Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy Birthday America
We spent July 4 in Durango. We arrived here around 10:45. We walked down Main St, then had lunch at the Saloon attached to our hotel. The girls loved the atmosphere, and the waitress, Ashley. Then we drove to the north end of town for our 1:45 rafting trip down the Lower Animas river with Mild to Wild Adventures. It was incredible. There must have been 150-200 people going at the same time. They had to get life jackets to everyone and then load us all up into buses (with trailers for the rafts) and drive us about ½ a mile to the put-in.
Our guide was named Jen, and she did a wonderful job, both of navigating the river and entertaining (and putting up with) the kids. We were a little concerned ahead of time because we weren’t sure if Jessie would like it, but it worked out great. She started with a pretty good attitude and then really warmed up to it. In the only class III rapid (Smelter), she got sprayed pretty good and was really smiling. Everyone had a good time, but Patty, Kelly and Kate would have liked a little more action.
We got back at 6:00, drove back to the hotel and got to our rooms. After we freshened up, we went out to try to find some dinner. Main St was pretty packed and there was a band playing in the street. After walking several blocks, we eventually found our way back to the Saloon where we had had lunch and had dinner there too. Ashley (who worked the entire day) was still the only waitress in the place. We had a good meal, walked the town some more, got some ice cream and then sat behind the hotel and watched the Durango fireworks display. It was a great show that lasted over 30 minutes. Now we’ve put the kids to bed and are about to crash ourselves.
It was a great 4th, and ended up being very similar to what I had envisioned / hoped. J Tomorrow morning there are a number of things we’ve talked about doing – we’ll see which we get done and then it’s off to Molas Lake campground (at 10,500 feet), just outside Silverton.
Our guide was named Jen, and she did a wonderful job, both of navigating the river and entertaining (and putting up with) the kids. We were a little concerned ahead of time because we weren’t sure if Jessie would like it, but it worked out great. She started with a pretty good attitude and then really warmed up to it. In the only class III rapid (Smelter), she got sprayed pretty good and was really smiling. Everyone had a good time, but Patty, Kelly and Kate would have liked a little more action.
We got back at 6:00, drove back to the hotel and got to our rooms. After we freshened up, we went out to try to find some dinner. Main St was pretty packed and there was a band playing in the street. After walking several blocks, we eventually found our way back to the Saloon where we had had lunch and had dinner there too. Ashley (who worked the entire day) was still the only waitress in the place. We had a good meal, walked the town some more, got some ice cream and then sat behind the hotel and watched the Durango fireworks display. It was a great show that lasted over 30 minutes. Now we’ve put the kids to bed and are about to crash ourselves.
It was a great 4th, and ended up being very similar to what I had envisioned / hoped. J Tomorrow morning there are a number of things we’ve talked about doing – we’ll see which we get done and then it’s off to Molas Lake campground (at 10,500 feet), just outside Silverton.
# posted by Craig @ 7:06 PM 
