Nov. 19...Thursday..Monument Valley

Spent the night in the Grand Canyon last night at a really nice campground. The GC takes your breath away, no?

The campground was close to the rim, and yet was great place to let the dog run off leash (violation of law, of course)...woke this morning to a gorgeous blue sky and hiked along the South Rim for an hour. Then made the three hour drive to Monument Valley. Never have spent anytime there, just drove through on the way somewhere, BUT, this time we are staying the night....had a really nice late afternoon hike....and are parked right below one of the big monuments...spectacular scenery...

We are a little melancholic tonight, as it will be our last dinner in toutou for a couple of months, probably - tomorrow night we're taking a friend out to dinner in Grand Junction, spending the night there, and then making the drive home on Saturday morning. It's been a great two week trip!!

Nov. 18....Wednesday....Grand Canyon

Spent a lovely two days with my bro and sis-in-law Mark and Betsy Kogan in Scottsdale...it was nice to be in a big bed and use a full-size shower! Played golf at WR - not too badly given I haven't played in six weeks....had nice walks with all around Estancia where they live, with Molly and their pup, Camy...and nice dinners out with friends...Molly DID have her first run-in with a cholla....Thankfully, it stuck to her lower "forearm", and I was able to yank it off her with her just giving a small yelp. It could have been much worse:

Left this morning and drove two hours northwest to Prescott...a cute little town with a bunch of good-looking restaurants...had a walk with Molly around town before settling in for some yummy southwest cuisine...love carnitas!

Then it was another couple of hours drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we are now hooked up in the RV park....we were here years ago and it is still a surprise to see how big and gorgeous it is! Caught it just as the sun was setting.....

Found a big open forest adjacent to the campground where we could let Molly run (illegally off-leash)....There is some snow on the ground from the storm earlier in the week, and it will be below freezing tonight, I think. But it is nice and toasty inside! Opened a nice bottle of wine, and we'll soon have orecchiette and meatballs, and salad....P.S. Some have asked about where we have dinner, so I took this pic tonight:

Tomorrow we'll do some more sight-seeing and hiking around the South Rim before making the two and a half hour drive to Monument Valley just across the border in Utah....we'll stay there tomorrow night....and we'll be heading towards home....

Nov. 15....Sunday...Tucson area....

Woke this morning to cloudy skies and brief showers....snuck a 2.5 mile hike in before the rain really came down for a bit....the puppy was tired, and relaxed watching me change out of my boots in the back:

Drove an hour into Tucson, had some yummy tamales at the Tucson Tamale Company (recommended), then onto Catalina State Park just northeast of the city....really a beautiful park....hadn't thought we'd hike again, but couldn't resist! 3 miles along a stream (which Molly had to sit in):

Giant saguaros along the way, we crossed the stream four times before hiking up to a sandy mesa, just before sunset.... 

Last night in the wild for a couple of days - we'll be visiting Amy's brother in Scottsdale the next couple of nights...looking forward to a great time there!

Nov. 14....Saturday....Silver City, NM

Had a wonderful hike on Friday morning at City of Rocks State Park....an incredible setting - sort of a naturally-formed Stonehenge:

There are hundreds of these formations, and campsite are spread cleverly out among them....the hike we did was a few miles, the last part pretty much straight up to the tippy-top of the peak on the right here:

From there, we gained a wonderful view of the rock formation:

Pretty amazing - just out in the middle of nowhere!

We were pretty exhausted after that, and drove into Silver City and had a nice lunch and a glass of wine...it's a great little town, with cute restaurants, coffee houses, Victorian architecture....then we had a well-earned siesta at our RV park that afternoon. Will be leaving the Land of Enchantment for Arizona this morning....

Nov. 12....Thursday....Alamogordo, White Sands, City of Rocks!

Where to start??? It was a busy day! We had planned on a major hike this morning, but decided, with so much to do, we'd take an abbreviated one (1/2 mile) around the riparian area of Oliver Lee State Park. Very enjoyable! Then off to the New Mexico Space Museum - I wasn't aware of this, but much of the research and testing behind our missile and space programs took place in and around Alamogordo and White Sands. Still does, I guess. An interesting museum - Amy took a ride in a Mercury Capsule - I can't believe guys went up in space in this!

