On the way to Durango from our little cabin on Vallecito Lake, we made the spontaneous decision to let the big girls go on a horseback ride while Jason stayed with the two little ones and did a pony ride. The "Big Corral" was an awesome experience for everyone!
Amy felt almost at home on her trusty horse "Mesa", but her sore bottom at the end of the ride said otherwise.
Ashtyn did a great job managing the most stubborn horse, whose name was "Fred".
Alyssa wasn't quite old enough to control her own horse, but she loved being led while riding "Scooter".
The trail ride was along the banks and hillsides around Vallecito Lake. It is a beautiful area, even with the damage from a 2002 forest fire still evident along the hillsides.
This grove of young aspens was a highlight of the trail ride.
The girls were smiling the whole ride!
Jason stayed back with the little ones, who loved riding their pony around the corral. Aubrey enjoyed petting the horse while she rode.
Jantzen spent a long time on his little pony ride and he may turn into a cowboy yet!
After spending a couple of hours at the "Big Corral", we stopped for lunch at the local Market. It turns out that they have some of the best Mexican food that we have ever tasted! Their queso was incredible!
After lunch, we ventured off to Durango, which was about a 30 minute drive from our cabin by Vallecito Lake. That 30 minute drive, which we did about 6-8 times, was actually a highlight of the trip, with beautiful scenery as well as wildlife.
In Durango, we went straight to the railroad museum. Right outside was a statue of three horses, which were ridden and named by the kids (Spirit, Rain, Qweezo).
We elected to skip the 3-hour train ride from Durango to Silverton (it would have cost us over $350) and visited the FREE museum instead. It was great!
Jason and Jantzen were literally hypnotized by the toy train display. It was huge and we could have watched the trains going around all day long.
This was a great shot of the family by the train tracks right outside the train museum. The museum was built inside of an old wheelhouse, which is still used today.
The kids loved "chillin'" on the old-time bench outside the train booth.
This may have been the first telephone booth that the kids have ever seen. They enjoyed stuffing themselves inside and laughing.
For the evening meal, we decided to skip the restaurant scene, so we stayed home and made spaghetti instead. It tasted great and we all enjoyed playing around the cabin, as seen by Alyssa playing with Aubrey below.
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