Cheyenne Mountain State Park

We arrived here on July 10 for 6 nights to visit Aggie's brother Bob, sister Joanie and her husband John.  This is a very nice state park with full hook ups including 50 amp service.  Our site was relatively level on a concrete pad and I did not use my levelers.  There are hiking trails throughout the park, but dogs are not allowed on the trails.  This is a very popular park and I would recommend reserving your site in advance as the park was full nightly.  Many sites have spectacular city light views from their site, ours was not one of them.  The sites had mature bushes between sites which gave good privacy and we had good cell reception and satellite TV.  We paid $27.50 per night plus $7 per night for day use pass.  I rate this park F****.
We basically used this site as a home base and did not spend a lot of time here with the exception of having a barbecue one day.  Joanie as usual kept us very busy every day.  We visited the Rosemount museum in Pueblo, Co., the Penrose Heritage Museum in Colorado Springs, took in dinner and a play in Cripple Creek an old mining town now filled with gambling casino's, shops, and restaurants, and we took a hike along Helen Hunt Falls.  We also took a train ride on the Royal Gorge Railroad, went kayaking one day at Redington Lake, and made a day trip to Breckenridge & Frisco.
I understand that Colorado Springs has been receiving an unusual amount of rain this year and every afternoon the clouds would build up and may or may not drop some rain.  One day I was drenched running from the house to our car as it was raining buckets.

Lathrop State Park

We arrived here for one night on July 9 and this is a Colorado State Park located in Walsenburg, Colorado.  There were two lakes here so many campers here were towing boats.  Our site was a pull through and relatively level but I did use my levelers to level the coach.  We had 50 amp electric service but no water or sewer.  Our site had a picnic table and fire pit.  That said, the electric and site were on the same side which required us to walk around our motorhome to our campsite.  We paid $27.94 which included the $7.00 State Park day use fee.  I could not pull out of the site when leaving the next morning as the campsite next to ours utilized the whole site so I had to back up with my toed to enable me to make the turn.  I rate this park F***.

Mesa Verde National Park (2)

On July 8, we camped inside the Mesa Verde National Park at the Morefield campground for one night.   We stayed here before and rated it so I won't rate it again and as last time we encountered several deer wandering in and around our campsite.  We attended a campfire program about the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) The CCC was created during the Great Depression to provide employment to unskilled young men which created this park along with 800 other parks across the United States.

Ten X Campground (2)

We arrived here for 3 nights on July 5, 2015, which is the first stop on our 2015 summer vacation.  I have already rated this park on a previous post so I won't rate it again, but we enjoyed our stay here and as last time we observed 3 elk on a short hike in our campground.  One day we hiked along the south rim of the Grand Canyon with Buddy.  He was a hit with all the tourists as usual.  The Grand Canyon was as beautiful and majestic as ever and we are so lucky to enjoy it's wonderful spectacle. We checked out the RV park inside Grand Canyon National Park and were happy we decided to stay at Ten X because of the large spacious sites.

2015 Vacation Schedule

We left home on July 5 and our first stop was Ten X campground, just 5 miles south of the Grand Canyon.  We enjoyed a thunder and lightning show on the way here and also drove through a few sets of rain, something we don't see much of near our home.  It hit 80 degrees today and very comfortable.  This is a great campground and I won't rate it again, but we did come across 3 elk grazing and resting in our campground just 60 feet from the road.  We will stay here 3 nights and then off to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  Our next stop will be a state park near Colorado Springs where we will spend 6 nights to visit Joanie, John, and Bob, Aggie's family.  That is as far east we are travelling this trip and we will head northwest from here.  Our next destination will be Riffle Gap in northwestern Colorado.  We then head to a campground near Provo, Utah for two nights, and on to Mountain Home, Idaho for 3 nights.  Our next stop will be in Bend, Ore., to visit our good friends Chris & Gary for 3 nights.  July 25 we will arrive in Portland, Ore., to visit our son Matt & our grandaughter Danika.  After 8 or 9 nights we will cruise over to the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon for 3 nights.  We then will head south down the 5 freeway to Canyonville, Ore., and stay 2 nights a casino called 7 feathers.  We will have one unscheduled stop before we arrive at Lake Tahoe, Ca. where we plan to stay one full week.  We will make one stop in Lone Pine, Ca. before we head back home again.