Also, they have a moon rock!!!

Which isn't all that surprising if you think about it, since the moon landing was faked and staged right here in New Mexico....all they did was pick up a few rocks from around the film set!!!! duh!

OK - after some shopping at a good grocery store in Alamogordo (there will be slim pickins for a few days where we're headed), we had a visit and picnic lunch at White Sands National Monument. Incredible setting!!

At one point, driving over the gypsum-covered road, I thought I was back in snowy Vail!

It has a well-developed picnic area, if you can believe it. To me, it looks like we're out on a ice-covered lake in winter!

Then it was off for a three hour drive to City of Rocks State Park - kind of a naturally-formed answer to Stonehenge. Not sure if you can see all the rocks sticking straight out of the ground or not in this:

I'll get some more pics tomorrow, as we are going to hike here. We're not far from Silver City, a place we've wanted to spend a couple days at. Unsure if we'll stay here another night, or move closer into  the town. We'll decide that tomorrow.....

In the meantime, I'm sipping a lovely Bandol (2009 Ch. Pibarnon for you fellow wine snobs), snacking on some Comte and crackers.....dinner is paella, salad, and a really nice french bread we got at the grocery store this morning....it was another wonderful day in the Land of Enchantment.

Nov. 11...Wednesday in Riudoso, NM

Arrived here in Riudoso after a few hour drive from Albuquerque....it's a lovely mountain resort town, and we'll be back another time to do more hiking....it was threatened by a huge forest fire in 2012, and you can see burnt forests all around the area, but thankfully, the town was saved. But it does make me worry about our valley back home, and what could happen....

Nice and toasty in the RV last night, but VERY windy outside - at one point I bordered on waking up as I felt the RV rocking side to side, wondering what it would take to tip us over??!!?? Nice sunny morning, and we are going to drop dirty laundry off at the laundromat in town, where they'll do the work for us, while we take a good hike that Amy found talking to a Forest Service Ranger. We'll have lunch in town afterward, pick up the clean laundry and head south to Cloudcroft and Alamogordo. Some pics from the really nice 3.5 mile hike:

Molly beat us back down the trail by a minute or so:

And she was tuckered out!!! As you can see, she was watching me put away my hiking gear in the back of toutou:

After the hike and lunch, we headed south through Cloudcroft and Alamogordo, to Oliver Lee State Park....a small campground set against the very dramatic Sacramento Mountains....arrived just before sunset and had a nice walk around - we'll hike here in the morning....lots of cactus, and it is starting to look a lot like Arizona....look closely and you can see some RVs here in the park...we were lucky to get the last electrified spot!

The sunset was gorgeous, as was our home-away-from-home:

Relaxing, sipping some wine now....I'm in the passenger's captain's seat, turned around facing the interior...the girls are in their usual spot as well:

About to start heating up dinner - chicken tangine, made by Molly Harrison back in Vail. It's yummy.....she serves it aside tomato farro...tomorrow we'll hike here in the park,  and then visit White Sands National Monument, which looks very cool.....On our way to Silver City, NM....all for now!

Nov. 9, Monday....Santa Fe....

Said good-bye to Taos on another bright sunny and cool morning....took the "High Road to Taos" road and stopped at the lovely little, pilgrimage town of Chimayo. 50,000 pilgrims travel to the sanctuary there during Holy Week - the largest pilgrimage in the U.S. Here's the church:

Pretty spot, and lots of crosses that people carry and leave there after their pilgrimage.

Then onto Sante Fe for lunch at Santacafe - we ate there a couple of times during our last visit to SF four years ago during Thanksgiving. Molly was six months old when we spent a handful of days there. Wandered around town a bit, and Amy got some new great-looking boots...

Molly was a hit with all the customers and sales ladies, until she tired and took her afternoon nap. I wasn't as fortunate. Santa Fe is great, I could live there, I think....

Then onto a transit spot just outside Albuquerque for a night, before heading south to Ruidoso, Cloudcroft, and Alamagordo tomorrow...65 and sunny when we pulled into camp, felt great! No freezing temps tonight.....chicken pot pie for dinner....

