Ouray CO part 2

 

After the heat and sun wore us out at the hot springs we went on a short hike near Ouray to see the waterfall in the gorge.  It's kind of cool to see all the abandoned mining equipment/mines in Colorado.

It was pretty cool.  Loud down in that cavern.

See abandoned mining equipment.

Then we went to get pizza, but after waiting an hour and a half, they forgot the pizza that we ordered for our kids.  It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been one of ours, but the kids were starving, and I was surprised they didn't even offer to lower the price, because then we waited another 45 mins for the kids' pizza.  Nobody was very happy because keeping kids occupied that long is near impossible (Leo took them to the park) and then we were going to shop and all the stores were closed by the time we finished eating.  

Waterfall in town.

Despite everything though, it really was a fun trip and so glad we made the effort to plan it and get together with Leo's family.  

On the drive home, Efraim was being hilarious.  He was playing on the gps and moved us to Russia and the ocean etc.  And then he started telling us all about those places, and then out of nowhere, for a good 45 minutes we were all in peels of laughter because he was telling us about Rainbow Land with lots of details--like the puffy clouds and unicorns, and Sad Land, and Scary Land, and Dream Land.  It was just so funny because he included so many details and it was just at random from his imagination but so specific. And thankfully we avoided hitting elk three times on the way home--we had the other two cars follow us because he's the most experienced not hitting deer thanks to Wyoming, if that's a thing?

Ouray, CO Part 1

The third day of camping with Leo's family we went to Ouray.  I thought they'd like that because we could spend more time in town and at the hot springs.  It was kind of hard planning for very different activity levels and interests.  Aleisha said camping is like being homeless on purpose, and neither her nor Cesar like outdoor anything.  Alex and Amy camp and hike all the time though and wanted to be out doing things.  Anyway, the day was lovely and the Colorado is seriously winning me over by its sheer beauty.

So gorgeous!!!

Our was a really neat town--very touristy, but how could it not be?  You can see huge waterfalls from main street?

We played at the hot springs, but that was pretty, umm, a very non-Utah experience.  They expected us to keep all kids under the age of 6 or 8 or something ridiculous like that within an arm's reach of an adult.  How is that even normal or fun for any child?  And they wouldn't let the younger kids do anything.  Lame. Needless to say, we received a lot of dirty looks and my kids were bored quickly.  So, I definitely do NOT recommend Ouray Hot Springs to families.  Adults only.

Orlando and Martha

Also, kind of funny, but Aleisha and Cesar scoffed at needing sun screen when I was slathering everyone up because they were used to Arizona's sun and were burnt pretty bad.  I forgot about the altitude change to warn them about it till I thought about it afterwards.  Altitude change gets you every time.

Leander and Elijah

Jubal and Santiago