Box Canyon

On Monday my Dad made it to town and stayed until Friday. It was really good to have him out here with us. He stayed at the only hotel in Ridgway, luckily not far from our campground. Monday night we ate at a restaurant in Ridgway called True Grit and that gave him lots of nostalgic feels for the John Wayne classic.

On Tuesday we dropped Nate off at TJ's to work and headed to Ouray. We had a picnic lunch at the park then headed up to Box Canyon Falls. The falls are different than most -- it comes through a slot between the canyon walls and is kind of hidden but makes a thunderous amount of noise in the process. The noise was too much for Holden and he decided to stay out of that part. My favorite part, however, was hiking to the top and crossing the bridge that spans the canyon. The views of the town were spectacular. That night Dad stayed with the boys and they got pizza while Nate & I got a night out on the (very small) town with TJ.

Wednesday the boys were pretty wiped out, so we stayed close to the campground while Dad ventured out to find a golf course. That night he came out and joined us for dinner, a sunset walk on the trail and s'mores by the fire.

Thursday the boys and I took Dad out for an early Father's Day breakfast then back to the campsite for lunch and knocking out boring domestic work. Once that was all done, we headed back down to Ouray and the boys finally got to check out the Ouray Hot Springs Pool. It was a great time and incredibly beautiful. There are 3 hot springs pools, 2 active pools for lap swimming and one for rock climbing/obstacles and 2 super tall slides. The steepest slide really gets you moving! It didn't take too much effort for the boys to talk Dad into launching himself down the big slide. When he got to the bottom he echoed Holden's first impression, "THAT WAS HORRIFYING!" But that didn't stop us. We all went down many more times! We all had a great time and the scenery was so beautiful.

We finished the day next door at a Mountain Air Concert in the Park event with TJ and his boys. Food trucks, beer garden, lawn chairs and live music with the rugged mountains surrounding Ouray as the backdrop. It was the perfect way to cap off Dad's stay here with us.

We met Dad for breakfast Friday morning before he left to meander his way back to Wichita. It was so very good to have him out here with us.Read more