Durango and the Iron Horse 2012

Once again Spencer wanted to conquer the insane bike race/climb other wise known as the Iron Horse. He finished it last year but just missed beating the train into Silverton. He wanted to remedy that this year. So off to Durango, CO we went. We are super blessed to have Uncle Mitch there, he's a great host and a ton of fun. This year Grandma and Grandpa Davis also met us there!

Mitch helped us get tickets to ride the Durango train to Silverton. The boys were in heaven, esp Penn. If you've never ridden this train, I highly recommend it. The views are impressive and the mountain pass was spectacular. It takes a few hours but the kids did really well and truly loved it. Combine trains and family and it makes for a great day.

Trying to take it all in before we started. Plus they had to see the engineer.

Penn just loving it

The next day was the race. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have no idea how Spencer powers himself and his bike over those mountains! Two of the peaks are 1100 feet, we don't even have peaks that tall here that he can train on. He was on track to beat the train when a huge wind storm rolled in. It was so bad it blew two police motorcycles into one another atop the last peak. An ambulance had to take them to the hospital with serious injuries. So they stopped the racers and actually cancelled the race because it wasn't safe. But after 15 mins the wind died down some and they told the riders they could finish at their own risk. Having come so far of course Spencer finished but came in just behind the train. If he hadn't been stopped he would have beat it. I guess we'll have to try again another year to make it official! He really did well and we are so proud of him.

While there we also attended the semi-pro race and no trip with kids is complete without a trip to a few parks. We so enjoyed spending time with our family and have wonderful memories from this trip. it was a great way to celebrate Spencer's birthday. The boys are convinced that it's worth the drive to see Uncle Mitch even if we could only stay for an afternoon.

Having fun at the pro race with our cow bells and Grandma and Grandpa Davis.