Nov. 8, Sunday...Taos, NM

We departed a snowy Vail on Saturday morning, looking forward to the drive south to warmer weather....

Taos was about a four and a half hour drive, down through Leadville, Buena Vista - where we stopped in a park and had a quick sandwich I'd made earlier that morning - Alamosa, and finally Taos. We'd spent a week here skiing thirty years ago, but never spent time in town, nor did we visit the pueblo. Set up camp at Monte Bello park, a nice private campground just outside of town. Had a delicious dinner of Chicken Marengo and then slept warmly in our flannel sheets! They are a big asset on a sub-freezing night. 

We awoke earlyish and went into the sleepy central plaza of Taos. Reminiscent of Sante Fe's, if I am remembering correctly. Touristy, but lovely architecture. Had coffee at World Cup, the bustling independent coffee shop in the town. Lots of dogs for Molly to visit with, and we sat on a bench outside, warming ourselves in the delicious sun. Wandered thr ugh same art galleries afterwards....

Went to visit the San Francisco de Assis mission and church. 350 years old....beautiful...Mass was just ending, but we had a look inside as the priest was finishing his cleric duties.....remarkable place.

Did a few errands, washed the RV, and had great hamburgers at the 5 Star - reputed to have the best burgers in NM. They lived up to the hype.

Drove up to Taos Pueblo after lunch, and had an hour siesta on our beds before touring the pueblo. It is over a thousand years old! 

A remarkable sight, and we walked around both the north and south sides of it. Some people still live there, and the walls are refreshed with mud and straw every year still.

Back to the same campground afterward, where I'm sipping a Sauvignon Blanc at the moment, just after sunset. Tonight it's duck confit and lentils for dinner - OH, and some bread we bought at the pueblo - evidently they're famous for it. Slather it up with some yummy French butter, mmmmmm, mmmmmm!

Tomorrow we'll head south. To Chimayo, one of the "ten most beautiful towns in NM". I'll report back on that. Probably have lunch in Santa Fe after that, and then drive to the outskirts of Albuquerque and spend the night there. The Land of Enchantment.....

Evening, Oct. 23rd....Great Sand Dunes NP...

Today finally dawned with little chance of precip...we had camped just outside of Pagosa Springs, in the San Juan Mountans...a brief morning hike was followed by coffee in town, and then a ride into Creede, over Wolf Creek Pass....Creede has a unique geography to it, with abrupt, uplifted rock faces abutting the north border of the town, leading into the mountains where Creede's mines were located in the 19th century....

At its largest, almost ten thousand people lived there....now, 800 call it home, and it is the largest town in Mineral County! I had never heard of the town, nor the area, and I want to go back and spend more time in this pretty mountain range...there are still interesting, abandoned structures dating back to mining days:

Anyway, had a wonderful brisket sandwich at a pub in town, and then a hike up into the abandoned mine area.

Afterward, we decided to head east to visit the Great Sand Dunes - who knew Colorado had them?? Which is where we are pitched for the night....we'll visit the dunes in the morning....tonight we will dine on duck confit, sausage, and lentils....we can see the sun setting to the west, peeking through clouds....just to the east are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, an imposing site from our campground - snow-capped and steep, rock-faced peaks, holding eight of Colorado's fourteeners....

Evening, Oct. 21....

Wonderful day here at Dutton Hot Springs....super hike in the morning....Molly brought a friend along for the hike....the two of them became fast friends.....

It was cool, and we had a brief shower or two, but the sun eventually broke out....

That's the owner's contemporary house in the left of the picture, and the resort in the distance....learned they are very busy here in the winter with cross country skiing and snowshoeing, AND, even some heli-skiing right from the resort - Amy and I are going to look into this....

After a yummy lunch we had siestas....

The bed is much bigger than toutou's! 

Amy and I hit the hot springs afterward and I had a relaxing massage.....tomorrow we get back on the road and head south, towards Mesa Verde and Durango....can't wait!

Wednesday, Oct 21.....

