Our first trip since Covid hit...we knew we needed to get away. We did not want to fly anywhere and still didn't want to go anywhere with a lot of people. Even if we did want to go somewhere like that, everything was pretty much still shut down in the larger cities. Here, in Frisco, most restaurants are to go only or at a very low capacity. So we decided on Colorado. Wayne is the best trip planner. He mapped out a route that would have good stops along the way to break up the trip. Our end point was going to be Durango, but we stopped in Santa Fe which was about halfway there. In order to make the car trip as enjoyable as possible for the kids, Wayne packed the car so that one whole side folded down. They had their own little bed that they took turns using. We also stocked up on Red Box rentals so they had plenty of movies to watch. We also have to had a little interactive entertainment to our trips. We came up with doing a picture scavenger hunt. Wayne made a list of about 20 things that we might see on the road: brown horse, motorcycle, RV, boat, cow, Arizona license plate, diner, etc...most of them were pretty easy to find, just took some time, but there was 1 that we kept seeing every once in a while, but we kept missing the picture! It was a VW van. It was our running joke the whole trip!
In Santa Fe, we walked around the town, went to lots of souvenir shops, and ate lunch at an outside cafe. We spent the night and then got back on our way. This was the first hotel we had stayed in since Covid. All hotels said they clean/sanitize extra well but I brought my own disinfectant to clean the rooms before everyone else came in. Plus we had tons of hand sanitizer with us.
Once we got to Durango, we walked around a little and got settled in our hotel. We stayed in a resort that was right behind the Animas River. Nathan and Charlotte loved playing in the water and watching people float. The town of Durango is so cute! It is small and colorful, kind of old fashioned, and the food is delicious!!! I also loved that there were so many large planters of flowers everywhere! The next day, we headed more into the mountains and stayed a Condo in Cascade Village which alot of people use to access the ski resort of Purgatory. We stopped at a few scenic spots on the way. Once we got to our Condo, I was in LOVE!!! It looked just like the resort in Dirty Dancing. I thought all I need in Patrick Swayze to come dance with me! Nathan and Charlotte loved being able to just run around in the open. The was also a pond to fish in plus a huge area to play horseshoes. And our condo itself was so nice and spacious. It was just so relaxing!
Our first big adventure in Durango was river rafting. We lucked out because most of the rafts hold 8-10 people. Because of Covid, they were limiting how many were in the raft, but you were not guaranteed to get your own. There were two families signed up to go, ours and another, plus a couple. I asked if it was possible to keep our boat separate, and the guide told me that the couple is scheduled to go with us because we have 4 and the other family has 5. Well at the last minute, the other family found out that 1 member was not going with them so our guide switched the couple to their raft, and we had ours all to ourselves! It was perfect! Our guide was such a nice young guy. He gave us lots of history but was also funny to the kids. The river started out pretty calm with a few bumps and dips. Nathan and Charlotte were fine with that because they did NOT want anything too rough. Our guide stopped theh raft at one point for us to swim. The water was ice cold which would normally really bother me, but it was so hot outside that it actually felt good! It was such a clean, refreshing cold...really strange that I was ok with it! Wayne made us all laugh because he sat on the edge of the raft and rolled over backwards like he was scuba diving. Well, the water was only knee high where he parked the raft. You were supposed to walk into the deeper water. And the bottom of the river is mud so here is Wayne rolling around trying to get up from this mud bottom. It was so funny and everyone was laughing at him. Luckily he was laughing too! Towards the end of the rafting trip was the rapids. There were about 3 good areas of really fast and bumpy water. It wasn't super scary but was definitely scary enough for Nathan and Charlotte. It was perfect!
The next day, we relaxed at the condo and went fishing in the pond then we headed to Ouray for horseback riding. This town was so cute! It was a mining town so you can see all of these small houses and railroads that they used to use. The drive to Ouray though was a bit scary. The roads are so narrow and twisty turny!! Nathan kept asking Daddy to slow down although Daddy was only going about 20 mph. He did not like those roads. Everytime we tried to talk to him, he'd say don't talk, just keep your eyes on the road. Once we got to the horse stable, Nathan was so relieved :) The horses were beautiful and so sweet. We each got our own and had a wonderful ride on the mountain trails. There was only one part that was a bit scary. That was when our guide lined us up next to a drop off for a picture. I swear I thought the horses might take one step backwards and we'd all fall! After our trailride, we got the best ice cream from one of the local stores. We walked around a little and then headed home.
The next day was a very adventurous day. We went on a drive to Silverton, another small mining town. We could have taken the main highway, but Wayne found us a "scenic" drive. It was very pretty at first. Actually it was pretty the whole way, but a little stressful and then ALOT stressful! The drive was through and around a mountain. The road was bit bumpy and considered off road. We stopped a few times to get out and explore a little. This bumpy dirt road led us to a beautiful lake. I had never seen something so pretty! There were lily pads everywhere and it was so open and pretty! I thought we were turning around once we made it here, but we kept going. This 2nd part of the road seemed to be more of a hiking trail and not a road! It got so bumpy, rocky, narrow, and steep! Half the time I was leaning over by the driver's side because I felt like we were about to fall off. Once we got to a bog turn with a drop off and a sign that said road narrows, I said, "Let me the **** out!" Nathan and Charlotte said "Us too!" So we got out and walked about 15 minutes while Daddy drove. I do remember earlier in the drive, asking Wayne if my tires were ok on this rocky road. He said "Just trust me Ashley. This is an SUV. This road is meant for SUVs" and I'm like "I don't think it's meant for "mom car" SUVs" Well, once Nathan, Charlotte, and I got down the road a bit, we found Wayne in the car waiting for us. When I walked up to his window, I heard a hissing sound. The tire had a hole in it! We were still on a really narrow part of the road so Wayne knew he needed to get further down the road to change the tire. We said see ya, we'll keep walking :) The kids and I had fun walking, and Nathan and Charlotte both said prayers on the way that Daddy would be ok and be able to change the tire. When we finally got to him, he was in a bit of a grumpy mood and said no pictures. Well, I knew he'd want pictures later so I snapped away without him really knowing ;) He got our tire changed with Nathan's help and then we made it the rest of the way. I swear that road (if you can actually call it a road) was never ending! We finally got to Silverton, and the one thing I was looking forward to was the funnel cake store. When we got there it was closed. But Wayne being the devoted husband/father he is went inside and told them our story about the flat. He came out with 2 big funnel cakes! Our last hoorah was stopping a this huge lake to fish and whittle walking sticks that we found the day before.
It was a wonderful family trip with lots of great experiences!!! Most of all, we just have fun being together!
