Vallecito Resort and the Pie Party

When we first arrived at our campground near Mesa Verde National Park, Denisa snapped a picture of the "Sleeping Ute" mountains that she described in the last blog. The skies were blue and we could see the mountains clearly.

After our four-night stay, we are leaving this southwest corner of Colorado. The smoke has really crept into this part of the state during those four days. As we drove the same road to leave the area, Denisa snapped a picture from the same place to show the difference in the view of the Sleeping Ute. This summer we have been blessed to stay away from the forest fires that are now the biggest in this state's history. So it must be time to move further away from them once again.

Our destination today is just 68 miles away, but the air is much clearer here. We are staying at Vallecito Resort--another Passport America park that allows four nights at the half-price rate. It's a lovely park among the tall pine trees. With 150 camp sites, we got the worst one in the park. We're on the corner right beside the highway and furthest from the facilities. This is one of the few campgrounds in the last five and a half years that had absolutely no AT&T cell phone service. So Denisa has the computer in her arms, making the quarter-mile walk to the office where the only wifi is available. She's a dedicated blogger that needs a cell phone signal or wifi, and she's just happy that the 70-degree temperatures make blogging outside so comfortable.

Also near the office is one of the tree carvings that can be found throughout the Vallecito valley.

In 2002, a fire swept through this area. The charred trunks of that serious fire are evidence of the magnitude of the flames and the damage done. But firefighters fought the flames, and even though 28 houses were burned, they saved most of the village of Vallecito Lake. The wood carvings are a tribute to the emergency workers that served through the fire, and the animals that perished when they lost their natural habitat.

We drove the entire circle around Vallecito Lake, finding many of the wood carvings. We also found that the lake was down severely in water volume because of the drought. Our campground owner suggested we launch our kayak at the north end of the lake at the public boat ramp. We decided that he needs to stop working so hard and drive to that north end, where the receding water was about a quarter mile away from that boat ramp. So we won't be kayaking here after all. Besides, all the area around the lake is a "fee area," so we would have to pay to walk or kayak or park anywhere close to the lake. We didn't even take a picture because we were disappointed with Lake Vallecito.

But we did see that the logging industry is alive and well here in these mountains. We stopped and watched the process of loading these big logs into trucks.

Just a few minutes after we arrived, we were taking our first walk around our new campground. We saw a little lady wearing an apron, driving a golf cart toward us. She stopped beside us and asked, "Have you been invited to the pie party?" We explained that we had just arrived, but when she mentioned "pie" she was obviously speaking our language. She had to leave in a hurry, because she had a meringue pie in the oven. But she convinced us we should come to the party tomorrow. Frannie had baked ten pies, and several friends had helped her with more. They had them all laid out for people to pick their favorite. It was a beautiful sight to see!

Most of the campers here at Vallecito stay for the entire summer season, and have been coming back for many years. This pie party has evolved from having a few friends over for dessert, to about 100 people coming by for a piece of pie this year. So we enjoyed the invitation to a social-distancing party, and we can report that the pie was delicious! We also went to the social-distancing concert that evening, where the local jam group entertained for an hour and a half. They did some good two-step music, so now we will be remembered as that new couple that danced during the concert.

It's a very friendly park, and we even found one person that spends summers here, and winters at the same park we've gone to for the cold months of the year. He gave us advice for a hike tomorrow, and we think we're going to like it here!