What Was Supposed to Be the Easy Day

I had planned what I thought would be an easy, relaxing day for our travel from Telluride. But things with Kai don't always go according to plan.

We started the day by driving from Telluride to Ouray where we would then drive the Million Dollar Highway, the 25 mile scenic byway from Ouray to Silverton.

The highway has many curves and some great scenery, most of which we couldn't get pictures of.

We reached the historic old mining town of Silverton around noon. We weren't hungry so rather than have lunch, we went to the Old Hundred Gold Mine where we would take a tour of an actual gold mine that ran for about a hundred years until the late 1970s.

We had to take a bumpy gravel road to get there and when we arrived, we found out that we would have to wait about 50 minutes for the next tour. I asked my wife and Kai if they wanted to wait for the tour and they both said yes. So, I bought the tickets.

While we waited, we could pan for gold, or at least some minerals. But then it started to rain.

Kai got extremely mad and loudly used swear words to express his displeasure of the entire state of Colorado, its weather, and how bad this vacation was. When we expressed our displeasure for his language and his anger, he really spiraled downward. He talked about hating his life, hating us, how we hate him, and many other very negative things. Many of this was said loudly enough for the other people to hear. It was one of the worst public meltdowns we have had in quite a while.

My wife and I tried to keep calm but it was hard with Kai using his most extreme language. We tried to tell him that we didn't hate him but we didn't approve of how he talked. But it is incredibly hard to know what to say or do in this kind of situation.

We decided to wait it out. Maybe if we took the tour, Kai would calm down and not be so upset. He loves minerals and the whole reason we came to this mine tour was because we thought he would enjoy it.

So we took the tour and went deep inside the old gold mine.

The tour was interesting, but none of us were all that interested or happy. Kai looked away from the guide the entire time.

After the tour, we talked more. Kai had calmed down so it was a bit easier to talk and have him listen. We explained again that we loved him, but that we don't approve of the nasty and negative things he says sometimes. Still, the earlier events had taken its toll.

We had a very late lunch in town, then drove on.

While driving, I wondered if these trips were worth all the trouble.

We passed through the town of Durango, and told Kai that his biological father went to college there. Kai found it interesting to find out that his biological father had spent so much time in this state that Kai disliked. Kai said that he must overcome this state just as his biological father had.

In late afternoon, we reached our destination of Pagosa Springs. I chose this as our stop for the night as it has hot springs which I knew my wife and Kai would enjoy.

The resort we stayed in had more than a dozen different pools from the waters of the hot springs.

Kai loved going into each different one. We all found this to be the relaxation we needed after an unexpectedly tough day.

Each pool had a name and the temperature of the water shown. We liked the hottest pools the best, like the following one.

It was a beautiful setting right next to the San Juan River, which we were able to enter to cool off after each hot pool.

Kai told me that this was his favorite hotel on our trip. "Now this is a fun place, Dad."

I'm glad you enjoyed it Kai.

Let's see if this can continue.