Hi Pixie, When you posted about Little House on the Prairie I looked some things up and was planning to post but just haven't found the time! I'm glad you explained why you wanted to do the plains! At least now it makes sense! After you posted I looked up DeSmet on google Earth--to get the "lay of the land," and I think your daughter would be really disappointed with the "plains" we have out here compared to the terrain you'll find in eastern SD. The link I posted to a pic of "our" plains up above really is pretty accurate--there is simply nothing out there! If you do DeSmet I doubt that she'll actually be looking at "the land" very much when you do it, and she'll have all the Little House things, which is what she actually thinks of when she's reading the books. (Love it when kids are reading books!) So rather than taking her for a hot, dry, flat drive, and destroying her mental image of Little House, I now very definitely think you should skip the plains and enjoy the extra time in the hills! A couple things about the fishing if you're gonna stick that in. Wherever you do it you'll need a Colorado fishing license, so be sure you plan ahead for that so you're not disappointed. And if you do decide to go to the Poma Ranch near Pagosa Springs, you'd really need to stay there two nites to have time for fishing. Checkin is at 3:00, so that wouldn't leave much time on the day you arrive, and checkout is at 10:00, so there wouldn't be time on the day you were leaving. The Weminuche River that runs thru the ranch flows very gently and it could easily be fished wading or from the bank. Check out their Fishing page at the link below, and there's more fishing info on their FAQs page, including that they rent "basic" and "kids" fishing gear at the ranch. I don't really know anything about fishing so I'm not sure what all that would include, but if you're seriously considering it and have any questions, call the ranch and ask for Karen! Also, since the river flows gently--and is shallow (a "river" out here is not the same as a "river" in the midwest or east!) your daughter might enjoy wading around in it (probably with a pair of cotton tennis shoes or at least flip flops since the bottom will be "rocky")! But she probably wouldn't stay in too long since water in the mountains is COLD--it's melted snow--and the ranch is at 8,000'! Also, if you're seriously considering staying there, PM me and I'd be glad to send you some more pictures of the inside (and outside) of the Hideaway cabin! I've stayed there three times now so I have pics of the outsides of the other cabins too. This is a favorite pic! I couldn't help but smile the first time I drove in there and saw the Welcome Home sign! I immediately knew I was gonna love the place! (The sign is on the back side of the "bathhouse" building that has the "waterfall showers!") And before I got to the welcome home sign (on the small building on the right) I ran into this roadblock on the drive in! (If it looks gloomy, that's because it was raining on and off on the drive from Pagosa to the ranch the first year I stayed there! Then, right after I got there, the sun came out just in time for sunset!) This was a view heading out of Pagosa toward the ranch that year! The ranch is in them thar hills! I also highly recommend the "Cozy House" at Dolores for the Cortez part of your trip, and would be glad to send you a bunch of pics of that place too to help you decide if you're interested. One more thing since Zinnia brought up Dinosaur Ridge! Just a little further down the road, in Morrison, is a place called Tiny Town! Perhaps in lieu of Little House your daughter would like to see some "little houses"---and other buildings! I don't have time to live link these pages, but here's a copy/paste link to their site, and if you google for images of Tiny Town you'll come up with lots of pics of the buildings with people standing by them so you can get the scale. I haven't been out to this place since the late 70's when it was a run down (tiny) ghost town all overgrown with weeds, but it's been all spiffied up and is back in business, and this could be a real fun Kid Thing! You could plan your whole last day to do Red Rocks, the dinosaurs, and Tiny Town, and then head to the airport for your last nite's lodging! http://tinytownrailroad.com/ Out of time for tonite! I can't wait to find out what all you finally decide to do! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Fishing on the V. A. Poma Ranch!

just love that color!..so soft and muted. I'm getting a good education here too! very interesting!

Alisande, I know what you mean about abandoned buildings. It seems like such a waste to let them go. When I lived in New Mexico I'd explore ghost towns. There were many up in the mountains. Often associated with a mine that petered out. Here's a pic of what is left of Lake Valley. The name is as appropriate as Greenland! Or sometimes I'd happen across an old homestead that didn't work out. Ron

At Odessa you can visit the meteor crater there, nothing near like the one in Arizona, but if you like that kind of thing, it's alright. El Paso has the Franklin Mountains, and the Intermountain HWY, which is nice, but there is a natural rock formation there that resembles an Indian head, if you know where to look and at the right time of the day, it is awesome. Las Cruces is a beautiful city with it's painted roadways. North of Silver City are the Gila Cliff Dwellings, in the Gila Wilderness Area and it's like a miniature Mesa Verde, very isolated and a short hike, but a long drive through some beautiful country. Indian petroglyphs and housings. Gila Hot Springs. Also, the City of Rocks. You will pass by the silver mine there also outside of Silver City. It's hard to explain how deep this mine is, it is so vast, it's hard for my mind to comprehend, size-wise. There are some ghost towns along the New Mexico-Arizona border area that you might like to visit. Before Tucson, you will want to visit Tombstone and the Boothill Cemetery. You also need to go visit the Saquaro National Parks, one on each side of Tucson. I have a saquaro growing here, but seeing how they only grow about one inch per year...I figure in only about 120 years, I will have a nice size one. I've got countless pictures of these areas and other surrounding areas. You won't be able to see everything in one trip, so plan on going back. Once you've been there a while, you will need to travel to northern Arizona, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Monument Valley, Meteor Crater, Vermillion Cliffs, Kaibab National Forest, blah blah blah...doggonit, all this talk, now I have to go on vacation again! Kt