Labor Day Weekend

I think it's time I bring back the blog. For the first summer since we began dating, Kevin and I really didn't go anywhere or do much. So, we made sure our Labor Day trip was extra special.

I think we succeeded.

Thus, here, once again, is our blog detailing our trip. We'll see if I can keep up to date with it regularly.

For our Labor Day weekend, we travelled to colorful Colorado. Specifically, we spent a majority of our time in Cortez, Durango, Silverton, and Ouray (my favorite).

Our trip started off a little rocky. I got off of work almost two hours late, and we had to rush to get out of town before the masses did. We didn't succeed. Our usual 1 1/2 trip to Payson took us about 3 hours. From Payson on it was smooth sailing. Well, until Gallup when we got hit up for money, at about 230 am, by some guy covered in blood.... but that's another story.

We didn't get into Cortez until about 330 am Colorado time. Thankfully we rented a room for that night so we didn't have to set up a tent at that time of day. One of the hotel workers was nice enough to knock loudly on the door at 8 am to see if we were still in the room though...

Our room was ridiculous. It had obviously been the owner's room at one point in time. One half of the room was your standard cheap motel room: small bed, desk, and a TV straight out of the 90's. The difference in our room was that sliding wood doors opened up into a full kitchen and living room, complete with a wood paneled wall, with a second door. We didn't get what the guy at the front desk meant when he said we could go in either way until we got into the room. We both wished we could have stayed longer to enjoy the room, but we had places to be!

We left our hotel room about 1130 Saturday morning. Starving, we drove around Cortez looking for somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat, preferably that was still serving breakfast. Then we found it: Mr. Happy's BB&G. And yes, we did choose it for the name. But, yum! We couldn't decide which of our meals were better. The funny thing was, the waitress that served us has family that lives in Mesa (we had no idea how funny this was going to become).

After stuffing ourselves, we headed to Durango to check out historic downtown. We had no real plans for this trip, and just went where the road took us. First thing we did was hit up the tourism office to see what all was going on. Turned out, there was a biker festival going on, but we weren't near any of the event venues. We did get some great biker people watching in, though.

Of course, we stopped a brewery in downtown. I had the pinkest beer I've ever seen. And it was delicious. The brewery was Carvers Brewing Co, and the beer was a raspberry wheat. Grand Canyon Brewery makes a good raspberry wheat, but its the same color as every other wheat beer. I was shocked but pleasantly surprised. We even got a mini growler to go to enjoy once we found our camp site.

After walking around Durango for a few hours, we decided to make our way up to Silverton, where we planned to stay the night. The waitress at Mr. Happy's raved about Silverton, so we figured we should spend a majority of our day there. It was only about an hour and a half drive through the mountains from Durango. The drive was gorgeous and time flew by.

We arrived in Silverton about 4pm on Saturday. We found the Ranger Station and were confused why they were closed. Turned out, the car clock was still on Arizona time, and we thought it was only 3pm. Oops. That put a rush on our time in Silverton, as we wanted to be at a campsite while it was still light outside. We've become pros at setting up tents in the dark, but we try to avoid it as much as possible.

We still had three hours to spend it Silverton. Turns out, three hours was quite a while. The town is tiny, and 90% of the buildings are the original building from when it was a mining town. As one of the stop owners put it, "that way all the rich people get scared off" and the town won't end up turning into a ski resort town. He was very proud of that fact.

We did some shopping and discovered one of the store owners lived in Phoenix, right down the road from us, for 40+ years until she needed a change of scenery (so we are up to 2 people who have connections to our home). After spending some time chatting with her, we moved on to a distillery that boasts about their Colorado made Rum. Well, those of you who know us know we like rum. Plus they had a rooftop patio for us to people watch on. Sounded like a win-win to us. Well, it ended up being more of a half-win. The rooftop patio was awesome. The rum, however, not so much. It probably would have been good if we had been whiskey drinkers. The rum had been aged in whiskey barrels and really clung to the whiskey flavoring. While the drink was much smoother than whiskey, it wasn't what we had hoped for. We decided to make up for it by trying out the local Silverton Brewery.

