Pagosa Springs/Silverton

 Pagosa Springs/Silverton Highlights.

   Last weekend started a little roadtrip to Pagosa Springs with my sister, her kids, my dad and his little family, me and my girls.  We were able to squish me and my girls in my sisters car for the ride down.  The trip down took 12 hours.  Would have been shorter, but we stopped in Arches National Park for a quick hike to stretch our feet. My sister will tell you that we HAD to stop since I have never actually been into the park, even though I drive through Moab quite a bit.

Delicate Arch.  quick upper viewpoint hike with the kids.

pretty view of the Devils Garden.

      Surprisingly the 4 little girls in the car did really well on the trip down.  Guess it helps when you have snacks and movies to bribe them.  Pagosa Springs is a cute little town in Colorado that has natural hot springs.  My dad was able to get 2 little condos for all of us to stay in just on the outskirts of town.

This was our view from the condo.

Saw this balloon every morning. The kids looked forward to finding it in every day.

   One evening, we took a drive up Wolf Creek Pass, and found the Continental Divide trail!  I think I was the most excited. Do you remember your geography??   The Continental Divide is like the backbone of the continent.

"The Continental Divide in the Americas is the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. Rain or snow that drains on the east side of the Continental Divide flows toward the Atlantic Ocean while precipitation on the west side drains and flows toward the Pacific Ocean."

   Another afternoon, we went into town to try these natural hot springs.  The smell of sulfur was terrible...like rotten eggs, but this little resort had 23 pools, each a different temperature.  One little pool was called the Lobster Pot, and was 111 degrees. OUCH. we put our toes in, but that didn't last very long, definitely too hot. The kids loved the other pools, and going down near the river where the hot springs flowed into.



a view of the hot spring resort and the river.

  On the last day before we had to leave, we all drove down to Durango to catch a bus that would take us to Silverton where we would catch the train back to Durango.  Silverton is a great little old town nestles in the San Juan Mountains.  Silverton used to be a mining town which started around the 1870s, and only stopped minig in the early 1990's, but a lot of the old victorian achitecture is still there. The roads are mostly dirt, they only put in sidewalks about 5 years ago, and there's a guy giving stage coach rides.  Very charming little town that I hope to visit again.



Here is the Durango/Silverton train in Silverton before we left.

The whole crew on the gondola back to Durango on the train. 

   The next morning we packed up everything, all the kids in the car, and headed home.  We barely stopped, made good time with 9 hours to get back home.  Colorado is a very beautiful state, and we had a lot of fun with the family.  The kids all get a long...which is a bonus.  (If you are a friend of mine, I have more pictures posted on facebook!) 

8 of the 9 kids, in order of height, eating popscicles.