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!!!!
Lily and I didn’t sleep a ton because of the wind and the rain at night, but our amazing $100 Walmart tent kept us bone dry inside. In the morning, we had the most amazing avocado toast. Lily really pulled all the stops food-wise on this trip. She was inspired by a recent camping cooking book she bought at the bookstore we explored on her birthday.
We then got our stamps at the visitor’s center and we got junior ranger books for the kids. They worked on their books while waiting for the dancing.
I love this statue so much. To me it captures the feeling, intensity, and energy involved of scaling a cliff. What a life it was for them!
We then saw a rain dance by some incredible Hopi dancers.
We then drove on the Mesa Top loop and listened to an audio tour that Lily downloaded in advance: https://www.nps.gov/podcasts/podcasts-mtl-audiotour.htm. Partway through the tour we had a wonderful picnic with food Lily had prepared:
This is a pit-house. It would have had a roof made of wood and adobe I think.
After the amazing Mesa Top Loop, we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Cortez.
After dinner, we hiked about 30 minutes on the Knife Edge trail near our campground. It was soooo windy, but still such an incredible and scenic hike. The kids had spent a lot of time in the car, so it was great for them to exercise as well.
Parts of the hike were super windy
At night, Lily and I both woke up at 3:45 AM didn’t sleep great after that (Lily maybe didn’t sleep at all), and our air-mat lost a bunch of air. But the tent and camping experience charmed us all. Before bed, all the kids either red books (older girls) or colored (younger kids) for a solid half hour, before getting tired and falling asleep. It was a very sweet tent scene and I love our children sooo much.
This morning I woke up and got some work done. Then Lily and I finished packing and we hit the road about 11.
The drive to Mesa Verde was very pretty and we especially enjoyed some clouds along the way.
In the car we listened to a Mormon Stories podcast about the Great Salt Lake dying as well we the second book in “How to Train your Dragon”. It was all about Hiccup finding Grimbeard the Ghastly’s treasure. We LOVE that series.
We arrived at our campsite around 6 and had plenty of time to set up camp, cook the amazing tinfoil dinners that Lily prepared, and eat. We also enjoyed cinnamon rolls and banana boats for desert!
Cinnamon rolls
It rained at night, but our tent (which we are so fond of) kept us dry!
Today Lily rested a lot to get over her sickness, and all the rest paid off. We think she’s turning a corner! Lily also took Lydia to her chemistry camp (With Emerson) and then went to Everbowl with Lydia afterwards.
I was very absorbed in my end-of-quarter deals and other workload and Mary, Ammon and Clarissa played adorably for a long time today. When Lydia got home, she joined the fun. The kids played so well together today (although Clarissa did have some moments). It was so heart-warming to see them all play together for hours.
Tonight we watched Baking Impossible as a family. Everyone loves this show. In fact one of my recent memories was Clarissa running to me while I was in the bathroom the other day and she was shouting something to the effect of, “Dad, dad, you got to see this, you go to see this!” She was watching Baking Impossible and was insistent that I watch a particularly exciting part. Lol.
I didn’t sleep much last night due to going to bed late and an early meeting, I’m behind on work and it’s the end of the quarter when things get really intense. Thus, I was SOOOO happy to take the kids to the pool and get off a little early today. It’s so sad that Lily has still been feeling sick so she stayed home. It was cloudy and a bit cold, but we still had a really good time. It was really fun to all watch and cheer for Ammon as he did crazy things off the diving board. See below!
Today the kids spent a lot of time playing. It was so adorable. The girls all dressed in matching outfits and wore pig tails and played together upstairs. Lily got some cute pictures and a video.
After playing, Mary worked on piano, and Ammon did a little to. Then Lydia had a harp lesson and Mary and Ammon went to a kids camp that Eli and some friends hosted to make money for the summer. After the kids camp, Eli came over to play. He entertained the kids with sock puppets and everyone had a lot of fun playing. Eli even made his own sock puppet in the craft room. We love Eli!