The service was so-so, but the beer was good. Plus they had a patio, which makes everything better. Especially when the temperature is 50 degrees cooler than home. We decided to split a beer just so we could enjoy the weather and the people watching. That's when we met person number 3 who had a connection to home. One of the bikers sitting next to us struck up a conversation. He mentioned he had just moved from California, and was having trouble adjusting to the altitude. He assumed we were from Colorado, but when we told him we were from Arizona, he began talking about all the years he spent in Mesa. Now this connection thing was getting funny. At this point, every single person we talked to for more than five minutes had some sort of connection to home. Unreal.

Before leaving Silverton, we had to get some Rocky Mountain Oysters. We were, after all, in the Rocky Mountains. One of the places that served them was called "Gumpy's Saloon." We had Mr. Happy for breakfast, so we might as well have Grumpy's for dinner. The place was cute and obviously still decorated from back when the town was booming. Our meal was complete with live entertainment from a 70+ year old man playing piano. After we finished we hurried out to the campsite right outside of town to get a spot before they were all gone.

That plan backfired.

All the campsites were full! Now what were we to do? We decided to look up how late the Ouray hotspring was open, since Ouray was only another 30 minutes from where we were. If we left right then, we would have two hours to spend soaking in the springs.

So we did. And oh was it wonderful.

But then it was 10pm and we still did not have a campsite. Thankfully we were surrounded by national forest and had plenty of sites to choose from. We also helped an international couple that flagged us town find a campsite.

So that was our Saturday. Sunday came early and we hung out in the tent for a while and enjoyed the sound of the stream we camped next to. It was gorgeous outside and we hadn't spent much time camping and being outdoorsy. There was a trail and old mining equipment by our tent, but we were out of water and had to go to town before going on a hike.

By the time we got into town there were few places still serving breakfast. We ended up in a little bistro that had excellent, bottomless coffee. I was in heaven. We sat in one of the window seats and enjoyed the scenery and our meal. And yes, most of our trip revolved around food and beverages. Isn't that the best kind of trip?

We finally made it back to the campsite just as our international friends were leaving. As it turned out, they were from the Mediterranean side of France and were on their way to a rodeo in Ridgeway. They tried to talk us into joining them, but we had to make it back towards Cortez that night and weren't able to go. Oh well.

Our hike was short. I swear there is no oxygen in Colorado. Plus we were running low on time. A combination of those factors made us turn around earlier than we expected. We still had to make it to the Ouray brewery to replace our pint glass that we broke on a previous trip, go back through Silverton and Durango, and make it to a campsite in the next 7 hours or so. So we made a quick stop at the brewery and met person #4 who had connections to home. The bartender grew up in Phoenix and then moved to Tucson for college, the exact opposite of what I did. Now this connection thing was getting ridiculous.

After the brewery we stopped at the Box Canyon waterfall to check it out. We could barely see the waterfall in the park, but it was loud! The fall spiraled around the rocks and would have looked really awesome if only we were able to get closer. The trip did provide us with a nice walk around Ouray with some excellent views of the town. There was another waterfall right outside of town that we stopped to look at, so we were still able to get our waterfall fill in for the trip.

Box Canyon Waterfall

There were two places in Silverton that boasted about their Rocky Mountain Oysters, so we had to stop at the other place on the way back. I let Kevin have most of the oysters while I enjoyed some Buffalo chili - yum. And the verdict is: Grumpy's has the better oysters, but Handlebar has excellent BBQ sauce to dip them in. No real winner. We drove down a little side road to leave and found a penny machine (we collect pressed pennies wherever we go). The machine was outside of an ice cream and fudge shop, so we stopped in to get something sweet.

