Rock Salon

Olivia has a very active imagination and is always makinug up game with everything she gets her hand on. One night while camping she did rock art with Daddy and then went on to give him the full salon treatment with a stick and some pine cones. He returned the favor!  Later, Mommy got her nails painted with sticks. 

I guess that's what you do when you're a Mountain Girl!

Exploring Beautiful Crested Butte, CO

 

We continued on our camping trip through southwestern CO and made 4 day stop in Crested Butte. We have not been there in the summer before and it is truly an amazing place to visit. The mountains are huge and we enjoyed the cool water of Lake Isabel. We hiked all over the place, found waterfalls, and even a stash of some of the first river kayaks ever reproduced (the Dancer).

 

 

The wildflowers were bountiful in Crested Butte. So many varieties and colors! Olivia had fun exploring all the nature around us. We even made these neat dried flower keepers to bring back home to show Grandma all the things we had seen along the way.

We all had a great time on the SUP - stand up paddle board. We rented this one from a shop in town and Olivia would ride on the front. She couldn't get enough of this!

 

This has got to be one of the cutest pictures ever. Daddy is in his full fishing get-up, while helping his little cowgirl ride her bike to the lake. It was hot, and a bit frustrating, but they both got there ready to fish the day away!

South Fork, CO - site of mixed reviews :)

After Silverton, we camped outside of South Fork for a couple days. We have mixed feelings about that place. A few things were really nice - the wildflowers and river - but overall, not a lot to be desire there. (For our own memories...we liked nearby Lake City much better. That was a really beautiful, quaint little town nestled in some pretty HUGE valleys).

Nonetheless, we had a great time snuggling up in the camper while it poured cats and dogs outside. We felt lucky to have the cool wet weather, as fires raged around Colorado. We missed all the fires back home on this two and a half week camping trip.

Southern Colorado Camping

After Telluride, we travled on to Ourady, Silverton, and Durango. We camped at a beautiful lake outside of Silverton, CO. We realized that we had million dollar real estate at this spot we found. We are sure that there was not a more beautiful view to be had those days! Check out how the sky is reflected in the water.

In this picture, Daddy and Olivia are out for some twilight fishing. Daddy took her fishing at least 5 times on this trip. He is patient and such a great teacher!

This is the view from our camper. Literally, this is what we woke up to each day. Stunning.

Here is the view of our camper, nestled in the trees. A beautiful spot!

This was an easy little walk around the lake - perfect for a three year old (and a mama carrying a baby while trying to take pictures!)

Sometimes a hike just ends up with some time huddled in an outhouse! What?  That's right...we attempted a hike on the Colorado Trail, just a short trip down the hill from our campsite, but typical of Colorado afternoons, a thunderstorm built up and starting lightning, hailing, and raining on us before we could make it back to the camper! To get out of the rain and hail, we took cover in the only thing we could find - this facility! A woman who came to use it as the rain let up thought it was so funny that she insisted on taking a picture of us. She said we would love the memory down the road. She is right - this was a pretty exciting adventure!

Daddy couldn't help himself...isn't Harlow so little and cute up on that big camper!?!?!

And one last look at the view as we packed up...wish we could stay here forever.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival Children's Parade



On the last day of the festival, they held a children's parade. I'm not sure there is anything sweeter than an insect parade led by big puppet insects and musicians. The children were all given insect outfits - Olivia was a bee. The parade went through the whole festival and everyone attending stopped what they were doing to cheer on the kids. We hope that Olivia will remember these fun times when she grows up!

 



 

These puppets were larger than life! People wore these large costumes and entertained the kids.

 



 

Olivia held her own (and her Daddy's hand) in the parade, walking the whole thing in a kind of happy kid daze!

At the end of the parade, they gathered all the kids together for a big picture. Daddy made it into the shot!

Then they all gathered into a big circle to give thanks for the beautiful day and friends that came together for such an awesome event! It was the perfect way to end our time in Telluride.

Fun and Fancy Free at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival

We finally made it to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival this year. Four full days of lovely melodies, kin people, and endless fun. We camped at the Matterhorn Campground and road the gondola every day into the town of Telluride. We met up with our friends Chris, Nikki, and Jayden and danced the days away! There was a children's area and that was a ton of fun for Miss Olivia Snow. She did all kinds of activities each day - face painting, puppet shoes, hulla hooping, dancing. We're not sure if Daddy or Olivia had more fun!

 

We found a wonderful face painter who made some pretty awesome designs on O's face. We think she liked this one the best!

Our gondola rides each day took about 15 minutes. We had plenty of time for photos! We saw beautiful sunsets on these rides and had lots of time for telling jokes and remembering our days!

 

 Camping in the popup was super fun...Harlow got into the spirit of it all!

It was so hot in Telluride that each day we went to the Town Park pool for some swimming. The girls had a great time laying out in the sun after!

 The music and scenery were amazing. The first night we saw Allison Kraus (mommy's favorite) and the second night closed with Leftover Salmon. Each day we would lay out a tarp and spend the day dancing, playing, and swimming.

 

 

The food was pretty yummy...Olivia liked the chocolate ice cream the best! We love this little hippie child!

 

On the last night we spurged with dinner on Main St. It was fun to eat at a table again! Harlow and Daddy make quite the pair!