{colorado}

okay... so i know its been a long time coming... but here's the highlights from our colorado trip [and then hopefully after this post i'll be all up to date! :) ]

by the way... we went with dave and kristy [dad's sister and bro-in-law] and their girls ashley and lexi.

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saturday
we drove to the cabin in nutrioso and went to "nutrioso days." its basically an annual pit barbecue and dance... there were a bunch of kiosk-y things selling homemade jewelry, art, recipe books, sweaters, and other stuff. we used to go as a whole big group of farr cousins... but i havent been in years. it was fun... but not quite as much fun as i remember! lol... then we went to back to the cabin... and went to bed. hahaha... it was an eventful day!

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sunday
uncle dave and aunt kristy made pancakes and fried eggs for breakfast... which were delicious, as always! then we went to church [at noon instead of 10... it was lovely to be able to sleep in!] we came back... watched baptists and our barbecue and that was pretty much it.... it was a very relaxing sunday! oh... and we made s'mores. mmm.... oh and we drove up to terry flat loop... it was beautiful up there! :)

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monday
we got up all types of early to begin our drive to the big c-0. we drove through eager, st. johns... stopped in sanders for a potty break then made it to gallup, new mexico for lunch at wendy's. while we were there, kelsey was almost abducted. she went out to the car to get the map... she came back nearly in tears, naturally we asked what was wrong. she said that while she was out there... and old creepy indian man said, "come over here, ma'am." kelsey [being the quick thinker that she is] swiftly replied, "i can't... my lunch is hot." when she told us that... i burst out laughing... that was not a very good excuse, but i suppose you do what you gotta do to not be kidnapped... hahaha [im laughing as i am typing this... oh man... it was just so funny!] we continued our drive up through shiprock and farmington [both in new mexico] and finally made it to our destination of durango, colorado. we checked in to our hotel... which was right along the animas river... it was a very fun hotel [we had a balcony and everything!] we walked around durango... went to dinner, and window shopped all the cute little stores!

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tuesday
this was an eventful day, let me tell you! it began [very early] with a river rafting excursion! it was kinda more of a river floating excursion, plus a few little stretches of baby white water... but it was so stinking fun!! we all had an absolute blast! we had these crazy hippy tour guides with some self-pronounced b.o. [boater odor... lol. and it was very much true!] me kelsey tino ashley and lexi were on one boat, dave and kristy were on anther [with other random people] and then mom and dad were on another. it was really fun with just the kids on a boat... and our guide, jamie, was lots of fun... she told us all types of random history facts as we floated down the animas river. she told us about this park named after a prostitute and how the college students ski on the college roofs and about big floods and stuff, pretty interesting!


after that we went back to the parking lot, and changed clothes for the train ride to silverton. actually... we took a bus/shuttle van thing up. walked around, ate lunch, got souvenirs and took a whole lot of pictures! the train ride back to durango was seriously 3 hours long... but oh so fun!! i think uncle dave was getting mighty tired of all the picture taking... but we were having a blast! after we got back to durango, we grabbed some food and drove to cortez where we checked in to hotel #2. we were all pooped.

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wednesday
we got up [all types of early, again] and went to mesa verde national park with our fam plus dave and lexi [kristy and ash were feeling sick so they stayed at the hotel]. i was thoroughly fascinated with the cliff dwellings in that park... we learned about the ancestral puebloans who used to live there [the archaeologists or whoever arent calling them anasazi anymore, because if pronounced correctly in the navajo tongue [or perhaps incorrectly] it means "ancient enemies"... and they dont to promote negative feelings towards them. lol. whatev.] anyway... we got to go to balcony house and walk around [and climb through little holes and up really tall 30 foot ladders] and then we went to the cliff palace... which was huge! and then balcony house... where we got to go inside a kiva... pretty sweet. we stayed almost all day, then came back and went to a cemetery and found some farr grave sites and stuff... my mom bought flowers to place on all of the relatives' headstones [oh and we didnt really know where the grave sites were... so we had a contest to see who could find them first... austin won and got 5 bucks. haha.] then we went to dinner and then came back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub.

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thursday
we all drove up to ritzy telluride... it was a really neat little town with tons of cute [and seriously expensive] little stores. but the best part was the gondola ride... we rode into this little town called mountain village and it had huge expensive condos and hotels... it was pretty amazing. we walked around for a bit, got some lunch, and austin did this cool trampoline-jumpy thing. then we rode the gondola some more... then walked around telluride even more [and bought t-shirts and other souvenirs]. the weather was super crazy there... one minute it would be really warm and the sun was shining and the next it was seriously cold and raining.... bizarre. lol. everybody up there had dogs, it was the coolest thing! and not just little sissy lap dogs, but big sportsy looking dogs... i loved it!
after that we drove... somewhere else and saw my dad's cousins monica and sheldon. they live on a really pretty farm... it was the original hunter homestead. pretty impressive. this was the first time i had met them. we didnt get to stay too long, but it was a very nice visit anyway! we went to a really yummy mexican restaurant when we got back for dinner... i loved the way it was decorated! so we got some cute pictures in there too! haha....

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friday
the oversons left early friday morning to go back home. [we really did have such a fun time with them!! :) ] and so our family started the drive back to the cabin. our first stop was the 4 corners monument. i can now say i have been in 4 states at once! lol... it was a really neat stop [apparently there is some debate on whether or not the monument is on the actual spot where the 4 corners meet... but regardless, it was awesome!] we got some fun souverniers and some fun pictures from there too!


then we stopped in chinle and drove through canyon de shelly and saw the painted desert... it was a beautiful park with tons breathtaking canyons... it even had some cliff dwellings like mesa verde.


after that we drove through the petrified forest... dad picked up this cool cd, it had narration and history and everything as you drove through the park, it was really neat to listen to. we got some fun pictures there too! they had fun museums and gift shops where we spent a little bit of time too. after that, we made it back to the cabin and we all went to bed early... it had been a long and busy week!

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saturday
we slept in a little, and got up and cleaned the cabin really well. our extended family will tell you that they all clean the cabin after they use it, but dont be fooled... they do not. so we spent the majority of our remaining time cleaning the cabin really well. it needed to be done... and dang did it look good when we got through with it! dad saw a huge herd of elk in the field below the cabin... but everyone else was asleep. anyway... after that we drove on home.

and that was our vacation. it was awesome... thanks to a mom and a dad! love you both! :)