Connection to home #5. This was the guy I mentioned earlier who was proud to scare off the rich people. His son went to ASU for school. Seriously, this is unreal. But so was the fudge his wife made.

After chatting with him for a while we headed back to Durango. We didn't get enough fill of the town the first time, so we wanted a little more before camping. On the way we found a store advertising homemade honey and free samples. We had to stop. Sadly, they did not have any honeycomb (the whole reason we stopped), so the trip was kind of a bust. But we did spend the next few hours researching how to start our own bee farm (I already make our own jelly, why not make honey too?).

So our next stop was the Durango brewery. Yes, we did a beer tour along with a site tour. I asked the girl to bring me her favorite. She offered to let me sample it first and I accepted. I decided I really liked it and anxiously waited her return so I could order it. I waited. And waited. And waited... and then got upset and decided I didn't want it anymore. We ended up having to go up to the bar to cash out. The first time our "winging" it didn't work, which threw us into a funk for the next few hours.

We spent the next few hours trying to figure out where we were going to grab dinner, since we obviously couldn't do it there. The first place we tried was packed, so we walked up and down Durango. There weren't any appetizing looking places, so we returned to the first place to see how long the wait was. We were told 40 minutes and the sun was already going down (we still didn't know where we were camping). S, we got back into the car and drove to a place that served food made with the honey from the honey shop. Turns out it was closed. Durango brewery really put us in a funk.

So, we returned to where we had the pink beer. We were just going to split one more beer but, after sending the menus away, decided we should just eat there so we could get to our campsite.

Thankfully we found a campsite, so our funk ended.

It was pitch black when we set up our tent, but we've pros remember? After we got it all set up, Kevin was messing around with his flashlight. All of the sudden, he noticed a pair of eyes looking back at him.

No wait, scratch that.

TWO pairs of eyes looking back.

They were big eyes. Fairly high off the ground. Trying to figure out what we were pointed at them. Growing up around cats I had my theories about what we were looking at, but I wasn't going to say it out loud. We slowly backed into the car and started doing our research about what big game is in the area.

Mountain lions.

Two of them.

Watched us put up the tent.

Thank goodness they are loner animals. After we finished our research on what to do when that close to lions (BTW, there's a significant chance you will get attacked, during the day), we shined our lights back at where they were hanging out. Gone. We shined our lights all around the camp area. Gone. Nothing. No eyes looking back at us. We backed the car right up to the tent and got in. They're too lazy to try to rip through a tent.

We survived! But waking up in the morning meant going back home.

We weren't ready to go home yet, so we decided to go to Mesa Verde and go on the tour we chose no to last summer. Going into the gate, the ranger commented (looking at Kevin's license) "Oh, Hardy Drive, I know where that is. My son used to live on that street." Seriously? The amount of people associated with Phoenix was unreal.

We went and explored the Cliff Palace. The guide warned us that we should have a lot to drink and eat, because the tour was 40 minutes long. Really, it was just a lot of hurry up and wait. While it was neat to walk around inside the palace and see the building up close, the tour was not nearly as fun as the tour to Balcony House. Oh well.

So then it was time to head home. I read aloud while Kevin drove the 8 hours home. We did, however, stop at Speedy's Truck Stop to get some of my favorite burritos (see my raves in previous blog posts).

Minnesnowta and the Beginning of the End

What an adventure our past few days have been. You've missed a lot.

Being at the cabin was great, as usual. It was super relaxing, and I still managed to get a few "work outs" in. And by work outs I mean tubing and trying to keep floatie away from the dock on a super windy day. It's hard work. Trust me, I'm almost a doctor (har har). I also learned how to play bocce ball and didn't do half bad! I even managed to win (with my wonderful boyfriends help, of course) a game! Eventually I'm going to get around to investing in some Midwest outdoors games so I can practice more than once a year. Watch out.

