Gunnison Gorge trip - the trip that wasn't meant to be - that we made work.

 Brad told the kids that if they wanted special trips this summer they had to plan them and he would help them execute.  Well, the only child to do this successfully was McKenzie and she took us all to Gunnison Gorge for a float.  And yes, this has a good story in the middle of it too.

To get to this gorge you have to hike down a little over a mile with all your equipment.  You can hire a donkey service and have them carry 90 lbs but....we were a little to late to reserve a donkey, so we were our own donkeys.  Boats are not light, even little ones.  Kenzie and Brad had to figure out how Ben and Riley, were going to carry down the Puma.  Here's what they came up with and it was genius, and these two crack me up and this video is hilarious and so I'm sharing it.

We traveled there over a three day weekend and had to go over the million dollar highway.  It's scary.  Especially for me.  Especially when this happens just in front of you and closes down the highway for 2 hours.

We really wanted to go and didn't want to turn around so Brad put the boys to work clearing the logs that were blocking they way to pass and with the help of others who also wanted to pass through they did clear it after an hour of hard work and slogging around in the mud.

They cleared it just in time for one jeep to pass through and for the highway patrol to show up and block it until the Department of Transportation could come and clear.  Another hour we waited and the DOT did show up and took one swipe where we had cleared and all were able to pass through.

It was good to see the Town of Ouray in the distance and know we were on our way to Gunnison.  We stopped and ate and then continued to Montrose where I had reserved a hotel for that weekend.  Wait, I had reserved a  hotel but not for that weekend!  Yes, we had no hotel and all the hotel and motels were full and we had no where to rest our poor little heads.  Enter Brad, his preparedness skills and a public park and we made it work.  

Okay, kind of made it work because there were mosquitos and water sprinklers and every time Riley moved we could feel it and well, we were pretty darn tired when we woke up in the morning but we did survive and it was only one night and I think now we can all laugh....maybe.  We also made it down the canyon and into the gorge and in the end, enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Job well done Kenzie, but next time we'll get the donkeys and I will double check the dates on the hotel I reserve.