Ouray, Colorado!
When we arrived at the cabin on July 2nd, Bill and Jean offered to take us on a little jeeping expedition to start our trip! I had never been jeeping before, so we loaded the dogs into the jeep and took off for Twin Falls.
The mountains around Ouray are simply covered in pretty little (and pretty HUGE) waterfalls! Here Mr. Darling and I are posing in front of the scene from a fairy tale!
These are the actual Twin Falls. Supposedly, these are the waterfalls used in the Coors Beer Commercials. This is me and my adorable husband and his sweet Aunt Jean and Uncle Bill and their pup Ivy. Callie wants to go play in the falls!
On the way back, Uncle Bill thought it would be just so much fun to drive close to the edge of the HUGE cliff!!!
The next day, the Holmans and friends all headed over the mountain to Telluride to ride the Gondolas and hike the amazing mountains! We managed to get a (good) picture with EVERYONE there. So much fun!
Here are the darlings riding in the gondolas.
And here we are with Mr. Darling's brother and sister in law with the little town of Telluride behind us. The views were SO cool!
Here I am hiking!
Then for the main event!
The 4th of July in Ouray is an absolute blast! We started out in a long line for a pancake breakfast, then headed down the street to watch the annual "water fight" where teams of two go after each other with fire hoses. Hilarious (and wet) to watch! This year, 8 teams competed with the most watched fight being the Ouray v. Montrose Fire Departments. Poor Montrose, they never stood a chance!
Then, with a bit of free time in the afternoon, Weston, Scott, Megan and I went and hiked around Box Canyon Falls. The view from the top shows all of the little town of Ouray, CO.
The top also has the remains of a little mining tunnel that was pretty cool to walk through!
Then, down to the bottom to see the actual falls. They are really neat and the pictures simply don't do this little slot canyon justice!
Then, we watched the fireworks from the back porch of the cabin. The fireworks made the mountains glow and were just as much fun as Disney World (maybe better!). The weather was perfect and the lightening in the background made this one of my favorite 4ths of July.
July 5th brought a BEAUTIFUL day and Weston and I just weren't ready to leave! Luckily, there were a couple extra seats in the jeeps, so we got to take a second jeeping trip over the mountain to a little, historic town called Silverton. The drive gave us some AMAZING views!
Here we are in an area that qualifies as Arctic Tundra. There were tons of wildflowers, deer, mine shafts, and breathtaking mountain peaks everywhere you looked!
This is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen!
I can't wait to go back!
And here are just the girls!
Sometimes, I think being a freshman was one of the best years of my life. Usually, I just remember it as a great time to make awesome new friends that I am so happy to be able to catch up with!
