After such a relaxing and peaceful week in Dolores at The Views RV – we headed north on Friday for a special Birthday / Fathers Day 3-Day weekend. I will have to split up these posts quite a bit because WOW this area is amazing.

The drive up from Dolores was so gorgeous! Shockingly gorgeous, really!

I never knew how much I loved green! I love all the shades contrasted with the blue sky and snow caps. Wow!

Matt from The Views recommended we stop in Telluride to enjoy the gondola ride on our way to Ouray. We weren’t sure we could bring Woody down into that mountain town but as we got close, we saw a sign for Mountain Village and made a last minute decision to turn in there! We actually thought it was the road to Telluride but this turn made it even better for us. The Lord is always looking out! Mountain Village was amazingly beautiful.

Here’s some insider info for RV-ers wanting to stop into this area. People tell us that Telluride would have been a terrible place to bring an RV into and that it was great we made the wrong turn into Mountain Village. If you come to Mountain Village, the two free parking garages are too small for any RVs and they don’t allow any on street parking — so I called the town’s number and a friendly lady told us to look for The Meadows post office area in Mountain Village and there would be a spot there for us. That worked out so well for us!

We were able to park and take the free shuttle (it comes every 15 minutes) to the gondola. The gondola was just awesome and free!

It was the kids first time on one. (They’ve never been skiing / snowboarding before!). It doesn’t even look real does it?

From the Mountain Village area it’s a short gondola ride to a ski lift area and then you can switch gondolas and take a free ride up and over the mountain!

On the 2nd gondola, we hopped out at the top of the mountain:

After enjoying the views and visiting the nature center up there, we hopped back on to finish the ride down the other side of the mountain to the town of Telluride.

E was cheesing so big saying ohh it’s Mr Rogers neighborhood:

IF this wasn’t across the country from NC, and IF the people were friendly here like they are in the south, and IF the average cost of a house wasn’t $1,000,000 – we would love to live here hehe.

Down in Telluride we walked around the local farmer’s market, enjoyed the mountain village feel of the place, and shared a snow cone treat.

On the the way back up the mountain, B spotted a little fox.

It all worked out so well and we loved that we could make this stop on our way to Ouray. It seems to me the unexpected (no expectations!!!) little gifts like this have been the best!

The weather was great, the kids were so happy, and we loved that the parking and gondolas were free.

After that impromptu afternoon we finished our drive to Ouray where we are staying for the week. Ouray is the cutest little town and nicknamed the “Switzerland of America”… but the RV park we planned on staying at was absurd lol. I’ve never seen anything like it haha. The spots were SO small. Woody’s slide literally went over our neighbors picnic table which was up against their trailer. After unhitching and setting up and even leaving to walk to dinner…. I just couldn’t take it. I was SO uncomfortable and wished I’d listened to my instinct which was shouting no no no when we got there.

I went to the office and asked to move into a back in spot I saw that had more room side to side but looked quite difficult to get into. The office lady switched us over, we got everything all hitched back up, and we tried our hardest but just couldn’t get Woody into that spot. We could get him to fit between the fences but it literally felt like he was a little child who just refused to go all the way in the door. Usually a back in spot has some sort of diagonal to it and a wide road in front of it but this was a 90 degree turn with bricks and fences on each side of the spot – and trucks and trees directly across from it.

To top it all off – unlike in the south – nobody around offered a smile or nod or understanding encouragement – they all just stared, frowning, with their mouths hanging open lol. This was clearly not our place and these were clearly not our people.

I really was hoping that my last day of being 35 would end with me not caring what people think, not stressing about anything, and just being full of joy and faith. We’ve made such progress in these areas the last 6 months!

But there’s no perfect anything and no perfect day. Every day and every stop has had ups and downs. As I stood there trying to direct B to back Woody in…. I literally felt myself shriveling under the unsmiling eyes and I felt so cramped in and wanted to run and hide haha. I didn’t yell at B or cuss. I was absolutely sure none of this was his fault and we’ve grown enough we really try our best to not take it out on each other. Even when it’s hard 😊. We’re making great continual progress there.

But after a handful of tries – I gave up any desire to push through and I just threw in my towel! I caught the office lady as she was trying to lock up for the night and I was so relieved when she huffed, puffed, and slammed her papers around – but gave us a refund anyway and let us escape! haha

We were hungry tired and stressed at that point and I was so close to crying trying to figure out where we would go. B works so hard all week and we look forward so much to these weekend adventures!

(In Randi world sometimes my expectations are a little high hehe! This adventure is helping me know that nothing is ruined if we are together and loving each other !!! Also sometimes I need reminding that we get to be with Brandon SO much more then most families get the Daddy around. We are truly blessed and I’m so grateful!)

We do look forward so much to the weekends though – especially when it’s a 3 day weekend or a birthday or special occasion! It felt like it was just going down the tubes and I felt so horrible for B. One of these days I will remember how easy going he is and that he doesn’t have expectations like I do haha. He just wants to be with us, be outside somewhere, and get rest!

So reminder to self: nothing is lost if we’re together, and the best gift I can give B is being sweet and happy! 😊 Nothing is ever ruined when love is present.

I knew that no other park in the area had openings but the kids were praying like crazy in the back seat. Thank God they were so well behaved and rallied together.

We passed a park at the edge of town that I had not seen on my Campendium app. We pulled in and it felt like it was so meant to be right away. It was so much more our style. The staff was standing outside the office and waved us in with a big smile. Thank you Lord they had an opening for us and it worked out perfectly.

Like I said, the kids were doing some serious praying al they were rejoicing so much when we landed and all was well ! They kept hugging and laughing and saying things like, “See mommy it’s okay! Sometimes we have to go through stressful times but we just gotta keep going and not give up!” …..And…. “yes yes I knew it would work out!” Who is parenting who here? 😊

We settled in… again…. and walked to dinner in town and we had the best dinner together that I ever remember. It was so late for us early eaters but the kids just were so happy. They weren’t complaining about their hunger, they actually hadn’t complained once during the whole thing. They had stayed faithful and calm and loving and the Lord just seemed to reward them with extra joy and thankfulness and His smile.

Through all these experiences they are truly getting practice praying and waiting and seeing how the Lord will answer. I love that they get a front row seat to B and his cool-as-a-cucumber self and I love that they are watching me grow and learn more and more how to have faith, relax, and enjoy in daily life. I know they’ve seen me have big faith over bigger things… but I have needed growth with the daily living and all that entails.

I will always remember that dinner and how the kids stayed calm and faithful through a stressful night… how the Lord answered their prayers and drew near to them… and then the special joy they had as a result. I pray it was just a small glimpse of the loving, mature, fun family we will be as they grow!

It was such a great end to my 36th year! A day full of ups and downs and beauty and adventure and practice and GRACE. Just like life.

Thank you Lord for this adventure and topping the night off with beautiful flowers and a beautiful moon but most of all time with you and my beautiful family.