Yesterday was a travel day, leaving Ouray for a two day break at a resort, Dunton Hot Springs...first we had a stop in Telluride for lunch - we had skied there thirty four years ago! It has really changed....

The town is wonderful as ever, retaining its traditional architecture and appeal. And the setting - incredible!!! A wonderful spot....

Then onto Dunton Hot Springs...."you can't get there from here" describes it well...the owner took the old (probably abandoned) town of Dunton, brought in old cabins and painstakingly restored the "town"!

It is unique, expensive, and in a wonderful setting. There is a bath house with a hot spring pool, and wonderful showers; massages available (apres-hike today).....Room for about forty guests (Robert Redfod was here last week), there are six of us here at the moment. Large staff, great beds...The other two couples are delightful, and that's good because we share the main meals together...lots of good hiking right out our front door, which we will partake of after breakfast. Meals and other activities center around the main building:

We're here for one more night, and then we'll get back on toutou and continue the road trip...the weather is still unsettled, and we are discussing heading south to New Mexico, but we'll see....

2nd Trip...Oct. 19, Ouray.....

Awoke last night to feel the RV moving, side-to-side, in a fairly strong crosswind! Then heard the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof....drifted back to sleep...Molly walked down the aisle between our beds at about 7am, and nosed me awake....she always wants some rubs in the morning before we get out of bed...I put some fleece on and a jacket, grabbed the umbrella, and took her for a walk...an illegal one yet again (no leash)....it was overcast and showering a bit, and I was unsure about hiking today...but by time we had our coffee and got dressed it had stopped and we broke camp and headed into Ouray....

Driving into that beautiful town situated in a box canyon, we could see the clouds parting and that the night's showers had been snow on the tops of the surrounding peaks - a gorgeous scene....grabbed some more coffee (and a yummy sticky pecan bun for me), and then did some shopping at Ouray Mountain Sports, a really nice store...then drove to the edge of town, parked the RV and joined a different part of the Perimeter Trail, this time to the west of town...great views as we hiked up the steep trail...notice the snow on the peaks???

The trail crossed a rushing stream and small falls....

Finally,the clouds parted and we got some warming sun on our backs...

Hydration is important when you hike, and your dog can be trained to drink from a Camelback!

Getting back to toutou (the RV) after our hike, we used the outdoor shower (a hose with a spray nozzle on it, hot and cold water available, located under one of the running boards in the picture) to clean our boots and Molly's four muddy feet...

We departed Ouray knowing we'll be back soon, as it is the prettiest town in Colorado (the U.S., maybe!), and drove back to Ridgway State Park - oh, we did make a stop for some necessary refreshment at the Ouray Brewery....32oz of their IPA.....

Tonight we have pork loin, squash, and carmelized brussel sprouts for dinner, thank you Molly Harrison! Tomorrow morning we leave for Telluride. Then, after lunch there, onto Dunton Hot Springs Resort for two nights in a luxurious log cabin....3 meals a day, a spa, free laundry service, it promises to be a nice break from RVing. Not that we've been roughing it, exactly. We hope to do some good hiking there, weather permitting - the weather is supposed to get worse for two days, which is the reason we booked this...

2nd Trip....October 18...Ouray, CO

Woke up this morning to low clouds and a shower here and there....had a brief walk along the rim of the Black Canyon - really strikingly beautiful.....a very deep canyon: the Empire State Buildng could stand up in it and not reach the rim....

Drove to Ouray for lunch -  it is my candidate for the prettiest setting of any town in the state. And friendly. And great hiking. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, the town has numerous hikes originating right from town, not the least interesting being the Perimeter Trail. Yup, goes around the town about a thousand feet above it:

And toutou is handling all the mountain driving like a Ferrari....well, OK, maybe more like a good, solid SUV....we're really loving it! 

Hit a hot springs just out of town and relaxed there for half an hour....then onto Ridgway State Park for a couple of nights....just ten miles from Ouray - we decided we like the peace and quiet of the park rather than the close quarters of the RV parks in town....but we'll be back to town tomorrow morning for more hiking....set up camp, and relaxed with a pale ale and watched the sun set on the mountains around the park here....tonight, it's chicken curry for dinner, with rice and naan....