Happy Campers

This trip started off on the right foot and just got better as we went along.  First we were traveling with our good friends Susie and Bob.  Our first stop was in Lakeside, Arizona to met up with new friends, Jodie and Steve, who are coming with us to Durango.  Steve put in a couple of RV spots in their back lot and we had a perfect place to camp for the night.  

First on the agenda was a tour of Jodie and Steve’s unique home.  There is no way I can adequately explain their home.  First off it is not simply a house but a huge barn, divided into their spacious living area, plus a two bedroom apartment for guests, plus a few extra rooms, in truth I lost count.  A loft holds a game room for the grandkids and a man cave for Steve.  On the ground floor is a wood shop with tools I can’t identify and space for Jodie to craft and their 5th wheel is parked in there.  Did I mention this place is huge!

The week we spent together in Durango was just like summer camp. Our camp site had morning shade so it was the morning coffee place, Susie and Bob’s place had the afternoon shade so it was designated the happy hour spot.    

We promised Daisy lots of dogs to play with in the 2 acre dog park but there wasn’t as many dogs this year.  She did meet a poodle with a ridiculous haircut.  The poodles house-mate was a Corgi with legs about 3 inches long, they looked pretty funny running together.  The two Great Pyrenees were awesome, for some reason one of them loved me and the owner would holler ‘watch out’ when the dog came running to greet me.  Rebel, the Golden Retriever, was there with his ‘dad’.  We met them here last year. 

The guys went to tour train yard and museum while we gals headed out to Honeyville to check out the honey

Inside the Train Museum

products and try out the mini shots of distilled spirits, either vodka, or bourbon mixed with sweet honey mixers.  They were yummy. We browsed at a gourmet market and Susie did her best to pick out some beer for Bobby.  Listening to her and the beer sommelier guy trying to decide what kind of beer Bob would like was like listening to George and Gracie.  Jodie and I were laughing at them and couldn’t figure out how they finally decided on just right beer but they did and Bobby liked it.

The guys were so impressed with the train yard tour and museum they insisted we go back to the museum with them the next day.  It was an interesting place full of a lot of old dusty stuff, but there were model trains, a real train engine, and a biplane hanging from the ceiling.  There was a stuffed elk and a brown bear along with heads with antlers of various critters.  Old books, pictures, miniature calvary pieces, miniature diaramas of the city of Durango in bygone years,  train depot seats, a little bit of everything.  The fellas were impressed with the young lady that lead their tour of the train yard the day before and she recognized them and seemed pleased that they brought the little women back to see the place.  

On Main Street we stopped in at a live raptor display and a young man told us about each of the seven birds on display.  The main attraction was the European owl that was  almost two feet tall, he was striking with his various shades of brown feathers.    We all wanted to reach out and pet him but he did have very large talons and a beak that wasn’t smiling.  

We went to a favorite dinner spot Monty and I found last year.  It is an old ranch with picnic tables set around in a meadow.  Burgers and beer make up the menu and live music on tap Tuesday and Thursdays.  It was a very enjoyable evening, weather was perfect.  

One of the big nites out was to Ken and Sue’s for the Saturday night scallop special. We had them two years ago and it was worth making the reservation early in June to get a table for the six of us. Unfortunately Bob zigged when he should have zagged and threw his back out of whack.  He couldn’t join us for dinner, we did the little white lie thing and told him the food was awful this year.  Bob spent the rest of the trip walking very carefully, Susie said it was sort of a sashay, so we tried not to laugh as he glided around.

Monty and I stayed another week after Susie and Bob and Jodie and Steve left.  We love Durango, sometimes we could kick ourselves for not buying a little place there thirty years ago, but then we wouldn’t have traveled all  over the United States, so it is a trade off.   We went up to Silverton expecting to check out our favorite campground near there.  We like to go up there and take a little hike and look at the water falls but South Mineral Creek was locked down and closed. In October last year there was a lightening caused fire up high in the mountains by Ice Lake and the Forest Service was worried about mudslides with the summer rains. At the visitor center they said 118 campers/hikers had to be helicoptered out after the fire started last year.  

We took in the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, the produce in Colorado is to die for, we ate homegrown tomatoes that actually looked and tasted like tomatoes, the peaches even smelled like peaches.  We bought some almond bear claws made from real Colorado bears!  On Sunday we stopped at the Flea Market.  I got such a kick out of this sign, the only thing missing was cannabis.

We moved on to Glenwood Springs to spend four days camped on the Colorado River.  We’d never stayed at this RV park and expectations and reality weren’t even close, when we heard riverside we just naturally thought of a spacious campsite with grass and cottonwood trees, you know like a park.  The Internet picture might have had something to do with what we expected. This was one of those ‘not exactly’ kind of things. There was not a blade of grass to be found and the campsites were set up like a drive-in movie (we could have passed popcorn from one RV to the next).  

We’ve never been to a place that charged us extra for bringing a dog and provided nowhere to even walk the dog. We solved the problem by getting in the car twice a day and driving to the rest area that was at our exit.  You’d think  we’d just walk there but honestly it was uphill both ways.  The rest area worked out great, the grass was  lovely and as far as Daisy is concerned anywhere there is grass is her kind of place, frankly she’d been happier if we camped at the rest stop. 

 All of that was soon overlooked when we sat at our spot right on the river with the rushing water and spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.  We got to meet lots of new neighbors and frankly that is my favorite part of this kind of travel. The couple from Rhode Island and the family from Atlanta were delightful and we enjoyed visiting with them.

Colorado has afternoon thunder storms like most of the Southwest and because of a fire last year in Glenwood Canyon the I-70 highway was closed for several days because of mudslides.  We were able to get over to Aspen and enjoy lunch in a park like setting but there was no way to get up to Vail.  When the people camped next to us left, their spot was never occupied again, apparently folks were stuck on the other side of the mud. Bummer for them trying to figure out detours, etc.  We tried not to be happy about our extra space.  

The real highlight of the trip was a chance to visit with Monty’s daughter, Noel, her husband, Paul and their two boys, Will 8 and Max 4.  What a great family, Noel put a plan together to meet for a  picnic and hike at one of the State parks. It came together perfectly, the day was beautiful, the waterfalls were such a nice surprise and the cooling spray cheered us all.  Will showed us how to walk right up to the water spray, almost behind the falls.  Max had no hesitation climbing down into one of the caves.   This is an outdoor family, the boys had their hydration packs on their backs and were eager to show us what they found on  previous hikes in this park.  The headlamps on their hats allowed us all to peek inside some caves.  It is always good to see them and we are amazed how much the boys have grown. 

Snowblowers at the local Ace Hardware. You don’t see this in Tucson!

The tent campers had to climb these stairs to use the potty. YIKES!