Day 18: Wed. 6/29: Durango and Bayfield Part II

Day 18:  Wed., 6/29: Durango, Co and Bayfield, CO

We got up and cooked breakfast about 10 feet from the beautiful pond and river right behind our RV.  We went fishing on the stocked pond and saw a buck and doe (deer) right across the pond.  Sam caught 2 fish, including another big one.  After breakfast and fishing, we took the bikes again to Durango to ride the paved trail along the Animas River again.  We went again to the BMX track and had fun trying to jump and do berms and bumps about 7 times each.  We talked to several people at the track this time as well as the time before who were all friendly, helpful and down-to-earth.  Such nice people in Colorado!  Then we rode north to watch the kayakers and rafters again in the rapids.  It’s so fun to watch them working the rapids on the river.  After that, we went to Walmart to stock up for the 4^th of July weekend—since we’ll be up in the mountains on a lake in the boonies.  It started hailing so hard and it was so loud on the roof of Walmart that we stopped shopping and went outside to be awed by dime sized hail pouring down hard.  Sarah, Ryan and I ran out into the hail in the parking lot to be pounded by the hail.  It hurt!!!  We had so much fun playing in it, being pelted by it, and seeing how hard it was coming down for about 30 minutes.  Incredible!  We then returned to our RV park and fished again before the rain came.  Sarah caught a fish!  Then rain then came and so we ate dinner and watched Monty Python’s The Holy Grail.  The kids loved the movie, as did Andrea (sort of ??? J ).  Unfortunately, the forecast shows bad weather (severe lightening storms) coming through the next 3+ days as we’re at Vallecito Reservoir in the mountains east of Durango. 

Andrea fishing across from our beautiful campsite.

Happy Sarah who caught her 16th fish today for the trip!

The view (reflections) from our RV.

Riding our bikes along the Anmas River on the beautiful paved bike path in Durango, CO.

We had fun watching the kayakers, white water rafters, and stand up paddle boarders riding the rapids.

Hail!  This picture doesn't do justice to how big the hail was or how hard it was coming down.  

Day 17: Tues, 6/28 Durango and Bayfield, CO

Day 17:  Tues, 6/28: Durango, Co and Bayfield, CO

We checked out of our campground in Durango and drove to the mountain bike trails behind Fort Lewis College in Durango.   We pulled over on the side of the road for 5 minutes watching a deer right next to our car eating and hanging out.   Then we mountain biked the trails—especially the “pump track” (a small BMX course with berms, bumps, and jumps).  We all had fun riding the many berms and doing small jumps for over an hour, improving our mountain biking skills and just having a great time.  Then we ate lunch at Ryan’s favorite—Denny’s.  After stocking up at Walmart in Durango, we drove about 20 miles to Bayfield to stay at the beautiful Riverside RV Park.  We rode our bikes through the campground and enjoyed hanging out with a yak and a recently-shaved alpaca there.  We rode along a stream with trout as well which we hope to fish tomorrow.  Then we grilled chicken 10 feet from a pretty fishing pond.  All 4 of us got bites and temporarily had fish on the line but they all got away since we have barb-less hooks.  After dinner, Sam went back out to fish and caught a 14 inch rainbow trout!!!  He was huge and heavy—probably the biggest fish Sam has ever caught in his life.  About 30 minutes later, Sam caught another big rainbow that was fighting like crazy.   Sam gave Ryan the fishing pole to reel it in most of the way.  Then the fish went on another run so Sarah got her turn battling the big fish.  When he was finally shore side and Sam went to grab him to release him from the hook, he got away on his own.  Wow—2 14 inch fish caught!  As it got darker, we enjoyed watching a mallard duck that flew into the pond and was swimming around eating things.  We also liked seeing 2 large heron fly by overhead.  The bats here are much larger than in La Crescenta.  It was fun to see them fly over us and eat bugs near us along the pond. 

Sarah riding a berm in Durango.

Andrea on the pump track flying through it.

Ryan tearing it up on his bike

Grilling chicken right in front of our RV!  This was our campsite! 

Sarah fishing.  Our motorhome is the one above her right hand right on the pond :).

