In part 3 of our Colorado Vacation Adventure, we headed over the Red Mountain Pass on the Million Dollar Highway into Silverton and eventually into Durango, where we would spend the evening with Alicia’s sister and her husband, Shirena and Clay.

First of all, I must apologize for taking NO pictures of our drive over the mountain passes. My wife always makes fun of me for taking photographs of scenery with no one in them, so the thought never occurred to me to snap some photos of the drive. But here are someone else’s pictures for your enjoyment!

They are in the process of repaving the roads on the passes, and we kept getting behind semis. So the lack of speed forced us to really enjoy the scenery. If you’ve never driven this road before, it’s an experience that you must do at some point in your life. You need a steady handed driver though; one who won’t be distracted from the scenery. One bad move on this road with no guard rails, and you’ll be tumbling down several hundred feet into river below!

We stopped in Silverton for breakfast at the Cow Palace Cafe. While Silverton is every bit as small a town as Ouray, the valley it resides in is much wider. It’s a funny looking small town. Again, no photos from us, so here is someone else’s from up high looking down into the town. About the only pictures we got of Silverton were inside the Cow Palace, as my daughter Olivia was playing with the camera as I was talking to Grandpa Kennon on the phone.

After breakfast and a quick walk through town (it was slow that morning, as the first Narrow Gauge train had not arrived), we headed on to Durango. We got to Shirena’s house and had lunch (fish tacos!). Later that night we took the girls to the rodeo. They had a great time. Let just say that I was excited for it to end.

The next day was the day of Shirena’s shower at their mom’s house in Farmington, NM. They headed on down, and I met Greg at Carver’s for lunch, and then we went river rafting down the Animas River. It was classified as Class 3 rapids, but I believe there were only two, both lasting no more than 10-20 feet. The rest of the ride was a leisurely tour of Durango from the river. Oh yeah, the most fun part of the trip was when the guide got the boat parked on a rock! It took him and one other guy out of the boat, and the rest of the six of us piled on top of each other on the back bouncing up and down to free up the raft.

After that Greg and I headed into Farmington, where 9 people would stay over at Pruda’s house. The next day was the drive to Taos, NM, and the kick off of the family reunion.