Little Tree Frog Takes a Road Trip & I Earn My Second Bad Mommy Badge

Ahhh, ignorance is bliss.
"Let's go away for the weekend!" she proposed.
"OK, where do you want to go -- someplace close?" he asked cautiously.
"Nah," she said, "Let's go to Pagosa Springs! There's a hot air balloon festival."
"Uhm, that's about 4 hours away," he cautioned.
"But I really really want to see hot air balloons. And there's lots to do there."
"Uhm, OK, but I think its a pretty far drive. And I can't leave town until after 4 pm" he gamely replied. "But its your birthday, so whatever you want."

Long story short, it was actually over 5 hours to get there. And we didn't hit the road until 5 pm, so it was after 10 when we got there. Happily, Micah slept most of the way there, until we arrived at our tiny, one-room cabin. I tried to feed him while we were driving, but the bumps in the car loaded him up with gas. Unhappily, that meant that he hadn't taken in enough calories for the day, and so was up every 2 hours during the night. Blearily, we figured we had missed the hot air balloons, launching from the center of town about 5 miles away, but we arrived to find them just taking off (or rather, going up and not going very far due to lack of wind currents.)

It really is beautiful country here, even if you can't walk to Harvard Square....

We enjoyed a hearty western breakfast, then set off on Micah's first hike -- just about 2 miles along a lovely stream bed. As we hiked, for some reason I started thinking about my high school chemistry teacher, who had filled most of the year with showing us old documentary films like "Paddle to the Sea." (The following year, in physics class, he showed the same films backwards. I guess that's why there haven't been any great chemists or physicists from my high school.) The hike ended -- just as it started to rain -- with a surprise I've never seen on a hiking trail: wild cows!

Micah seems to think the best scenery on the trail is looking at Adam!

After our hike, we headed back to town to try out the hot springs in the center of town. The sky was starting to look pretty overcast and it was getting cool, but Micah was bundled up in the car seat, so we went into the hot springs resort -- a collection of man-made pools set next to the river that flows through town. Absolutely stunning setting. Google Pagosa Springs if you want to see some photos. The sky was getting darker, though, and pretty soon it started to rain. Micah was underneath a beach umbrella, happily sleeping, although I had a hard time relaxing in the hot springs. Then we began to see lightening in the distance, getting closer and closer. Finally came a crash so loud and close that we all nearly jumped out of our bathing suits (what a sight that would have been) and the management shooed us into the shop. Seriously, if there's a Bad Mommy Girl Scouts organization, I think I've earned a merit badge for taking my baby to a hot springs during a lightening storm..... But he slept peacefully through it all. When the rain, thunder, and lightening passed, we had a truly glorious late afternoon bit of sunshine for a last few minutes of soaking.

We slept a wee bit more on Sat. night than the previous night, or maybe it was just the good mexican food and cold beer that we had after the hotsprings. On Sunday, we had a relaxed breakfast at a little tea room with an outside patio, then headed to another very short hike to see Treasure Falls. Then it was back in the car for the "scenic route" home on smaller roads -- which took quite a bit longer because we stopped several times to let Micah eat without the bumps of the car ride (and to get lost a little, but never mind.) All in all, it was a lovely weekend trip, and I'm really glad we saw that part of the state, although next time, I might just opt for a closer destination!