on the third day of staycation...

my true love gave to me...

a trip to buena vista!

 jer took this photo of colorado's state flower, the columbine, with his phone on a hike in late june. 

it has nothing to do with buena vista, colorado...it's just real purdy.

we booked a 1/2 day whitewater rafting trip on the arkansas river for friday afternoon with the wilderness aware rafting company, the only outfit i was able to find that offered excursions for five year olds. we knew it would be an easy float trip (level I or II) but figured that would be perfect for the boys' first time.

on the way to buena vista (a 1.5 hour drive from our condo in silverthorne) we traveled through breckenridge over hoosier pass and down into fairplay. we stopped at the continental divide to snap a quick pic.

i packed a picnic lunch for us which was mostly eaten in the car and finished at a park we always visit when we are in buena vista. there is a great play area there for the boys to get some sillies out after the drive. then we headed to the rafting place...

our guide, mike, the one photo-bombing above was awesome. he let each of the boys have a turn guiding the boat, taught them how to hold the oars and steer. he brought along a water gun so the boys could squirt other rafters (and us). he was an all-around fun guy.

jeremy and i didn't have to do a thing. the boys sat in the front of the raft and both of them rowed the entire time (they called it oaring instead of rowing). jer and i sat in the middle of the raft and just chilled out. i tried to get some sun on my legs. mike sat in the rear and did everything.

i'd say we went through 5-6 white water "holes", only 2-3 of which really soaked us. the rest of the time we were just floating. both boys asked to get out into the river and float alongside the boat. they stayed overboard all of two seconds. cold water.

after we got back to the main office and changed into dry clothes we headed to k's for dinner. you can't go to buena vista and not stop at k's!

 

when you place your order they give you the name of a famous person. that's what you listen for to know when your order is ready. this time we were debbie reynolds but i also heard pick ups for diane sawyer and steve jobs while we were waiting. we always take our food to the park directly behind the restaurant to eat it.

after dinner the boys played for a bit, then we headed home. we drove back to silverthorne a different way - over independence pass, through leadville (the usa's highest elevated town) and past the twin lakes.

it was real purdy too.

and that's what we did last friday.