Life on the High Plains

On our last day Irv and I got up early and make the 20 mile drive to one of America's newest national monuments--Chimney Rock.  The monument is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and seems to be run by a host of volunteers.   It's an ancient archeological located on the San Juan mountains near Pagosa Springs.  We've driven past here a few times, but this is the first time we've stopped. Chimney Rock and Companion Rock We could see people up there...are we going to get to go up there? The answer was yes so up we started going. We arrived shortly after the park opened at 9:00 and I wouldn't want to arrive much later.  It was already hot.  The volunteers ensured we had the proper shoes and water with us before we hit the trail. This trail is certainly not for the faint of heart or those afraid of heights. In some sections we had to climb up these rocks and on either side there was a steep cliff.  One slip and you're a goner. I had to stop for a breather e...

Day two in Pagosa was a day spent tubing on the San Juan River. I think the one and only other time I have ever been tubing was when I was a kid in Utah. I was born without the thrill gene so getting in a tube on a river is challenging for me. There's a place that rents tubes for $20 per day and they have a van that picks you up at the end and drives you back to the starting point.  What a deal! I thought we were in for a nice peaceful trip down the river, but within 30 seconds I was having second thoughts and would have made a hasty retreat if possible. My sweet hubby caught up with me and held onto my tube for the duration of the trip.  To catch me he actually jumped out of the tube thinking he could just stand up.  To our surprise, there are sections of this river that are deeper than Irv is tall. Mr. Beans seemed like an old pro and didn't get rattled, in fact I observed him helping other tubers along the way. After the first trip was completed I sent the rest of them...

Last week we packed up the trailer and headed to the mountains for what will probably be our last camping trip of the season.  Mr. Beans was in town so we thought he'd enjoy a short getaway. Maisy and her bed got the whole back seat.  Her sister, Aspen, didn't get to make the trip because she hates camping and is a nervous wreck the whole time.  Maisy will never relax in a vehicle. She pretty much sat in her bed like this during the entire five hour drive. This drive went over two mountain passes.  The first was La Veta Pass and as you can see at one point we dropped down to 4.9 MPG. Then it was onto Wolf Creek Pass which is the longer and windier of the two.  It has these crazy signs warning of the hairpin curves.  If you were by yourself would you really have time to read and decipher what it's trying to warn you? Colorado has this long chain up areas on either side of the passes.  No thank you.  If chains are required I'm going somewhere else. ...

A little more about our recent local camping trip.  Our first stop was Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  It was a warm day by Colorado Standards.  We arrived mid-afternoon and got the trailer set up.  It was 100 degrees inside the trailer when we first arrived.  Our rig only has one air conditioning unit and it took hours to cool it down. We had a really nice nice secluded site with a perfect view of the mountain.  For future reference, this was site #13 in Gobbler Grove. It was too hot to get out and do much hiking, but once evening arrived and the sun started to go down we hit the trails. This park only allows dogs on a few of the trails and we've done them multiple times over the years.  It's always fun to see the summer wild flowers. Scrub Oak is everywhere. No idea what they are, but they're lovely.  On one of our days we had to load up and head back to the house.  Jasper, one of our horses, had an appointment to get a tooth pulled.  H...