A Vacation from our Vacation

We've been in South Fork, Colorado, for over a week--soaking in the cool temperatures and going on a different mountain hike almost every day.  We love living in our motorhome and the places it takes us!  But we had the opportunity to take a vacation from this vacation.  So we jumped at the chance of going with our friends, Connie and Steven, to spend some time at their family cabin north of Durango, Colorado.  We are on the road to western Colorado, stopping for the views at the top of Wolf Creek Pass.

Just over the pass is a great place to stop and stretch our legs at Treasure Falls.  You can barely see Connie and Steven standing beside the falls, getting a shower from the spray off the falls.  We found that hiking up the "primitive path" was a lot of work, especially since they had just arrived at this 10,000 foot elevation.

















Mark also opted for the close-up of the falls.  We might notice that Denisa was the only one that didn't need a shower this morning.



 





Next stop is Pagosa Springs, home of many sulphur-smelling volcano-looking springs.  Mark's face is shadowed by his cap, but he is holding his breath while standing this close.  We suspect that Pagosa means "smelly water" in some native Indian language. 

Sometimes the springs run into the river without the volcano-esque fanfare, but this one still smelled like sulphur.  After our waterfall showers this morning, we didn't see any reason to soak in hot smelly water on a summer day when Pagosa Spring's temperature was rising into the 80's.  That's hot for mountain dwellers like us!

So it was onward to Vallecito Lake.  We realized that we failed to take a picture of this big lake, because Denisa was enamored by the wood carvings instead.  This entire area burned in 2002, so a local craftsman carved 14 trees to make memorials of that fire.  This carving of a mother black bear and her cubs memorializes the animals that were impacted by the fire.

Other carvings were memorials to the people that helped to fight the fire. Over 4,000 firefighters helped extinguish the fire that raged for 17 days and burned over 70,000 acres. This carving is of a fireman and "Rocky," a raccoon rescued from the forest where her parents were killed.  It was at the Blue Spruce RV park on the north end of the lake.  Mark and Denisa were checking out the park for future camping possibilities, while Steven was visiting a classmate that is work-camping there now.

The last carving we pictured was the last one carved, and it is entitled, "Rebirth of Vallecito."  While the others are topped with a flame, this one is topped instead by the sun and represents the return of the animals and plants after the fire.

All of our activities were free (because Mark and Denisa obviously like that price), and that included a free concert in Durango by the Air National Guard Band.  The trombones had solos for this song, while the rest of the band was sheltered from the sun in the tent.  Temperatures were warmer in the city of Durango, and we were all looking for the shade.

After the concert we took a stroll along the river walk in town.  We snapped this picture of Connie and Steven standing in front of the swift flowing Animas River that runs through Durango.

Another free activity was visiting the James Family Ranch, complete with samples of the artisan cheese they make here.  We also took the walking tour of the farm, were Denisa talked the kids into eating out of her hand.

Everything is organic and free range here, including the chickens.  Mark commented that Denisa uses the same high-pitched baby voice to talk to the chickens as she does to communicate with the baby goats.  It's a good thing this is not an audio blog, or she would surely have embarrassed herself with her animal-talk voice.

Just down the road we visited "Honeyville", home to all things made of honey.  You can watch the bees making honey as they fly into the store through a tube connected to the great outdoors.  You can also watch employees filling jars of honey products in the work room attached to the store.  Or you can make friends with the giant honey bear by the front door.

This is technically not a free stop, as you will certainly have to buy something before you leave.  But I'm sure that we will enjoy the plain honey and Mountain Peach whipped wildflower honey we purchased here.

We also had some great free views right out our back door.  In our cabin nestled in the woods, we got a visit one morning from this deer adorned with velvet antlers.

All these free activities were spread over several days, and we have more fun activities for the next blog.  But just like the mastercard commercial we have already experienced "Grand views - free; Fun Tours - free; Great music - free; Special Time with Special Friends - Priceless."