Buena Vista = "Good View"

After hiking in the sand dunes most of the morning, we turned the motor home wheels to the north towards the town of Buena Vista, Colorado. The English translation of "Buena Vista" from Spanish means "good view." We would say the view from our RV park's entrance was more than just good--it was excellent! A long line of 14,000-foot peaks run parallel to the highway that runs through this little town, giving good views throughout Buena Vista.

We had reservations at Valley View RV Park, and after a couple days of boondocking with no hook-ups, we intend to be spoiled again with 50-amp electricity and full hook-ups. We have to say that staying in touristy mountain towns in the summer can be expensive, as the daily rates (even with some discounts) is over twice our average for the year. We just got the motor home parked, and set out to explore our new home town. We headed first to the historic district of town, and its beautiful river park.

The Arkansas River runs beside Buena Vista, making for more "good views" that don't even include the mountains. We talked to someone that was preparing their kayak for a 6-mile float down the river. Then we watched as they started through the first section in the river park in their bright green boat.

Rafting companies with guides also use this as a launching point, and wet gear and helmets are provided.

It didn't take long before they needed that wet gear as they hit the first set of rapids.

We walked the mile-long path on the side of the Arkansas River closest to town, and then sat down to watch as a line of surfers attempted the rapids.

For the fifty or more attempts that we watched, we only saw a hand-full of times that the surfer actually got to their feet and rode the wave for a short time.

Some stunt kayakers showed up at our spot, and they showed how those stubby boats can stay in one place and surf really well.

We continued our walk until we found ourselves in the newer river district of Buena Vista. At Boulder Park we really liked the "living room" scene that seemed uniquely out of place under the trees. Made completely of tile so that it is weatherproof, this sitting area included a chair, ottoman, end table, and lamp.

The other side of the living room was an L-shaped sofa, complete with a tiled cat and dog to finish the home atmosphere in the park.

We also found that they were setting up for live entertainment this evening at the park. We were lucky enough to hear a very good blue grass band warming up and doing sound checks. They had social-distancing barricades in place, and we returned that evening to hear their performance from a distance.

We continued our 2-mile loop around the river. Some views of the rapids in that section convinced us that we wouldn't be putting our kayak on this section of the Arkansas River during our stay.

Denisa is always looking for new-to-us wildflowers. We found this beauty blooming beside the river.

Like often happens, the rain clouds gathered and we could see the showers over the mountains this afternoon. That's another "good view" when we can see the lovely Arkansas River and the Rocky Mountains at the same time. I think we're going to like our stay here in Buena Vista!