Alta Lake

Joey's first lift ride in Telluride.

Bear Creek, Telluride Co

Ironton Creek

Ice Lakes

Silverton, Co.

Silverton, Co.

You can take this train from Durango to Silverton.

Dust Devil.

Spud Lake

Spud Lake is found off of Lime Creek Rd. One of the original roads that connects Durango and Silverton. Our extended cab F350 almost didn’t make all the tight turns and the rugged terrain about made our heads spin off.

Southern Colorado

We have been all over the southern parts of Colorado. It is so beautiful here. I would move here without even thinking twice. Trey is concerned about the cold winters but I love to ski so I don’t see what the big deal is.

Once again I find myself with a million photos and stories to tell and very little time. But over the next week I should get things all caught up. I will tell you we have been to Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride and we hit up as many lakes and waterfalls as possible. I’ll start with Durango’s Crater Lake where I’m not sure if I went far enough but I think it was mostly dried up…then onto Spud Lake, beautiful…then onto Silverton…

Just North of Durango.

Lake at TH of Crater Lake

views from the trail

Wild West

Bisti

Bisti Badlands

Canyon De Chelly, Az

Bisti to Monument Valley

monument valley

We have so much catching up to do and so little internet connection. I hate to make this write up brief but I really want to post pictures before we head to Dominican Republic.

We headed South from Denver to the Great Sand Dunes National Park via Salida (cool town. Thanks Jim G. for the advice) from the sand dunes we headed even further South into Taos New Mexico. (Another cool little town) Then we dipped down to Santa Fe County. We did some hiking there but we were desperate to see Bisti Badlands so we high tailed it to the Northwest area of New Mexico, found Bisti and more rain and flooding. High tailed it again to Monument Valley for a couple nights and then back to Bisti where we got lost in the alien like mounds called Hoodoos, for four days. I hope to get pictures of the Hoodoos up soon but it will depend on connectivity. Hope you enjoy the Sand Dune photos for now and there will be more to come soon. I hope.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Co.

Sand Dunes NP, Co

Sand Dunes

One lucky dog!

Boondocking

The Elk...

Joey Snad Dunes in Oregon.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Co

Trey and I took a side trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. A place we both have really wanted to see. However, this side trip was really about seeing how Trey could handle small bits of hiking around. He has been off his crutch for about a week now. He has a slight limp and some pain while he walks but his spirits are up, for the obvious reasons.

He has had a few missteps which have sent him into agonizing pain and despair. One day last week we decided that we would ride our bikes to the ice-cream shop and he put (slammed) his foot into the ground. Causing us to turn around and go back into the apartment. The other time was while walking, he pushed off the ground a little too hard and he felt a shift in his knee. (Could his ACL be torn?)

Anyways, back at RMNP. We drove there from Denver only about an hour and a half drive. In my mind the Rocky’s were going to be grand and rocky. I don’t know if the dense fog had anything to do with it, but it was more mysterious and hobbity. We drove the one way unpaved road to the top, something like 12,800ft of elevation. We stopped a lot along the way and looked at stunning waterfalls and fantastic overlooks. Even with all the fog we could see the beauty in the fog breaks. Unfortunately, most all the places we stopped had “no dog” signs. Poor Joey, no fun for him. He whined a lot as he does whenever he sees something beautiful, that he wants to smell and touch. Like the day we pulled up to the sand dunes in Oregon. Trey and I were discussing where to park and put the car in reverse, Joey thought we were going to leave and he threw a toddler like tantrum. I’ve never seen a dog become so animated at the thought of not being able to feel the sand between his gigantic sand dollar sized paws. And when he got out of the car he took off, full sprint to the top of the sand dune and didn’t stop running the whole time we were there. He is so cute.

On the drive out Trey and I saw a bunch of Elk but one in particular was huge! We pulled over and took pictures. I hiked down a little ways but at one point the elk shot me a look. I stopped dead in my tracks and knew not to get any closer; I then receded back to where all the other onlookers were standing. (Yes, I’m that person.)

We are leaving today (if we can get it together) and heading down to the Sand Dunes in Southern Colorado…

It feels good to be back on the road.

Rocky mountain national park, Co