Ouray, Colorado

Ouray is also called the Little Switzerland of America.  That name is perfect to describe this amazing little town!!!  One of the first days the Paull's were there we made a little road trip to Ouray.  It was an amazing drive on what is known as the Million Dollar Highway because of it's million dollar views.  We traveled through the town of Silverton which is also a cute little place.  There is a train ride you can take from Durango to Silverton up through the mountains which would be fun to do sometime.

Much of our trip to Colorado was off of ideas from Jenny Rogers.  Her husband, Issac is from Durango and they go there at least twice  year.  It sure was nice to find out all kind of great things to do from someone that knows the area so well.  

She made me a whole list of things to do……..it was great!

One place they recommended was eating at Maggie's Cafe while we were in Ouray.

It was a cool little place……..you get to sign your name on the walls or tables, which the kids just thought was awesome!!

While eating lunch I realized we would get LOTS of funny looks with 10 kids and two adults in our party.  I can't even count the times during this week that we were asked if they were all our kids!

We just had to laugh!  I told Angela I was going to start telling people we were both foster parents. :)

Grant had been wanting a "Real" cowboy hat for quite some time.  You can imagine his excitement when we found one for him in Ouray!  Great souvenir choice I thought.

One of the things Ouray is known for, besides being gorgeous, is it's natural hot spring which they have turned into their community pool.  It was so awesome!

I was so glad I bought a water proof camera for this trip.

The pool had different areas that were different temperatures.  The main pool area was kept around 92 degrees, then there was a huge "hot tub" area which was a warm 106 degrees.  There was a lap pool section which was much cooler at 80 degrees and then a deep section where they had the water slide and some water toys for kids.  It was also kept much cooler around 80 degrees.

The water is all naturally heated and they actually have a very sophisticated water system which allows them to cool the water down to the temperatures they want.  The water naturally coming from the hot spring is up to 150 degrees so it needs to be cooled down.  Pretty amazing!

The kids had a wonderful time!  Look at the view we got to enjoy while enjoying the warm water.

Kiersten, Tasia and Olivia

The kids had fun taking pictures under water!

If you ever get a chance to go to Ouray please do it.  Such a fun little town.  There was snow on the peaks of the mountains surrounding the town.  I could have stayed at that pool all day.

Jack, Calin, Angela, Joe and Olivia

The kids thought this blow up race course was fabulous!

Hunter and Kiersten having fun racing each other.

Wow it's neck n neck! 

I have to admit I even took a couple of turns racing on this.

There is Logan having his turn.

I'd say by the looks of Hunter's face he thought Ouray was a pretty awesome place….wouldn't you!

What cute kids!

I sure enjoyed experiencing Ouray!  It way exceeded my expectations.  We have to go back some day with Justin for sure!

Calin, Jack, Olivia, Grant, Hunter, Tasia, Logan and Kiersten

What a group we have…….and we are missing Joe and Issac from this picture.

Before we went to the community pool we enjoyed walking Main street and looking in all the cute little shops!  The kids all got to pick out a candy a the candy store.

Love my "two girls"!

It's nice when you can please a kid with a tootsie pop!

Hunter had never seen an Astro pop.  When I told him they use to be my favorite sucker when I was a kid he was thrilled to get one.  He wanted me to take a picture and send it to Justin to show him as well.
So glad we made it to see Ouray!