The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 7

Oh. My. Goodness. Creede, Colorado has a population of around 400 people. On July 4th however, I’m pretty sure there were thousands and thousands of people! To start off the day, they have a parade-Ryan and I decided it was the longest parade in the history of parades…it seemed to go on forever! They girls had a blast though! They mostly threw beads {which seemed to become dangerous at times-we quickly learned to duck and then grab them!} but the girls filled my purse up with candy too!

After the parade we watched the mining competition for a while and then went to lunch with some friends.

Ryan has some family friends from DeRidder who were also in Creede, so we went to their cabin to visit for a little while after lunch. They have grandkids around Maddie’s age and the girls had a blast making s’mores, playing Frisbee, flying kites and eating snickers! I think it was really good for them to be able to run around with other kids for a few hours!

We met some friends back in South Fork for dinner that night. Our friends’ friends have a cabin there and were gracious to invite us over to crash their party. We had such a good time visiting with Bric and Summer, Bobby and Toni, and Graeme and Rebecca! The girls taught Tuk how to do Ring-Around-The-Rosie and Graeme taught me the meaning behind the rhyme…learn something new every day!

Tomorrow we head home. So sad to see this vacation come to an end. It has been the BEST family vacation EVER!

Maddie kept a list of all the animals we saw along the way. Here is her list: deer {whitetail & mule}, antelope, black buck antelope, elk, moose, buffalo, mountain sheep, groundhogs, prairie dogs, chipmunks, bear {dead on the side of the road, but we still counted it! LOL!}, oryx, cottontail rabbits, jack rabbits, ducks, snakes, geese, coyote, foxes, pheasants, and in people’s yards-llamas, alpacas, cows, horses, and donkeys!

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 6

This morning we got up and drove to Lake City to meet some friends for breakfast. Along the way we saw some mountain sheep hanging out…we are loving all the wildlife we are seeing!

I’ve decided that I am thankful Ryan is doing most of the driving on this trip {and all of the driving in the mountains}…Slumgullion Pass gave me the heebie-jeebies! Beautiful scenery, but made my stomach drop every time I looked down. Definitely the highest elevation we have been at; just over 11,000 feet!

Hands-down Lake City is the prettiest place we have visited! White picket fences, parks, and flower gardens nestled in the middle of the mountains…

A friend recommended that we get ice cream at the local Soda Shoppe. So. Worth. It! Thanks Alexa!

When we finished up in Lake City, we drove back to South Fork and Ryan played golf with some friends at the Rio Grande Club. When they finished up, all the wives & kids met the guys at the club for dinner {yum1} and then we watched the fireworks. I have never been so cold in July! Brrr! After each firework, the “boom” echoed down the canyon for several seconds-sounded so cool!

Tomorrow we head to Creede for July 4th. We hear it is supposed to be a big deal!

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 5

This morning we got up and decided to do a little hiking. There are several hiking trails that you can go on that lead to waterfalls around Pagosa Springs. We chose the one that had the shortest hike {Anna complains about having to walk at Wal-mart…I was NOT about to get several miles into a hike and have to carry her out! LOL!}. I had gotten directions to the trailhead online-pretty simple: drive about 17 miles on this county road and then take a right; drive until that road ends and find the trailhead by the river and start hiking. Simple enough, right?! Only they didn’t say that after we took that right, we would have to drive on a dirt road for over an HOUR-and the road is so narrow you can’t turn around without falling off the side of the mountain! We were seriously in the middle of Nowhere National Park!!!

Finally we found the “end of the road”! The river was beautiful, but we had no idea what we were about to find!

After about a 15 minute hike, this is what we saw…

Yes, those are my children climbing on big rocks again…

The waterfall and surrounding area was absolutely beautiful!

Who knew hiking could be so fun?! I definitely see more hiking in this family’s future!

After hanging out at the waterfall for a while, we hiked back down and played in the river for a while. The girls loved “finding” rocks and decided it would be easier if they took off their shoes so they could wade out in the water…we may or may not have waited until AFTER they got in to explain to them that the waterfall and river were formed by snow runoff! LOL! It didn’t take long for their feet to get numb and they were begging for their socks and shoes again!

While the girls looked for rocks, Ryan played a little baseball…

Out of all we have done on our vacation, I would say this was my favorite thing! Definitely worth it if you are ever in the area!

After having all the fun we could possibly have at Piedra Falls, we drove to South Fork. We have some friends who live in South Fork part of the year and were thrilled to get to spend some time with them. We just love Uncle Bill and Mrs. Liz!

We will be “based” out of South Fork for the rest of our trip, but will be making a couple of day trips to Lake City and Creede. I am so thankful for the memories we are making!

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 4

Our adventures today were not only fun, but educational! We got up this morning and drove to Mesa Verde to see the cliff dwellings.They were really one of the neatest things I’ve ever seen…seriously-who wakes up one morning and decides to build a house in the side of the cliff?!