Eli also stayed for dinner. Lily made the most DELICIOUS mushroom soup. Also, Lily and I talked a lot about our future today, including things we are concerned about (such as the Great Salt Lake drying up and political instability) and where we may want to live long term.
At night, Lydia and Mary had the most amazing time playing dolls. I was filled with so much joy just watching their deep play time.
I was up very late because of a late nap I took. But it gave me a chance to blog our camping trip and watch some Spartacus, Blood and Sand.
In the morning, we were relatively efficient. I cooked oatmeal for everyone, and then Lily and I broke camp while the kids played. Clarissa had fun looking at the flower chart.
And all the kids had so much fun playing in the surrounding area while Lily and I broke camp. Ammon found a lean-to that someone built and he had so much fun pretending the shelter was his home. He told me he built it, “but not for real, just in the game” and he also told me this was the basement.
Then we all packed up and left. We were very efficient getting back. Clarissa told me all about the Master Swords spelling game on the Alexa, and she was so excited telling me about it that she just walked and walked and walked without complaining. We were back to the car in under an hour.
I wasn’t quite as diligent with wearing my head-net and long-sleeves as everyone else was. Everyone got bites, but I think I got the most.
On the ride home there was a man with an owl at Echo rest stop. He said the owl had been in yellowstone and Harry Potter. He let the kids pet the owl.
At home, Lily got everyone clean while I went and got Basil clean and picked up a menchies cake (and itch cream). At home we all had amazing soup that Lily made and a great salad and then watched a baking show together.
What a clean and cosey way to end our our weekend in the woods!
I was up past 1:00 last night packing for our trip to Tamarack lake. When I was a kid, my dad would take the family backpacking. Now that Clarissa is old enough, I’m fulfilling my dream of taking my family backpacking in the Unitas. We left by 10:00 and went through Wyoming to get to the Northeast side of the Uintas to go to Tamarack lake (near Spirit lake). I chose the East side because the mosquitos are supposed to be better there……
On the drive, Basil had an incredible time when we rolled down the window:
We had lunch near the trail-head. I had just figured out how to get my gopro to work so I was having a lot of fun with that. Here are some scenes from lunch:
When we arrived at the trail, we noticed two things. First, the mosquitos were completely out of control. Fortunately, I brought head-nets which is a trick I learned from my dad on one of our backpacking trips when the mosquitos were totally nuts.
Secondly, we noticed that Basil was literally in heaven. And his fluffy coat protected him from mosquitos! See Basil’s bliss below:
I have to really hand it to my family. Backpacking is not particularly comfortable for any of them, and Lily is still getting over a sinus infection. And even with the crazy mosquitos everyone still did a good job hiking and making fun memories.
We brought along a flower guide that Lily purchased during our birthday date in Park City (at a cute bookstore). It was fun identifying flowers such as the mountain marsh marigolds (if I remember correctly).
The hike was only 1.4 miles, but it felt like plenty, especially with the mosquito situation. Our campsite was AWESOME. There was a great place for the tent, multiple firepits, a lake view, and great play areas for the kids. Here is Lily taking a video of the camping area:
Here is some footage of the lake
First I got the fire going, and then we got the tent set up.
Once the tent was up, the kids played and laughed and giggled and recorded videos, much like they did last year after the tent got set up in Kolob canyon.
Playing a card game, I think it is called something like taco, goat, cheese, pizza, compliments of a Qualtrics gift box a year or two ago.
I took these pictures because I was enjoying the smoke in the sunlight
Also similar to Kolob canyon, I made Tuna noodle helper, which everyone loved:
Eating S’mores was definitely a highlight, and I really enjoyed sitting next to Ammon as we both polished off our second S’more.
Basil was required to wait outside the tent until it was bed-time (as he wasn’t super clean). He did his fair share of whining…poor guy.
At last it was time to all go to bed and yes, to invite Basil inside the tent.
We had so much fun being with Basil and trying to get him to use his doggy sleeping bag that Lydia picked out for him last year.
