Today we woke up and made the incredibly scenic drive from Durango to Silverton.
We stopped at the top (Molas Pass Summit 10,910 ft) to check out the view.
In Silverton, we were delighted to learn that we arrived just in time for the parade. The parade was incredibly entertaining. They passed out candy (a recent trend I’ve noticed at parades), but the funny party is, they also had hoses and squirt guns and sprayed the audience, whether the audience wanted to be sprayed at all. They also fired muskets and had fighter jets. The whole thing was super eventful, and it really made our 4th of July fun.
We then went to Durango to walk around downtown and eat lunch
After lunch, we went to the Durango hot springs. Lily and I took turns going to the adult section while the other watched the kids. I passed out into a short and lovely nap with my feet dangling in one of the pools. Lily and I haven’t gotten the greatest sleep, so it felt delicious.
We then went back to downtown Durango to have dinner at a taco place. Clarissa fell asleep on the way. She was so heavy, but I just thought about how this may be one of the last times I carry my [no longer so] little girl in my arms fast asleep. That thought was enough for me to cherish the opportunity.
After dinner we got the most delicious ice cream at Cream Bean Berry. Lily and I agreed that their Colorado Cherry ice cream was the best one there (and one of the best we’d ever tasted. ever.)
We had the most wonderful day in Durango. We knew in advance the only drawback to our 4th of July plans was that we wouldn’t see any fireworks. The kids were disappointed in that aspect. But on the way home, we saw some fireworks going off. I turned into Mancos, where the fireworks were going off. The show lasted almost an hour, and I figure it costed half the city budget since the poplulation of Mancos is only about 1,350 people. We just happened to pull up to the exact field where we were launching the fireworks. They were right over our heads, and Lydia, Clarissa, Ammon and I were mesmorized. Mary and Lily were more concerned and watched from the car (though Mary did spend some time outside I think). It did start to get a bit crazy though when some of the fireworks touched down to the ground. At one point someone even ran to the field to put out a fire the fireworks had started (we were watching from the car at that point). You’ll see in a video below that after one firework that dropped sparks to the ground, Lily urgently requested we get in the car. I definitely think that was a good idea! We later found a spot that felt just as close, but was more safe. We all had the most wonderful night and multiple kids later reported the fireworks being one of their favorite parts of the whole trip. What an amazing day!!!!