Ouray

The rain fell steadily during the night, washing clean the dewy morning. I'm writing early, 6:30ish, before the children awake and chaos engulfs. It's peaceful, birds chirping and cool air splashing the face.

Today we have plans to travel north, to the small mountain peak community of Ouray, nicknamed the Switzerland of America. From what little information we have gathered, the drive north is steep and slow, filled with switchbacks that horizontally climb the peak.

The kids have mixed emotions about our plans, some of them even suggesting that we are "wasting" time that could be spent bungy jumping, zip lining and sliding down the mountain, instead driving to a different mountain town. This is funny to me because yesterday, after the girls finally got every single hair combed and we set out to conquer our backyard playground, we heard the same argument used by those who were afraid of the adventure ahead. Two of our four children have issues with fearfulness. One of our children is afraid of absolutely nothing (which actually scares me) and the other is mixed. It's an interesting conglomeration when we are setting out on family adventures. 

So, yesterday we purchased our lift tickets combined with the Alpine Slide down and immediately one of the kids was in tears. I spent 15 or so teachable minutes explaining to this frightened cub that we shouldn't allow anything to steal our joy and as long as our family felt the activity was safe, we should give it to God and step out in faith. Then the argument came back, what about what you've always told us...not to let other people talk us into things that we are not comfortable doing. Hmmm, don't you love it when they use your own advice against you? Finally, after more conversation, this frightened little cub agreed to go up with me and life for the six of us was good again. I thanked God for giving me the patience to work through the panic. 

The ride up the ski lift was beautiful, but it wasn't until I turned all the way around and looked behind me that I saw even more beauty! My seat-mate did a great job and was very brave as we were lifted, ever so slowly, to the top of the mountain. After successfully dismounting, we grabbed our sled and got in line for the slide down. So exciting! I gathered the kids for another photo and realized that the other frightened cub was quietly sobbing....I don't want to go down the fast slide. I'd rather walk down, but dad is making me go with him. He says he'll go slow, but I know he'll go fast. More tears. Thankfully they were short lived and soon we were all happily sledding down the mountain. 

Today, it's all they want to do and any fears are forgotten. For now, we're heading out to Ouray and then we've got dinner theater tickets in Durango later in the day.  

Tomorrow is the day all of us have most been looking forward to....an early morning train ride from Durango to Silverton, where we scatter to have lunch and browse a bit before returning to Durango via a river rafting adventure along the Animas River. 

Here's to smooth sailing and grand adventure!