Thursday, 5/12...To Blue Mesa Reservoir....

Loaded up toutou and departed by 10AM - I wanted to have lunch in the great little town of Salida. The drive through Leadville and Buena Vista is really beautiful.....stopped at the Little Red Hen Bakery in Salida and they were baking bread in their outdoor, wood-fired oven...today's breads included ciabatta, baguette, and a few others. The ciabatta was still warm when we arrived (the baguettes were in the oven!), and I made roast pork sandwiches for us (Dijon mustard, sliced pickles, salt and pepper) - incredibly delicious!

Then off towards Gunnison....the mountain peaks from Vail to here - the President Peaks, and others, many over 14,000 feet - were totally covered in snow, a result of the late Spring snowstorms that we've been having. They are our reservoirs of water.....

Gunnison's a funky little town, and we found what we wanted - a really nice brewery, High Alpine Brewery. Bought a gallon of their hoppy IPA for later.....then on to Curecanti National Rec Area.....beautiful landscape....a little bare, not many trees at all, but mesas surrounding the reservoirs....

We found a great campsite, a few hundred yards from Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest body of water in Colorado.

Molly loved it, as it probably reminded her of the beach in Carmel, but the water tasted better....

We had a lovely walk from the campsite to the beach, and back.....t-shirt weather and I couldn't wait to get back and try a glass of the IPA! It is really, really, good.....

Relaxing in our beach chairs aside toutou as I write this.....not a cloud in the sky, a deliciously-warm breeze cooling us off..... Molly asleep in the shade, jazz playing on the rig....sipping the IPA, the sun beginning its descent for the day...life is good...in a bit, I'll start heating up the chicken stew that I prepared a few nights ago for this dinner....and crack open an '06 Gevry Chambertin...the stew with the baguette we bought after lunch should be perfect! Along with a salad of  fresh greens from Simple Foods in Salida (a great spot)....

Tomorrow morning we have a hike we want to do, and not much else planned....I can see a petite sieste in my future....