I also got to experience my first Forth of July. Not really, of course, but the firework shows in Arizona aren't very good. Something about the whole state being on fire every summer or something. I think its a lame excuse, personally. So, I was shown an hour firework display that was pretty awesome. Kevin's uncle stocks up every fifth of July for next year's show. Definitely the way to go. Everyone around the lake and surrounding lakes were shooting off fireworks, so it was like having a bunch of shows in one. But Phil put everyone else to shame.

I really don't know how people live without having a lake cabin to escape to every summer, even if it's a small one. I say that half-jokingly (maybe a quarter) but it really is an experience that everyone should have once. I never knew water sports were so fun, or that escaping from the city life for weeks at a time could be enjoyable or relaxing. Even if we just pitched a tent on the side of some little pond.

We were only able to spend three days at the cabin, but it was a great three days. For the second year in a row we had a short visit. On the way out of Underwood we brainstormed ways to stay longer in future years. Maybe one of them will work.

The goal was to get to Vail in two days, putting us in Vail by Sunday night. We had to plan two eight hour driving days and cram in as much sight seeing as possible, and we did just that. I don't think I have ever seen so much in such a short amount of time.

Right after we left the cabin we stopped at Phelps Mill, since I had never seen it. Its a pretty cool mill in the middle of nowhere, but with a nice park attached. After touring the mill, we discovered a huge turtle trying to cross the road. It wasn't a very big road, but Kevin helped it cross the rest of the way. The crowd appreciated the show :)

The rest of the day was devoted to making it to the Bandlands National Park in Interior, South Dakota. We drove through a bunch of cute little towns in Minnesota and North Dakota, then drove through the boring parts of South Dakota.

When we were about sixty miles from our destination, it happened. This huge storm came out of nowhere. We looked up and the clouds closest to us started spinning and within seconds it was pouring rain and there were sixty to seventy mile an hour winds. We had to pull off the road because we couldn't even see the car parked ten feet in front of us. The Weather Channel suggested getting to the lowest level of the nearest building, but we had nowhere to go. We sat there for twenty minutes with pillows up against the windshield and ducking down as far as we could. I'm still convinced it was a tornado, even though I haven't seen any reports of a tornado in the area. Needless to say, I was sure we were at least going to be seriously injured just based on how much the car, and the stop sign next to us, was rocking. As soon as it cleared a little we got back onto the road and drove the rest of the way out of the storm. Ten miles out, the ground was dry and it was like nothing happened, the area hadn't been touched by the storm. Now that it is long over, we're a little bummed we didn't record a video of it.

The Badlands were pretty cool, but as we were warned, once you've seen one area, you've pretty much seen it all. And it kind of looked like Arizona. But it was weird that it was in the middle of the grasslands. By the time we finally got there, the visitors center was closed and we couldn't get our park stamp. After 30 minutes of stress about the plans for the night we settle on a little campground. This one, again, with free showers and WiFi. But the time we were settled in, we were both ready for bed and called it an early night so we could start early the next morning.

We did kind of miss out by staying the night by the Badlands, though we were able to have breakfast and five cent coffee at the famous Wall Drug in the morning. (it was just as cheesy as I imagined, but the coffee was delicious.) Mount Rushmore was just a nice stop and look, but the Black Hills were gorgeous, and there were so many things we could have done if we had the time. Like explore Jewel Cave National Monument, the longest cave in the country measuring 166 miles. We did stop and hike around the cave, but we didn't have two hours to wait for the next available tour. Now that we know what is out there, we'll have to go back and spend some time in the hills.

Now we are back in Colorado, with plans to go white water rafting tomorrow.

As always, more later.

Part I, Concluded

Well, so much for daily blog posts, eh? We got a little caught up and I didn't really have much time to post the blog, let alone write it. So here is a recap of the rest of Road Trip, Part I.

