More of our trip to the Mountains

Our trip to Durango was very nice.  I didn't really know what to expect of Durango, but it is a great little town.  It has a lot of touristy shops, restaurants and activities; seems to have a comfortable climate (at 7500 feet above see level); and is located in a very scenic area.

The Animas River runs right through the center of town and there are several companies that run rafting and kayaking trips and rent float tubes.  We rented this tube the last day and played in the river for a bit.

One of my favorite parts of our trip was our visit to Mesa Verde National Parks.  Every time I visit a new National Park, I am reminded of what treasures we have in our backyards!  Mesa Verde has Native American structures from 500-1300 AD.  These were built by the Pueblo tribes.  The most spectacular were the cliff dwellings which were built between 1200 and 1300 AD.  They were amazing!

Here are some pictures.  These four are from the Spruce Tree House.  Hannah was with us but she didn't end up in these.

As we waited for our turn to go on a ranger led tour of another cliff dwelling, we drove the Mesa Top Loop.  Here is Briton and Uncle Lance enjoying some scenery.  Also, here is a picture of another cliff dwelling that was not open to visitors, but that had a great view from the road.

These pictures are all of our tour of Cliff Palace - the largest of the cliff dwellings.  We didn't take Hannah on this tour because of the ladders and walking.  Lance, Bekah and Carter were our tour buddies.  It was very neat!

Our last stop in Mesa Verde was at the Junior Ranger station.  Abby enjoyed working on her booklet (and I enjoyed helping her) to receive her badge!

Here is a picture of cute little Hannah since she is painfully missing from this post:

Family in the Mountains

We have spent the past few days in Durango, CO with Mike's family.  We have had a very nice time enjoying the mountains...and especially the company!  One of the highlights was riding this train from Durango to Silverton.  It was a beautiful ride and the scenery was fabulous.  I do love the Michigan beauty, but visiting the west reminds me of how nice it is to be in the mountains.

Here is a picture of the entire group.  It is fun to have everyone here.

In addition to the train ride, we've enjoyed visiting some places in Durango as well as relaxing in the rental house.  Grandma brought bubbles and sprinklers for the kids to play in.

After the sprinklers we bribed the kids with cookies to get a picture of all 7 of them.  I was very impressed with their response:)

We went to a fish hatchery.

This might be my favorite recent picture of my children.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  We had a relaxing (yet fairly productive) day and ended it with a barbecue with friends and a visit to the St. John's fireworks display.  This was our facebook inspired creation at dinnertime.  Our friend, Cheryl, helped put it together and perhaps it added to our display of patriotism!

 

On the Friday following the 4th, my friend, Crystal, and I went to see Wicked.  We had a really nice time.  While we were gone, Mike and the kids did fireworks in front of the house.  

  

Ford Stuff

After 3 1/2 years of living in Michigan there are (of course) plenty of things for us to still see and do in our new "neighborhood".  Yesterday we got to check one more thing off of our list.

Yesterday we started the day at the temple.  It was lovely and Mike and I got to enjoy a very nice morning together.

After the temple, we drove to Dearborn (25 or so minutes) to go on the Ford Factory Tour.  We've wanted to go on a vehicle factory tour for a long time and really enjoyed it.  Their were two videos at the beginning (that were pretty interesting) and then a walk around the factory overlooking the in progress work of building trucks.  It was mind boggling how intricate the process is.  It is huge and really neat.  We saw bare bones truck parts and fully-functional-drive-off-the-lot trucks.  They don't allow pictures in the factory, but here is one that Abby snapped of Mike and I in a small gallery at the visitors' center.

 

After we finished the tour the bus took us back to the Ford Museum/Greenfield Village.  We have used our pass to visit the museum a couple times, but had never made it to the village.  It is somewhat reminiscent of Nauvoo or This is the Place, but I believe it is quite a bit bigger.  We were only able to stay for an hour before it closed and we had 3 hot children so we didn't see much, but it certainly got us excited to come back for a full day!