Our son Daniel and his girls from Portland visited us this week.  We crammed a lot in the short three-day visit: hiking, horseback riding, visiting the St. Paul Lodge and entertaining the extended family for dinner on the deck.

Daniel’s lady friend hadn’t been to Durango before so there was much to see and show off.  Silverton was first on the list, and it was difficult to decide on whether to see Animas Forks Ghost Town or the St. Paul Lodge on Red Mountain Pass after a quick tour of the town.  Weather was perfect so we climbed the newly thawed and greening slopes to the tree line and on to McMillian Peak.  The young girls weren’t excited about hiking too much over 12,000′ so they waited under the last tree while Daniel and I bagged the peak.

High on Sophie’s list was horseback riding so we all mounted up at Rapp’s Haviland Lake corral and took a two hour ride to the cave overlooking Tamarron.  Interesting that the current instructions on using the reins is to, “Use it like a Joy Stick.  Left, right, back for stop.” Fortunately the horses knew what a Joy Stick was.

The finale was a big feast on the deck overlooking the Animas River with our Durango friends who’ve known Daniel since his youth.  Everyone had a good time catching up and filling up on the fare.