Day 16: Mon 6/27: Purgatory Ski Resort near Durango, CO

About to do the zip line called the Purgatory Plunge ;)

Day 16:  Mon, 6/27: Purgatory (Durango Mountain Resort), Durango, Co

This is our 3^rd consecutive year doing these 40+ day RV summer trips and usually one of our absolute favorite days is going to the summer ski resorts for alpine slides, ropes courses, ziplines, etc.  Today, we had a wonderful time playing at Purgatory Ski Resort, now formally known as Durango Mountain Resort.  All four of us rode the fun zipline and the fast, exciting alpine slide.  When Andrea and Sam were racing on the alpine slide, Sam leaned too much and crashed at full speed on the course and got a nickel-sized burn on his elbow.   We all did the mechanical bull.  Ryan and Sarah learned very quickly and each said, “I shouldn’t ride at the rodeo.”  As usual, Andrea did the best at this.   Ryan climbed the rock wall many times—conquering the beginner and intermediate routes and trying his best at the advance route.  Sarah shot up really high on the bungee trampoline and enjoyed that sinking feeling in the stomach.  Although this was a small ropes course, we all loved the 9 different challenges.   The kids also ran in the water runners, which are basically hamster balls that humans run in in a pool about 1 foot deep of water.  Andrea and I loved watching them try to run inside the balls across the pool and then trying to run into each other in their balls.  They would constantly fall as they were running—it was hilarious to watch and for them to do (both times).  Sam took the chairlift up and mountain-biked down 3 different trails about 5 times.   All four of us biked down the incredible Divinity Flow Trail (intermediate rated).  This trail has great berms, bridges, forest runs, and steeps.  The kids were great.  Sam rode one last time up the chairlift to mountain bike down and saw a beautiful doe about 30 feet away.  He also saw a wild turkey about 10 feet away and many marmots (cute, chubby overgrown squirrels J ).   We had an awesome day of fun, challenge and adventure.  Sam and Andrea are most proud of the kids riding the intermediate mountain bike trail!

Ryan and Sarah on the Water runners. 

Sarah and Andrea on ropes courses

Andrea was the best of the four of us riding the mechanical bull.  Look at her face to see how much fun she was having!

That is pure joy (not fear :) ) on Sarah's face.

The Rocky Mountains around here are gorgeous.

Sarah about to fall on water rider

Ryan and Sarah on ropes coures

Ryan was a beast on the rock climbing wall.

Ryan on alpine slide.

Sarah on bungee trampoline

Day 15: Sun 6/26: Durango, CO

Day 15:  Sun, 6/26: Durango, Co:  Hiking the Dalla Mountain Trail, poker, movie night in RV

We got up and headed to the Dalla Mountain Trail in Durango to go for a short hike (3 miles max. roundtrip).  We hiked up a steep rocky trail which led to an easier path where people go bouldering.  We enjoyed scrambling and doing some mini rock climbs on many rocks along the trail.   These tall boulders (20+ feet tall) were nearly vertical and the most challenging scrambles we’ve done.   We were careful to spot the kids during their climbs.  We met a woman with her kids from New Mexico and showed them how to scramble up some of the rocks, too.  We saw several people either running, biking, or walking their dogs along the various trails that crisscross each other.  It’s great to see how outdoorsy people are in Colorado, especially the women.  Yesterday we noticed that most of the white-water rafting guides in Durango were women (so was Sarah/Sam’s fly-fishing guide), which we all thought was cool.  On the way back to the car, Ryan and Sam started picking giant dandelions and blowing their parachute-like seeds in the air.  These almost 3 inch tall x 5 inch long dandelions were everywhere and Ryan loved playing with them.  We discovered if you break off the long heavy stems and blow them, they fly a long distance!

When we got back to the campground, we iced Sarah’s foot which had started hurting during the hike.  Then Sam taught the kids how to play poker—5 card draw, 5 card stud, and especially 7 card stud.  We played poker for 2 hours having a great time as Ryan, with beginner’s luck, seriously won all of your money!  Then Andrea took Ryan to the grassy play area and kicked the soccer ball around until 2 other boys showed up and played with Ryan.  Andrea and Sam enjoyed walking around the camp and seeing the magnificent views of the red rock valley walls and seeing the old steam train go by as it toot its horn.  The big touristy thing to do in Durango is to take the 9-hour train to Silverton and back.   We’ve enjoyed seeing many of these trains go but we are also glad we did not take the long, expensive (did I say 9 hours!!!) train.  The views driving from Ouray through Silverton to Durango is magnificent and can be seen by driving (the train parallels the road for the majority of the trip to Silverton with a short diversion).  We felt it would be better to save the over $300 for all four of us to ride the train and to spend that money horse back riding next week instead J.

At night, we watched the movie Nacho Libre (Dad’s choice).  Dad and Sarah enjoyed the movie while Ryan thought it was good but weird.  Then there’s Andrea—she absolutely hated it and told us she can never get back those 2 hours of her life J. 

Fun steep scrambles up 20-30 foot faces!  Adventure!

This is way steeper than it looks.

Seriously over 4 inches wide and almost 3 inches tall!  Dandelion

Ryan blowing dandelion on 3 mile hike.