving Alamosa, we noticed dark clouds to our west. We had a few more stops on our day and rain wasn't part of the plan!

Unfortunately, we got wet. We were hopeful that the rain would let up by the time we reached our next few stops in South Fork. Sadly, it was still raining, windy and pretty chilly (mid 50s!) at our first stop.

Shaw Creek Rest Area, located on Hwy 160 a few miles east of Gerrard. This rest area is the famous picnic scene from Vacation. Even with the rain and overall cruddy weather, we had fun re-enacting the scenes. We definitely did a lot of laughing!

***it should be noted that this is the original picnic table from the movie. They replaced one of the benches that had deteriorated, but, it is the same picnic table. :-) ***

Time for lunch! Mom (Ellen/Becki passes out the sandwiches)

About this time, Clark/Matt notices Christy Brinckly with her Ferrari, in the parking lot. He goes over to the tree (which has since been cut down) and puts his hand up to lean against it.

In classic Clark fashion, he does a little dance and blows kisses (with the sandwich) to Christy.

It is about this time that Ellen realizes that the sandwiches are wet..."The dog peed on the picnic basket!"

Before we hit the road again, it is time for Rusty/Will to walk Dinky (Aunt Edna's evil dog).

***It should be noted that this is the same tree from the movie. I wasn't at the same angle as in the movie, but same tree :-) ***

Maddie was happy to portray Dinky in this scene!

Ideally, we would've loved to have eaten a picnic for lunch/dinner at this spot. With the yucky weather, we decided to wait for food.

We found Kamp Komfort, which was the location where the Griswold Family stayed in tent cabins one night. The resort is actually Riverbed Resort, but they changed the name to Kamp Komfort for the movie. It is located just south of South Fork on Hwy 160. Matt, Alex & I went into the office to get a photo of the famous cowbell. The lady at the front desk was very friendly and shared some tidbits with us about the movie and filming. We ended up walking down to the river and checking out the last standing cabin (the others were removed after the filming, but one cabin was left - "Sparky's Place").

The front desk clerk told us that the swimming pool (that Rusty & Audrey were SOOO excited about) was build for the film only. As soon as filming was done, it was removed.

We drove around the resort and then back on Hwy 160 to head down the mountain.

Wolf Creek Pass Tunnel

We stopped at the Wolf Creek Valley Overlook (Hwy 160) to get out, enjoy the view and take some pictures.

We drove through Pagosa Springs (what a neat town!) but couldn't spend any time there - we still had 2 hours before we'd arrive at our hotel in Cortez. It was early evening and we hadn't eaten (we skipped lunch, just lots of snacks throughout the day). We ended up stopping at a McDonald's on the outskirts of Pagosa Springs - we did a quick order and took it with us on the road.

A few disappointments for the day - we didn't make it to The Hogan Trading Post during business hours. I was excited to see what kind of items they sold. It was after 9:00 by the time that we drove by Hogan's. The pictures are deceiving - it was pretty dark at this point. We loved the big arrows and tee-pees. Alex loved the horse...

The other stop we passed on was the Strater Hotel in Durango, CO. The lobby of the Strater was used in the Grand Canyon scene where Clark turns in a $1,000 check for $300 cash, stealing it from the cash register. The first two pictures were borrowed from the world wide web. We didn't even see the outside of the hotel - would've been worth the stop, if only it had been a few hours earlier in the day.