Vacationing in Colorado: Part 3

I was looking through old posts and JUST realized that I never finished our Colorado trip from 2011!! What in the world?!
Alright, I've been a bit behind schedule in every.single.aspect.of my life, I guess. So in case you've forgotten where we left off, here are the first two installments in our vacation series: Parts ONE and TWO. Go review. We'll wait.

Day 7:

We needed a more restful day today, considering the LENGTH and the physical strain of yesterday's train adventure. Today we decided to DRIVE into Silverton, as we didn't see much of it the first time around. You know, besides the inside of a semi-warm restaurant where we scarfed down some grub during our very limited allotted time. So today on the way into Silverton, we stopped at a little place called "Honeyville," because we knew our little bee lover would love it.

Yes, those are bees in that tube.

Their hive is in the middle of the little store.

Honeyville makes and sells all kinds of honey-related products. And if you time it right, you can watch something being made.  That is, unless the worker is busy being puppeteer.

There's no better role player than Atticus, so he just naturally decided to join in on his side of the glass.

Poor things. It was a little bright out.

Then we headed on to Silverton. The drive is...well...scenic. To say the least.

There's the old mining town of Silverton nestled in the valley there.

The "Old West"-looking part of the town is kinda cool to see.

And y'all, there wasn't much to see here whatsoever. In fact, at one point I looked at Paul and said something to the effect that I just don't understand why the entire nation likes to pick on Arkansas being so po'dunk and backwards...when, man alive!  Paul then said he was JUST thinking the same thing!!

Anyhoo...our final destination was yet to be reached, as we were just traveling through Silverton to go on up the mountain to an old gold mine there.

Two thumb-suckers and their "silkies." Necessary for going into a deep, dark hole in the side of a mountain.

Panning for gold. We left disappointed.

On the way down the mountain??? It snowed. Shocked our socks off! I mean, it was September 15th, for goodness' sake! And it was actually not that easy to drive the winding roads. Scary!

But. We also saw a rainbow. Beautiful, adventurous day.

We finished this day with Mexican food, and the kids had their very first sopaipillas.

Day 8:

Another must-see in the Durango area is Mesa Verde. Do NOT miss it. Astounding is what it is. It was only a forty-minute drive, and I'm so glad we made it.

He didn't want in the group picture.

Once the monkey, always the monkey.

Precious.

Underground.

Atticus and I had some work to do on the path, while the others explored underground.

Is it just me, or are the clouds prettier in Colorado?

Again--only 3/4 of the group.

We were in Colorado one more full day and then began traveling back to Arkansas. I'll post the tail end of our trip tomorrow. Promise.