Hooray for Ouray! (Part 2: Ridgway State Park)

Though we referred (and still refer) to our recent vacation destination as Ouray, we actually camped several miles north of Ouray's smaller neighbor, Ridgway, at Ridgway State Park, Site #64.  B.J. and I picked the campsite months previous, late one night, while squinting at Google Maps' satellite images of the park.  According to the campground host, whom we met when we arrived, we picked the "premier site."  It was just the right site for us - slightly set apart (good when you're camping with six kids ;-) and nearest the water.  The kids kept the foot paths down to the nearby reservoir well-trod.

First checking out the campsite:

The view of our site looking west: 

We fished some, but only caught one fish the entire time.  Oh well, it was still enjoyable!

We also saw mule deer from a distance

  
and monarchs up close, 

played on the playground,

made good use of our friends' canoe,

swam,

and caught A LOT of crawdads (there are 43 little ones in this container!).

Here's one of the big ones the kids caught:

The morning we left B.J. and I and Sean E. woke up early and slipped away for one last turn on the reservoir.

Here's a gorgeous view from the canoe: our campsite (our white van and camper are in the center with the tent a little to the left) and the sun rising on the San Juans.

Will caught our one and only fish right before we left - whew!  So we all left satisfied.  :-)

In my next post I'll take you on our first day-trip to Telluride!