You have to drive quite a ways into the park to get to the first dwelling. There are several places to stop and take in the views {and take pics of course!} along the way.

We saw a few of the houses from afar, but were able to actually go into the Spruce Tree House. Absolutely amazing!

It was so neat to walk where the Pueblo Indians used to walk. At the Spruce Tree House we were able to climb a ladder down to one of the underground kivas.

After taking in all we possibly could at Mesa Verde, we drove to Pagosa Springs.

We walked around downtown and checked out the hot springs…although we couldn’t figure out why anyone would pay to smell like rotten eggs-YUCK! We considered floating the San Juan River, but it turned out to just be too cold and we didn’t want to risk anyone getting sick for the rest of our adventures!

We found a fun place for dinner called Bogey-Q…BBQ for supper and then mini-golf afterwards! I’m pretty sure Ryan picked this place so he could show just how much better he is at golf than the rest of us! LOL! Ryan may have won in the end, but the girls like to remind him that they both got a hole-in-one and he didn’t!

After mini-golf we threw horseshoes for a while before realizing just how late it had gotten…times flies when you’re having family fun!

Tomorrow we will have a little more fun in Pagosa Springs and then head to South Fork.

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 3

This morning we got up bright and early to ride the train from Durango to Silverton City. I had heard this would be fun and we would see some really pretty scenery, but I had no idea what we were in for! This was an all-day affair, boarding the train at 7:30 am and returning to the station at 5:15 pm. We sat in an open-gondola car, which was great for the views, but we were covered in soot and cinders before the ride was over.

We had expected to see a lot of wildlife along the ride, but were surprised to see two HUGE mule deer bucks walking through a trailer park before we even made it out of Durango! Unfortunately they caught me by surprise and I didn’t get a picture of them. Other than a few prairie dogs and chipmunks, they were the extent of our wildlife viewing for the day.

To say the views from the train were pretty would be a gross understatement…they were completely BREATHTAKING! I was totally blown away by the awesomeness of the creation we saw today.

We had just enough time in Silverton City to grab a quick bite and do some shopping before getting back on the train.

When we got back to Durango, Ryan played golf at Hillcrest Golf Club and I took the girls back to the hotel to swim. We were all ready for bed tonight!

Tomorrow morning we head to Mesa Verde…

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 2

When I got up this morning to get ready, I went in the bathroom and it looked like someone had been attacked! Not even in the mountains yet and Maddie’s nosebleeds have already started. Poor girl is prone to nosebleeds anyway, but I was hoping she wouldn’t be too effected by them on our trip. I was wrong. Fortunately, she doesn’t let them bother her too much and after stuffing extra napkins and tissues in her car door, we were off to our new adventures!

The drive to Albuquerque was beautiful and the girls got more and more excited the closer to the mountains we got. We saw antelope on the way, too, and Ryan got to answer a gazillion questions about the different wildlife we will be seeing on our trip. We made an impromptu stop at the Alameda-Rio Grande Wetland Park to stretch our legs and then we were on our way to Durango.

We were so excited to finally make it to Colorado!

After getting checked into our hotel, we went downtown in Durango and walked around a bit and did a little shopping. We decided on “Serious Texas BBQ” for supper, which was good, but I have to say I‘ve had better BBQ actually in Texas!

I have discovered that my kids love climbing on big rocks! Tomorrow we ride the Durango-Silverton City train! Choo-choo!

The McKnight’s Go to Colorado ~ Day 1

Every summer we pack up and go to the beach…my favorite place on earth. Unfortunately, my hubby does NOT love the beach as much as I do. So, this summer we decided to do something a little different- Colorado…here we come! I have never been to Colorado before, so I can’t wait! We are going to try to pack in as much fun as we can over the next 9 days-train rides, hiking, cliff dwellings, golf, shopping, and July 4th festivities with friends! The girls are each keeping a journal of their memories from each day, so I figured I would too…

So here goes…

Well, technically on Day 1 we didn’t go to Colorado. We actually went to New Mexico. But after 14 hours in the car, New Mexico was far enough for me! The girls did really well traveling and Ryan & I were cracking up at their reactions to new sights. I have a feeling this is going to be the best family vacation we’ve ever had.

A few things I learned along the way today:

1. My child who I have to drag out of bed for school every morning will get up at 5:30 am on her own to get ready for vacation.
2. A flat tire will not ruin our fun. {FYI-the folks at Bacon Chevrolet in Frankston, TX are AMAZING}
3. Wind turbines will entertain my children for miles and miles and miles…
4. I’m pretty sure our children are deprived…their reaction when they saw a plateau was incredible. I can’t wait to see what they do when they see a mountain for the first time tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will be heading to Durango via a stop off in Albuquerque. Hoping to get lots of great pics along the way!