May 22, 2015...Last day in Colorado....and then its time to head back to Abilene. :(

We had another wonderful nights rest, it rained off and on all night and that sound on the top of the trailer was glorious!  We got up, drank coffee, read, walked around camp and then walked to the camp store and got a really cute “Casita-looking” trailer  Christmas ornament. Then we walked down to Baker’s Bridge, where Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” took the big jump into the water!  Beautiful spot! 

 Fun to see some kayak come past as we were at the bridge, looks like a popular spot.

We went to a place we had read about on a Durango App, Urbanspoon and Yelp. It was a ranch called James Ranch, a working ranch by a Mom, Dad and their 5 grown children, spouses and grand kids. It was beautiful, lush green, stream running through the property and so many cute little buildings, barns, patios, etc. One of the daughters and her husband had opened a “Food Cart” where they served wonderful, delicious foods from the farm. Everything was delicious and fresh! WONDERFUL! They had a tour guide/map you could pick up and walk around and it explained their process and it was so relaxing, such friendly owners and a neat setup! We loved it!!! Wish we live close enough to come here again and eat there when all their fresh summer produce is coming out of the garden. They also have a very small but cute market located in the building where they make their cheese. We bought two little chunks of cheese, wish so much we could have gotten a few more things but since we are headed home we didn't want to try to keep things frozen, etc.  I wish we would have discovered this little gem earlier, but so glad we got to eat here at least once!
 Pretty sure this is the cutest food truck we have seen!

Here is the market, it would be so much fun to come back later, to see the flowers in full bloom, the garden and to eat again!!! Their menu changes depending on what they are harvesting at the time! :)

Not many food trucks give you such cute tables to sit at and this view!

Our view while we waited for our food...aaahhhh.

 This stuff is AMAZING!!! If any of my Abilene Peeps (or Katy Peeps) see this anywhere, we might need to enjoy one together. Comes it several flavors and oh my, soooo good!

  Lunch is served....

 Larry had a Elk burger with yummy garlic mayo and it was so tender and moist!

 I had the Inside-Out Grilled Cheese(their own cheese of course) with Black Current Jelly (that the make themselves with their own berries). Something about the salty of that cheese dipped in that jelly...my mouth is watering now. And let me just say, a little cheese on both sides of the bread...genius in my books!

 And it did...

On our walk we got to see their new calf, so sweet! 

We left the ranch and walked through another place called Honeyville Farms, they sell lots of cute honey products and honey bee items. Got a really cute towel for the kitchen! Then we headed back to camp to relax and enjoy the afternoon. I worked on loading pictures, read, and talked to Ashley while Larry took a snooze. Then we watched a few of our DVD (The Unit) as it was raining again and it was sooo cozy inside little Holly. We enjoyed baked potatoes that we had wrapped in foil and cooked in the crock pot and ate inside as it was raining but we enjoyed watching another couple of “shows” as we know when we get home we won't have the time to be lazy like this! So cozy and nice! We took a walk around the camp…can’t believe how many trailers have moved in! Everyone gathering for Memorial Day weekend. We leave in the morning, we were gonna pack up but because of the rain we will just wait and get thing packed and ready tomorrow.  We head to Albuquerque tomorrow and then home on Sunday. God has been so good in allowing us to have this time away and we have been so blessed with  safety and good health. 

Saturday, May 23^rd.

Got up and enjoyed a cup of coffee before packing up and heading to Albuquerque. Sad to see this trip end. Left the campground and stopped by the Farmers Market in Durango. Such a cool little market. Got a baguette of bread and a Danish for breakfast and then headed to Albuquerque. Ran by Camping World when we got into Albuquerque, then checked into the campground. Very nice people and a clean stop. Saw two Casitas parked in the same campground but never met owners. We went to REI, TJ Maxx, then to Il Vicinos to eat supper, so Larry was a happy camper! Visited with campers next to us, hooked back up to the Jeep and did all the prep work we could before heading in for the night. We watched two episodes on “The Unit” and hit the sack as tomorrow will be a long day of driving...and we have left pretty country!

Sunday, May 24^th

As we left Albuquerque, we spotted some Hot Air Balloons but never got super close...these are just pictures I took out the window of the car. But we talked about it could really be fun to come back for the Hot Air Balloon Festival they have here each year. Another trip in the Holly...sounds good to us!

Got up at 6:30, made coffee and got on the road by 7:30. Made several stops in the first hour…gas, then to get some fireworks for the boys, then to buy some moccasins for Emma as her treat and only stopped for bathroom and gas breaks. On the way home, since we had lots of talking time, we worked on Knight Camp. We sent a text to the kids to see if they might want to meet for supper when we get in and they were delighted, said the boys had been asking for days-weeks when we were coming home. Makes us feel good! We aren’t necessarily ready to be home but it will be good to see the family and friends. We are ready to go somewhere again! Got home around 5:30. Lots to clean up, but the memories are great!
We are amazed at how much we have enjoyed our little trailer and look forward to many more trips!

