Happy Fourth of July

On the Fourth, we headed to Ouray for a little bit. Ouray is another cute, very small town just north of Silverton.

We browsed the little stores that lined the main street.

We ate some yummy ribs that made a mess all over our faces.

We went swimming in their hot springs. We expected it to be more "natural" but the town had made a pool with the water from the springs - that even had slides, etc. So, it was really like swimming in a warm pool, but we had a great time.

After swimming, we went back to Silverton and browsed it's main streets. We had eyed this store the day before. We couldn't wait to check out the Bigfoot stuff:).

Wes (already fearful of anything in costumes) did not like these guys, but we coaxed him into a photo. I think it helped that these did not move so we could convince him that they were just statues.

Next, the ol' miner called out to us to "Come Sluicing."

Don't ask me to tell you the difference between panning and sluicing. I already forgot....if I even understood in the first place. But, either way, the kids loved it. They got a big bag of mining dirt and were able to sluice through it. They came out with several cool rocks!

We had a great time sluicing, but Sierra was disappointed to find out that the rocks weren't really worth anything:).

We hiked the ski slope again and had some fun with the dandelions.

That night, Silverton put on an AMAZING fireworks display. Sorry, my photos don't do it justice. We just kicked back right in front of our motorhomes and enjoyed the view.