More Colorado and More..

Last Stops in Colorado

I prepped myself for a long drive to Mesa Verde National Park. It was going to be windy and windy again and more snow; and it was! I will be out of the snow soon, and onto the desert in Santa Fe!

We stopped at a park in Durango to walk a bit and look for a place to eat. Driving on these, kind-of scary roads can get stressful! So I have found the best thing to do is find a park, walk the dog and figure out a plan!The options were slim on the outskirts of Durango, and I did not want to go into a city. (I lost some of my confidence after the Denver issue.)

I decided to wait for Mancos, from what I have read it seems like a cute little town with artsy stores. Wrong! It had a cafe but did not look welcoming. I booked a stay at Echo Basin an RV park in town, so that should be quick and easy. Wrong! It is 6 miles out of town up, up, up in farm country. The drive up was sooooo slow, following tractors all along the way! It was BEAUTIFUL drive, so that made the slowness bearable! Whew, we’re here and I am starving! AND there is a Bar & Grill! Perfect, I will eat here, things are getting better already! Except, they’re open Wed-Sun and it’s Tuesday, time to make dinner. Lambert takes his dinner el fresco, in his bed…..

Mesa Verde

Off to the last National Park on my Colorado list. Originally I planned to go to 4-Corners, where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona all touch but after more research it didn’t make the cut. It would add 2 hours to my drive time and I couldn’t find a safe place to stay, so another time. I arrived at  Mesa Verde with enough time to find a decent WiFi spot and join my bible study ladies for the last session before our summer break. That was fun! 

Going into this whole trip I knew that Lambert would not be able to go to many sights in the National Parks. The cliff dwellings are supposed to be spectacular, unfortunately I won’t be seeing them today! We drove to the top of the park, Park Point. It’s actually a fire look out, but you can see forever; it’s at 8572 feet, so we were up there! I had planned to drive to the end of the park and back but I wanted to get to New Mexico tonight and needed to get dog food, so we left the park. I hope to see the dwellings another time, sans dog.

New State!! New Mexico…

On to Farmington for supplies and then to Bloomfield, an RV park stay. The RV park was kind of old and sketch, but one night is fine, then we’re on our way towards Santa Fe. I booked two nights in a hotel there but we will stop at a Harvest Host before we make it to SF.

Ooof, the drive to the HH,  Black Mesa Winery & Cidery was a long one. For some reason my Apple Car Play is not working now… hmmm…. I had this system installed in December and everything  has been fine until now. Could this be related to  my DUMB ASS battery issue?????? Three hours with no audio book, no music, no phone calls.

I was also hoping to stop for lunch along the way, but there was nothing!  The drive was mostly through reservation land; Navajo and Apache. Any ‘towns’ I passed through were very desolate, I saw three restaurants along the way, all of them boarded up. There were quite a few churches, some schools but really no food, no stores; food deserts are real. I am not a fan of the devil (Bezos) and driving through these small towns and seeing the shops boarded up solidified by POV.  ^{( I know I sometimes use Amazon and I know it’s not ALL bad.)}

Colorful Desert

Arriving at the HH I was a bit hesitant, the parking spots were a gravel lot right next to the highway. When I walked up, I saw how cute it was, they had made a labyrinth you could walk and meditate on though I discovered walking with Lambert and meditating do not go together. The rocks had petroglyphs dating back 1500 years along the walking paths behind the winery, a very unique spot for sure! I ordered a tasting flight, the Viognier wasn’t bad, it is really hard to be objective when I am spoiled by living in Washington and having great wines everywhere! The hummingbirds were a hit for me! They swooped all around the feeders, so entertaining!

Santa Fe here we come!

Santa Fe is a quick drive, just an hour. So after a relaxing morning, we gas up and get on the road. I am excited to see Santa Fe, I have always wanted to go to New Mexico and have never been! So this is a bucket list location for me!

We can’t check in too early so we head to the square; the area is surprisingly dog friendly. He’s allowed in most shops and galleries, so we wander, grab some lunch, try to check in, too early still, off to an amazing gallery, Nedra Matteucci Gallery, right around the corner from our ‘hotel’.

The Sage MOTEL!! It was a dump, but I could park the van right in front of my room and it was convenient(ish). Lambert always enjoys a good hotel night or two! I enjoyed being able to let the pup sleep, take their shuttle into town and visit some ‘non’ dog friendly things I wanted to do, The Georgia O’Keefe Museum and The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. 

People again – Yay

I met some really nice people in Santa Fe! There was a patio with live music in the early evening and both nights Lambert and I had a great time! The first night I met a mom and daughter, they joined us, it was so nice chatting with people!! The next evening we chatted with a couple of sisters and then two women from Australia came to sit with us. They had a funny store to share; they were staying in Texas, here on work and decided to take the long weekend (Memorial Day) to see Santa Fe. Long story short, they booked a car, but the booking ended up being in Santa Fe Spain!