Sunday, November 16, 2014

Day 52

I stayed in bed until 9am.  No one else was up and I was keenly feeling the need for some extra beauty sleep.  



The morning wasn’t much better than last night.  I had several texts and messages from people who I didn’t have good answers for or was too late to do what needed to be done.  I was feeling behind the 8 ball with the Colorado itinerary.  I assumed that role last minute because I was the only one really interested in seeing Colorado and the boys were just want through it.  If we were to see much, I knew I needed to have a plan.  I had been counting on a night in a hotel with internet to do my research.  I had used the hot spot some, but was still feeling scattered.  Jake saved my bacon.  Having an enthusiastic friend who is a native Coloradian and avid adventurer sure comes in handy!  I was very grateful for his suggestions and input over these several days!  Thank you!

I had a long talk with Mom that got started by a look on my face when she was responding to Joshua in a frustrated manner because he was being inconsiderate.

The hotel plan was always tomorrow night, tomorrow night.  So I hadn’t changed clothes since my last shower and been too cold, careless, and in a hurry to use deodorant.  I had some good exertion sweats and some nervous ones.  I was sour.  Even though everyone else was almost ready to go, I decided it was in everyone’s best interests for me to change.  Mainly because I’d be in a much better mood if I had a baby wipe bath and a clean shirt.  My “dirty” clothes standard has changed some … it’s gotta be a least 3 or 4 days old.  It’s too cold to change more than that and you don’t sweat much winter camping. 


Mom helped me get some cream cheese bagels and cottage cheese ready for the road.  We left around 1:30pm.


In Montrose, we took a side trip to Black Canyon in Guinness National Park.  We went to the south rim and the visitor center which was open, surprisingly.  It’s a popular climbing and trout fishing spot.  Some of the history is neat with the tunnel and all. 




We continued to Ridgway, stopping to check out a few state park campgrounds along the way.  Ridgway is a very pretty little town with a beautiful mountainous back drop and cool houses and shops.  After some discussion and research we decided to camp at the Ridgway Dutch Charlie State Park rather than the Priest Lake Campground a ways off our track and at 10,000 feet.  Meaning cold. 



We paid for our campsite and then drove back to Ridgway to get cell phone reception to reserve a room for tomorrow night in Colorado Springs.  Then back to the state park.


It was around 7pm when we pulled in.  There were deer all over the pace.  We saw an 8 point buck with a very tall rack.  


We got very excited to find there were real bathrooms!  With flush toilets and a heater!  We haven’t had that since Apgar in Glacier!


We picked a site and Joshua started campaigning to not set up the tipi.  No dance of precipitation and it was about 45 degrees, low 32 degrees.  Jeremiah was leaning that way.  We started bargaining.  I was interested in being on the road early so we would have more time to sight see on our way to Colorado Springs.  We agreed no tipi if everyone would either be up by 7am or packed and ready by 7:30am. 

A few kettles of water were heated for dishes and I made peanut butter mayonnaise lettuce sandwiches with carrots for dinner.  I prepared lunch for tomorrow.


We were burrowed in sleeping bags fairly early with the dogs tied to cots and everyone under the picnic shelter.  The night wasn’t very peaceful as the dogs barked at rabbits, deer, and other bumps in the night. 

2 comments:

  1. I've only seen Colorado and Utah from the air, Utah is pretty much as I'd imagined wild, stark and beautiful, Colorado looks a lot better from the ground, now I want to go see it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colorado is really something else! It is much more tame than Montana, but also a bit more drastic. I was sorry our trip had to be so quick through there. Someday .... :)

    ReplyDelete