Saturday morning we toured the Balcony House at Mesa Verde, an old Pueblo Indian ruin right in the side of the mountain. We were told it was "the most adventurous tour" Mesa Verde offered, so we opted to take that tour over Cliff Palace, the icon of Mesa Verde. Balcony house is much smaller, but the views from the house were incredible. The first courtyard we entered was simple, it was an open space with a large wall. Then, we ha to crawl through a crack in the rock to make it to the second courtyard, where the natives lived. There was no wall on this side! But the views were so much better. Kevin and I wondered how many children went teetering off the edge and into the canyon. After this room we had to squeeze through a tiny hole and make our way up two ladders back to the top. The tour was short and sweet, but definitely worth it.

After Balcony House we make a quick stop at the Spruce Tree House. This was a self-guided "tour," that wasn't really a tour. More of a look. But we were able to go into a model kiva with a roof intact so that we could experience what it was like. Talk about a mess. Everyone wanted to go down inside of it, but no one was very good at taking turns. So, our five minute stop turned into a fifteen minute stop. At least we were able to check it out. The Spruce Tree house was pretty neat, bigger than the balcony house and had various rooms scattered throughout the hillside. Also a must see.

 

The plan from Mesa Verde was to book it and make it to Avon, CO for the night so we could see Val. We made it, but two hours later than we expected. The drive through Colorado is gorgeous, but slow (four speeds and mountains don't always work well together. At one point we had to pull over because it started to hail marbles. We didn't want the car to get dented or the windshield to crack, so we found a little gas station and hung out under an overhang until the hail subsided. After the storm, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees, well over half the temperature of home! Further proof we left for our trip just in time.

Our first stop was in Ouray, Colorado, "The Switzerland of Colorado." It looked more like Austria to me, but was still a cute little town. All of the old mining towns in the hills are pretty cute in Colorado.

We stopped at Ouray for a bathroom break, and found a little brewery right on main street. We stopped to sample all of their beers and pick out a couple for a birthday present. Instead of bar stools against the bar, Ouray Brewery had swings! It was pretty cute. Totally appealed to the kid in me. We got to chatting with the bartender, and it turned out she herself was from Tempe, and worked on Mill Avenue before it became so infamous. Small world.

We continued our drive to Montrose, Colorado where we stopped for lunch and figured out the next part of our drive. We decided to take US92 to US133, instead of following Google's recommendation to go through Grand Junction. Yes, it would have been faster, but we had already taken that route and wanted to see something new. So we headed on our way. About 15 miles out, though, we started second guessing our decision to skip over Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We looked up how close were actually were to it (15 miles) and decided to turn around a check it out. We didn't have a lot of time to stop, but we could check it off of our list.

Well, after seeing it, it might be worth a second look at a later time. We definitely weren't expecting what we saw. The views were amazing, the rocks seemed like that just jutted straight up from the ground. It was like a mini Grand Canyon mixed with Colorado National Monument times 1,000. I would love to go back at another time and hike down to the river, just to look up at all the rocks.

We didn't stop again until Avon, and made it around 8 pm. It was great to see Val, and the three of us went to Vail to watch some cougars (who looked my age) pry on some cubs. Oh what money can make you look like. We got to shoot some pool and enjoy the Vail night life. At least the summer edition. The plan is to return in a week so we can spend more time with Val.

The rest of the trip wasn't terribly interesting. Nebraska is boring to drive through, so I was able to finish my first novel of the summer (The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I would highly recommend it). But there was NOTHING to see until Lincoln. We didn't even bother to stop until we got to Iowa. We stayed the next night in a little Days Inn right outside of Des Moines.

Yesterday's drive was a short and sweet one. Four hours. And now we are in Woodbury until tonight or tomorrow morning, until we head on up to the cabin. Kevin and his mom are at work and his dad is already at the cabin, so I'm taking the time to enjoy the weather. I'm just sitting on the patio, writing this and looking out on the lake. Something definitely not possible in July in Arizona.

I probably wont post again until our trip home, but I'll make sure to include one of our time in Minnesota.

More later.