aubren's first family vacation: durango!

aubren's colorado song:

"we're going to colorado this week, we're going to colorado this week
we're gonna ride a pony, or maybe a donkey
we're going to colorado this week!"

day one: roadtrip
our morning began at 3am, and the drive took 18 hours. aubren did incredible - she didn't complain once. it did help that she was sitting between two of her favorite girls, cousins kate and liese. my brother-in-law works for hertz, so he brought each of the girls a nickelodeon video player. since we don't have cable, aubren got her fill of never-before-seen episodes of dora, spongebob, blue clues, etc.


we stopped for brunch at the midpoint cafe in adrian, texas. the cafe is on historic route 66, and is where disney/pixar got the idea for flo's cafe in the movie Cars. the owner, fran, was characterized in the movie as "flo", and our waitress, christina, as "tia". in addition, the hamburgers and pies were great - if you are ever outside of amarillo you should definitely stop in!

we finally arrived at our cabin after 8pm, mountain time. it was beautifully set by itself on top of a mountain, with great views.




day two: durango mountain resort
on our first day in town we went to durango mountain resort and rode the alpine slide, which was fantastic until a badger decided to get in our way. aubren was too little for the slide (well, actually the lift to the top of the slide), but she did get to ride a horse named sandy. we had prepared her by telling her she would either be riding a pony or a donkey; when i exclaimed, "oh, aubren you get to ride a big horse," she suddenly got very apprehensive. once trey encouraged her to sit on it, though, she loved it!!



day three: relaxing
we decided to stay at the cabin on monday and just relax. there was no t.v. or internet access, so we spent the day outside playing on the wrap-around porch. aubren and her cousins had fun playing with play-doh, blocks, bubbles, and the multitude of rocks outside. it was so fun to watch aubren be creative and play along side the girls.





day four: fly fishing/spa/durango urgent care
it has been a dream of my brother-in-law's, robbie, to go fly fishing; so, the guys spent the day together at a remote stream in the mountains. my sister, amy, and i went to a spa and got pampered.




although the day was relaxing, it was also a little stressful. the day started out with aubren jumping and falling on her foot, after which she complained about her big toe hurting. usually she gets distracted easily, but she whined for a few hours and would not even let me touch her leg. when it started swelling and bruising, i called our pediatrician; the nurse recommended that we take her in for an x-ray. i just assumed that there was nothing that could be done, but it turns out that if a child breaks their big toe it can affect their balance and development. so, off we went to durango urgent care. aubren again did incredible - i was the one wincing when the doctor squeezed her toe. he said that she probably just sprained it and we needed to keep her off her feet - yeah, right!




day five: ouray, colorado
we drove 2 1/2 hours to ouray (the switzerland of america) to rent jeeps. unfortunately, when we arrived, the reservation had been mixed up and there were no jeeps available. we decided to go shopping and take a horse-drawn wagon tour through the town, where we learned some interesting stories, including one about the pastry chef who shot a waitress after an argument in a historic hotel. they locked him up in a wooden cell, and when the "vigilante justice" mob couldn't open the lock to hang him, they burned the cell down!

day six: relaxing (reprise)
my parents and sister's family went white water rafting, but we decided to stay at the cabin for our last day. we enjoyed the quiet and took a nap. we should have gone hiking, but i was too paranoid of bears and mountain lions!



day seven: albuquerque/sandia peak
we decided to break up the trip home a little, so we stopped in albuquerque and took the tram up to sandia peak - all 10,378 feet. the scenery was breathtaking, and aubren had fun riding in her backpack carrier. we ended the day with a swim at the hotel, and enjoyed sleeping in a king size bed with aubren. it was sweet because she cuddled up with trey all night; i finally switched sides with him about 4am, but when i came back from using the restroom, she had rolled all the way over to the other side and was again cuddling with her daddy!


day eight: home
it is always sad to drive home from a wonderful vacation, but what makes it worse is when you get in the car at 63 degrees and get out at 102!

the week was a great time of refreshment and relaxation for our family, and it was a fun first vacation experience for aubren. i look forward to making many more memories like this one!