D3 Silverton

Early on everybody headed out to the trails to hike up to ice lake. Kim has been nursing a hockey injury so we decided to hang back. 

We ended up at the same trailhead and hiked up to a nearby waterfall. There has been rain every day so the waterfalls are gushing! 

We made our way down and back to the stream we found on the bikes the day before. Amelia is fearless when it comes to cold water! She threw rocks and waded around the icy waters while Kim painted and I read. Amelia wasn't very happy hiking there, but all was well when we arrived!

It started to rain and we headed back for the cabin. The fam was right behind us and we all spent the afternoon playing games and preparing a feast of trout caught the day before.  Goooooood eatin!

I went for a hike in the evening, and that might Jamee played Aggravation for the first time. It was an Olden right of passage!

D2 Silverton

Day 2 and the whole fam decided to go fishing at one of my favorite spots, Andrew's Lake. Amelia was a total handful so Kim and I headed back early.

Kim and I spent the day reading and painting, and I took Amelia down to the creek to throw rocks. We heard the train roll in to town so we had to check it out. The train runs from Durango to Silverton and is one of the last narrow gauge coal powered trains running.

The fam made it back and Ma offered to watch Amelia while Kim and I went for a ride. We drove out on a four wheel drive trail for about 45 minutes until we realized the the road was the mountain bike trail we looked up. We got to a point where we were sick of driving and turned back. The views were incredible but it was annoying watching from the car.

We made it down, found some good single track that led us to a beautiful creek that reminded me of chilling falls in Malaysia. 

That evening we boozed it up, watched the Bachelor finale (hence the booze) and had some excellent green chili stew. 

D1 Silverton

The first day in town it's always best to take it easy, in my opinion. I had a long coffee morning and played with Amelia. In the afternoon I rode about 15 miles on the bike.

It is just good to be on the mountains! In the evening we had a big dinner with the whole fam, and I read until I passed out on the couch. Not a super eventful day, but nice and relaxing.

Santa Fe to Silverton

Today was a great day.  We woke up in Santa Fe and headed to Farmington. We've driven this route many times and have loads of excellent memories from the area.

In Farmington we met up with our longtime friend Bern. It is always good seeing him and got to catch up on news from the coal mine I used to work at.

We picked up some groceries and even swung by our old house before we hit the road again. I truly miss the big sky and beautiful views in Farmington.

We closed out the day driving through a heavy rainstorm down into Silverton.

The family Olden were all waiting for us in the most beautiful cabin I've ever been in.   I don't deserve such luxury. We all walked into town and pa bought us dinner at Handlebars, our usual spot.

Everybody is a bit tired from the drive, so we are all sitting around, reading and enjoying the epic view of Kendal Mountain.