The Lee Family: Day Four: Our Last Full Day

Over dinner the night before we talked about what we wanted to do for our last full day in Durango. Sofia wanted to go back to Purgatory to go "donut skiing" one last time and we thought we might be able to go for a snowmobile ride for an hour before that. Plus, we figured we could get in a hike in the afternoon, if the weather was nice. I tried to make snowmobile reservations on-line but had to call and the only availability was for 4pm, so we waited to hear back from them. Meanwhile, we were all pretty hungry so we asked where we should eat since we missed breakfast at our hotel by a few minutes. We were directed a few blocks down Main Street to Carver's Brewing Company. Apparently, microbrews are pretty popular in Durango since Carver's is the third one in four blocks.

Carver's was fantastic and such a great recommendation for breakfast! The girls loved their pancakes, eggs and bacon, CK enjoyed his usual eggs and bacon and I got one of my favorites - a smoked salmon sandwich. Excellent! We walked to our car and drove up to Purgatory. Of course, Sofia was pushing to go for "2 hours" but we agreed that we'd do one hour and see how we felt. Since Olivia wasn't interested in going, she and CK decided to explore the shops and area around the ski resort and meet us back at the drop-off site in exactly one hour. It was a much warmer day and Sofia couldn't wait to get started. We paid our $10/each for the hour and she picked out the perfect "donuts" for us to use. We hiked up the hill and picked our lanes to go down. When we visited before, Sofia mainly stuck to the 3rd lane, but after I told her that the 4th lane was even faster, she decided to start there and I went on the 3rd. Despite the warm weather, the snow on the tube lanes was super fast! It was between fun and slightly terrifying! In fact, I slide all the way up the little berm that is at the bottom of the runs to stop people from landing in the parking lot. It was really fun and Sofia loved it! We went up four or five more times and then Sofia wanted to rest and have a snowball fight. Of course, we'd only been there for 25 minutes! Thankfully, we decided on an hour instead of two! After the first run, we both took off our jackets and threw them into the middle of our tubes since it was so warm out. Sofia only had a long sleeve cotton shirt and took off her gloves too. She did keep her hat on, which I love since it is a hat my Mom knit for her when she was around 2 years old but has always been too big. Now, it's borderline too small, but she wore it everyday all-day in Durango. It's so cute on her!

We sat in our tubes about 15 feet away from each other and had a snowball fight which was actually pretty fun. It was so warm outside that it felt great to just enjoy the sun. Sofia built some good snowballs, but her aim isn't great. She had taken off her gloves, so her hands got really cold and we decided to return our "donuts" so Sofia could play in the snow for a bit. Of course, she spent a good amount of time eating chunks of snow too, despite me telling her that it probably wasn't the "cleanest" snow we could find. She found a huge pile of snow next to one of the buildings that was in the shade and had a ball climbing and slipping down the side. She did that for the last 15 minutes and then we met up with CK and Olivia at the drop-off parking lot.

We headed back down the mountain and stopped once again at the Pinkerton Hot Spring, by special request from Sofia. She wanted to explore where the water actually ended up since she was wearing a blanket the first time we stopped and she couldn't exactly get around very well. Of course, she hiked down the hill and tried to figure out where all that water went. I'm surprised she didn't slip and fall since it was very slippery. After she couldn't make it any further down the mountain, we loaded up and went the short distance to Honeyville. Honeyville is a cute little shop that sells just about everything made out of honey! It's a company that was started nearly 100 years ago and still run by the same family. A small hive was set up in the middle of the store and it was fun to watch the bees work away. We bought a few things of honey as well as a gift for CK's parents who were due to be in Texas when we returned. We also enjoyed Zuberfizz orange cream soda and root beer, which is made in Durango and absolutely delicious!

We left Honeyville and the girls were super excited to go for a hike! I finally figured out where the trailhead starts for the Animas Mountain trails and we parked our car and got started. The girls picked the steepest trail and started running up it to "get away from the enemy droids." We followed behind and as we hiked up we got a more and more beautiful view overlooking Durango. We stopped at the top of the little rise and decided where to go. The girls were so excited to be hiking and kept picking up sticks and running ahead of us. Not sure where they get their energy, especially in the high altitudes. We made it to the higher ridge and walked along that for awhile and then decided to head back toward the car. Of course, Sofia wanted to continue up the hill but we wanted to get back. By the time we were halfway down the hill on a well-maintained trail, Olivia was seriously losing steam! It was a good time to return to our car.

We stopped off at the grocery store to pick up food for our flight home the next day, since it's easier to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have fruit and snacks than it is to stop somewhere with questionable food options. After buying our food, we headed back to our hotel and decided to enjoy a little time in the jacuzzi. The girls loved it and treated it more like a pool and made up stories and games. The warm water felt great and we had the whole place to ourselves. We only lasted about 30 minutes and were all really hungry for dinner since we hadn't really eaten lunch after our late breakfast.

We decided to go to Steamworks Brewing Co. which is really highly rated for their food. Despite it being not even 6pm there was over an hour wait! Guess the food is really good. We walked back toward Main Street and stopped in a little ceramics shop, which is basically my Achilles heel! The owner, Mark, was really friendly and encouraged the girls to touch everything. Along with hand thrown pottery pieces, he had a number of beaded things included keychains, necklaces, hair clips, etc. He had nice work at reasonable prices and I decided we needed two thumbprint mugs. Instead of a mug with a handle, it has a thumbprint where you can hold onto it. His glazes are beautiful and I liked how the mugs felt in my hand, so we bought two. Meanwhile, Olivia picked out a little beaded change purse she liked and Sofia thought over a few beaded keychains that he had but couldn't make up her mind. After our our purchase, we continued on searching for dinner. We stopped at Chimayo which had been recommended by my friend Chris. We were all so hungry, I think anything would have sounded great. The atmosphere was really nice and the food was excellent.

We returned to our hotel after such a delicious dinner and CK and Sofia (and her book and Green Beup Beup) headed to the Diamond Belle Saloon to listen to live music and relax together, while Olivia and I headed to our room where I packed the girls' things and then put her to bed. Just before bed, she wanted to play a round of Uno. So she and I played and she actually won the first hand very quickly, without any help from me! She lost interest in the middle of the second hand, so we decided to read stories instead. CK and Sofia returned and the three of us played a hand of Uno before Sofia went to bed. I packed up a few of my things before going to bed for our trip home the next day.

Carver's Brewing Company - a delicious breakfast spot!