At night, I told the kids a story before going to bed. It was one of my better stories (Lydia was still thinking about it on the trail the next day), so I’ll capture the bone structure here:
There is a magic society where people have very extreme super powers. Some people can summon fire from the sun, some people can live forever etc. Anciently a strict government was set up to make sure there would be order amidst all this power. So there is a super controlling government and people are only allowed to use their powers in ways the government dictates. Everyone receives orders every day on what to use their power for to benefit their community. But if someone uses their power in any other way, they will go to jail and their are government guards, agents and messengers everywhere. Also, the government is super secret. There is a huge government building and nobody knows who is in it. Know one knows the guards are either. No one knows who makes the laws or who is in charge, they just receive rules and orders mysteriously from the messengers. The story is about a brother and a sister. The brother’s super power is he can create animals just by thinking about it. His jobs often involve stocking lakes with fish for people to eat. His sister, Sabrina, has a gift that she can make things smell really good and she has the unpleasant job of walking the dirty streets every day and making them smell better. Then one day she discovers she can also harness lightning (she finds out by shooting it accidentally at someone who was stealing bread and she just reached out to tell him to stop). She told her parents about her second gift. No one had ever had a second gift before. Her parents were part of a secret underground society that believed the government needed to change and be more healthy. More transparent and democratic. They told Sabrina to hide her power and not to tell anyone because the government would control it, and she might need it someday. Five years go by and then all the underground society people (who are also largely pacifist) decide to leave and start their own society. But the government guards catch them and stop them in the process. The people in the underground society now know they are marked and watched and they feel the government is going to tighten their watch on them. So they decide to make a move and attack the government building to try to take over the government. The underground society is beaten back by guards and they are about to lose when the brother and sister step in to action. Their parents told them to stay away for their safety, but they were watching everything. The boy creates ten grizzly bears that storm the government building and the sister shoots everyone with lightening. The beat everyone in the building, but then start searching for the central room where they figure the leader must be. The find the main command room and find an old man there. They are about to capture and bind him and he pleads for his life. He explains that when he took office 40 years ago, the leader who passed the office to him told him that the ways of the government were ancient and had been that way for thousands of years keeping order. The previous ruler explained to him that the secrecy, the strict controlling of powers, all of it was essential to keep order and he had to swear on his life to continue the government the way it had always been done. So the leader pledged his life to running the government the way it had always been done, but not that it was toppling, he admitted to the brother and sister, he had many concerns about the model, and he wanted to be a part of their team to find a better way to govern. Then the group of the underground society, the brother and sister and the old man all decided to form a new government. And I stopped there because I literally didn’t know what kind of a government would work with people that were so powerful. I still don’t know. If I were to keep writing the story, I think it would explore the tension there. Like maybe they would have a democracy and it would be crazy chaotic and there would be wars and problems, and the reader would need to ponder if that was the best model and better than the former…
Lily and I didn’t sleep much, especially since Lydia woke us up when she was having trouble falling asleep, and Clarissa crawled in our sleeping bag. But I was so happy. My heart felt full. I was camping and I was doing it with my favorite people. And even though Lily was not comfortable for most, or possibly all of the trip, she has effused constantly about how valuable the experience was for her and the kids, and I couldn’t be more grateful to share this day with everyone. Today was a great day! Oh, and it turns out mosquitos can also be nightmarish on the East side of the Uintas too…..
Lily worked her tail off cleaning the house and folding laundry today (while listening to a Mormon Stories pod-cast of a friend she made in Europe who is now a star in the new Hulu show “Mormon No More.”) I also worked super hard to try to get on top of my work load. While we were doing that, the kids played together incredibly well. They played a lot of Charades and we caught some videos to capture their play. Most of these are ones we took of Clarissa after everyone played because we wanted to recreate what they were doing and get some of it on camera.
The kids have been loving summer. Clarissa has been so cute and today she protested about going to bed because, “I love this day!”. She has said a variation of this recently and I’m so happy she is finding so much joy in her days.
