Duragno Love II

So, where were we?

Ah, yes, my mother was ejected from the raft when we went over smelter rapids! The excitement!! She was a trooper. Really she was. She never let go of the raft, she hung on tight to that rope, and the guide had her pulled back up on to the boat in no time. Poor me, though. I could not see her wee hand holding on for dear life on the other side of the boat. I was turned around the other way focused on her sad little hat floating back behind the raft. Where was she? Why wasn't she coming up? Mom???  I was very relieved to find out her hat and her were not attached in the least. She misses that little hat, but I say hooray that they weren't together....

Mother-ejecting rapids were not excitement enough though, so the next day we headed to Purgatory -- not the way station somewhere between nirvana and the firey depths of hell -- but the local ski resort. I mean, why let that mountain resort go idle in the summer? Instead, create a super fun, super fast, super long luge course, and add zip lines, bungee tramp jumps, climbing walls and the like.

I was actually freaking out on the way up the ski lift to the luge start. It felt so open and high and easy to fall out of. (I realized about half way up that there was a safety bar to hold me and my youngest in. Yay.) And, truth be told, I was still freaking out when we doubled up in our little bobsled and took off down that mountain.

BUT..... so fun!

Hello, Tiff and Skyler!

Hello my girls, Mer clearly in the lead and lovin' it.

Hello Jack and Cappi working on your way-high-up-in-the-sky flips.

And on your distance-from-the-ground records.

And oh, hey Mer, working on that joy.

Oh, and hello there, Anneke, way closer to the ground. (psst... she didn't make it much higher than that!)

Who knew purgatory would be so beautiful?
 

 The next day we found ourselves on that very same road to Purgatory, but at a lower elevation.

A sweet operation called James Ranch, where you can get one hell of a lunch with one hell of a view and interact with cows and goats and chickens and even chipmunks.

Hello goat!

Aww.

This next duo of photos cracks me up. One of the staffers came down and said the goats needed to move to their pen for a few hours, and told the kids they could do it.

Whoa, hold on!

Wait, pull harder!

And finally, what would a family trip to Durango be without the obligatory old-timey photo? Here's the winning shot of my wild girls.