Summer Vacation

 We had a great family vacation.  This year we headed to the Grand Canyon and stopped along the way in Telluride and Mesa Verde.  We were able to break up the road trip into nice chunks by stopping for a couple of days at each place.  After spending a night near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we drove through Ouray to Telluide.

 Greg was excited to take the Ophir Pass between Ouray and Telluride. It is a road that requires a 4 wheel drive.  My car made it, but it was a little dicey at times, especially right over the pass covered by a rock slide road.  Ryan was pretty nervous about the drive and Luke was ready to get to our destination, so the experience was a little lost on them, but Greg really enjoyed it.

 Telluride was amazing.  It was everyone's favorite part of the trip.  We stayed in a beautiful mountain condo and enjoyed a couple of hikes and the great town.

 The boys loved the giant trampoline.  Neither was interested in jumping as high as possible, but they loved it.

 Luke screamed while he was jumping "Telluride is awesome."

 Ryan just screamed at the top of his lungs the whole time.

 We loved being so close to the gondola and being able to swim at 9500 feet.  I can totally see us coming back here several times.

 We also hiked to Bridal Veil Falls and all 3 boys loved throwing rocks into the water.

 Our next stop was Mesa Verde.  Ryan and Luke liked climbing down into the cliff dwellings, but it was a hot day, so they were done after 2.

 

The Grand Canyon was pretty amazing.  The views weren't the best due to the forest fires, but it was still spectacular.  We hiked about a mile down into the canyon, and then hiked back up - which was the tough part.  Ryan would like to hike to the bottom some day and Luke would like to take a white water raft trip - perhaps when they are little older.

 After our hike we drove around the rim.  Luke was more interested in reading his book than the view.

 Overall, it was a great vacation.  I think next year I would like for us to go somewhere and relax without being on the go so much.  But we were able to see a lot and we had a wonderful time.