May 21, 2015...a day on the Durango-Silverton Train

What a fun day! Up early, stopped by a French Café for a pastry and coffee and headed for the train station. 

Then it was on to the train station!
We had an older lady as our narrator on the way to Silverton, she was very informative and the view up was beautiful, not as wonderful as the view on the way back, but so fun! We had great seats at the front of the car and enjoyed both of the narrators immensely. They were in period dress and played their part so well. The lady on the way back was a little younger and was very interesting as well…maybe a better storyteller but both did a great job sharing the history. 

It was fun as we would go into curves that we could see the engine from our window!

 We drove past the very old box cars from a train years ago.

 







 



 We ate at the Handlebars Café and had a delicious lunch. I had Chicken Pot Pie and Larry had an Elk burger with green chilies. Then we shared a delicious peach cobbler with ice cream.  We looked around town for a few minutes, bought a couple of treats…a coin purse with a cute little trailer for our laundry quarters and a new soap dish for the kitchen at home. Got back to Durango right around 6 and headed back to camp. Tired but a very nice day.  

Just hanging out with my honey!

Came across the prettiest waterfalls!

 What a fun day!!!

May 20, 2015...A day in Durango...so lovely!

What a wonderful nights sleep, it rained off and on all night and we LOVE sleeping in this little trailer and when you hear the rain on the roof...oh my...it just doesn't get much better than that! We have stayed so comfy...we love our little Holly! 
We enjoyed some breakfast and coffee, and then headed to Durango to hang out and get train tickets for tomorrow’s train ride. We are super excited about taking the train, we have heard from many what an interesting and beautiful trip it is, so we decided to treat ourselves to this tour. We then walked around downtown, shopped, ate at a Food Truck, called The Box, which was Cuban food and it was delicious! Really delicious! We decided to eat smaller things and maybe hit several places...especially since we really couldn't decide where to eat...toooo many choices!!!

 Then shopped and looked around more and then we went to Fired Up Pizza for a small pizza and bruschetta. We enjoyed the slower pace and did a lot of slow walking around. Then we drove around a bit more and headed back to the campground. 
We both enjoyed kicking back and reading, etc.
Then we fixed hot dogs for supper, just a really nice relaxing day!

May 19, 2015...Goodbye Utah....sniff-sniff...and hello Colorado, our dear friend!

Got up early as we really wanted to get on the road and get set up in Colorado as early in the day as we can. We did some work last night which may today easier, so we were on the road right at 8, stopped for gas, made phone calls to the kids, etc. so it was really about 8:45 before we were on the road. We quickly hit rain, then tiny hail, then sleet, then light snow about the time we were at the Utah/Colorado line. 

 This was the best sign picture I had because it was foggy and snowing!

We stayed in that until we got on Hwy 184 headed toward Cortez and finally blue skies and the sun broke out! Thankful for that, as pulling a trailer, in switchback roads is enough, we are so happy for dry roads! We were excited to get to Colorado but Utah has been so wonderful and the beauty so unexpected. We were looking forward to the mountains, trees and brooks that we know await us in Colorado, though the weather forecast said they were expecting a cold front so we wondered if we would get any fishing in! I was sure hoping so as I had not gotten to do any this trip.  

Fun to see those mountains with the snow on them...and know we are getting closer to our dear Colorado!

 We arrived in Durango around 12:30, got the trailer to its spot and since it was raining we just went straight inside and ate lunch and by the time we had eaten the rain had stopped for a bit, so we then got things hooked up, at least enough for the day.
Trees in the campground...oh yeah baby!

We actually set things up a bit more after this but this is the best picture I found.

 
Then we drove back into Durango, taking a scenic route that the ladies in the office told us about…beautiful! Went downtown for about an hour, just to get a feel for what we might want to do and then went to City Market for a few groceries and then back to the campground. 

 

These are some super cool sculptures made totally out of railroad spikes. 






This campground is nice, on the river and there aren’t many trailers here today but they warned us by the weekend it would be full, but since we leave Saturday morning we get to enjoy it while its quiet. The owners are super nice, the place is clean and there are so many things for kids to do plus lots of neat cabins. Overall, we were impressed. It rained off and on all evening, so we decided to just have soup in the camper and call it a day instead of the original plan which included cooking outside.  We both did a bit of reading, watched a few of our “shows” and totally vegged. But this has been a good day and we are so thankful to have safely arrived at our next location!!!