Sam and I celebrated 6 years of marriage this month! 6 years of hiking together, Netflix binges, fishing trips, inside jokes, date nights, long talks, and adventure. Of course, there have also been lots of bills, hard work, disagreements, menial day to day tasks, and challenges but, we've made it this far and we've made it here together! We've learned and grown so much on our journey. That's something worth celebrating.
This year, we decided to go on a road trip-just the two of us. It was our first trip longer than one night without Emma so we felt both excited and nervous at the same time. Luckily, my parents were happy to take her for the weekend which made it so much easier for us to leave. I knew that she'd be happy and well taken care of with them
We started our trip early on Thursday morning after dropping Emma off with my parents. I felt so nervous to leave her and will admit that I cried a few tears as we drove away before convincing myself that she was hardly going to miss us at all with her grandparents spoiling her the way I knew they would. Soon, I was in roadtrip mode. I am always the designated copilot which means I am responsible for distributing snacks and keeping the tunes rolling. I take those responsibilities pretty seriously. It felt comfortable right away for the two of us to be back on the road together even if it was a little odd without our backseat buddy.
We drove straight to Moab where we had planned to stop for some lunch. A couple of years ago we took our last solo roadtrip before Emma's birth to Moab. I had been nearly 8 months pregnant at the time and it is still one of my favorite memories. We had such a great time exploring Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches National Park and also enjoyed great shopping and food. One of our favorite restaurants there is called Pasta Jays. We decided that we'd stop there again this time to grab some lunch on our way into Colorado. It was as delicious as we remembered and we reminisced about our last trip to Moab and how much fun we'd had together. Seems like yesterday and yet, like a lifetime ago.
It wasn't long before we were crossing the Colorado border. I hopped out of the car to take a picture next to the sign. "Welcome to colorful Colorado" it said. We started to see bits of the Colorado color right away-homes built like bunkers into the mountain, little hippy-style homes and cabins, crazy drivers (one that flipped us off for no apparent reason), and funny little nothing towns that you'd miss if you blinked. The winding road took us around mountains and through trees. We followed the San Miguel river for a good part of our drive. "Looks too muddy", Sam would say every few miles, always thinking about the fishing possibilities.
Soon we were turning towards our second stop-Telluride, CO. From first glance, I already knew I wasn't going to want to leave. Telluride is a small, mountain town surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. In the distance you could see a spectacular waterfall coming from the lightly snow-capped mountains. We were anxious to get out and begin exploring. We checked in to our quaint B&B-The Victorian Inn and freshened up before heading out to explore Telluride.
We found the station for the free gondola ride first. The Gondola took us way up to the top of the mountain and then down into Mountain Village-a ritzy ski resort town that was mostly closed up because of the season. We enjoyed a little walk and explored the shops before splurging on a ridiculously overpriced ice cream cone on a bench and heading back down the gondola into Telluride.
We spent the rest of the evening exploring the downtown area of Telluride. There were so many fun shops, galleries, and eateries to explore. The whole town has a relaxed, very colorful feel. The weather was perfect and the setting was the same. I was just happy to be breathing in crisp mountain air without a care in the world. After a walk through the park, we called it a night and made our way back to the Inn.
The next day started early. We wanted to see all that we could before moving on to our next destination. We made our way to the end of the main road to get a better view of the Bridal Veil Falls. The falls did not disappoint, it was the perfect time of year for viewing because of the spring runoff and everything surrounding was so lush and green. Pictures don't do it justice.
When we finally felt we had admired the falls long enough, we went back to town to catch the gondola a second time. This time we stopped at the top of the mountain to enjoy a quick hike and some views of Telluride in the valley below.
We did some more Main Street exploring until the farmer's market opened up. We LOVED the farmer's market. It was one of the highlights of our Telluride stay. The booths were filled with friendly locals selling handmade jewelry and crafts, organic chocolates, fresh baked breads and pastries, local produce, grass fed meat, and flowers. Sam and I bought the most delicious Focaccia I have ever tasted and some indulgent, locally made chocolates and were tempted by much more.
Way too soon, we had to say goodbye to Telluride. We stopped at a local hot spot-Brown Dog Pizza- to grab a bite for the road and, of course, found more breathtaking views as we drove on. We drove slowly (and a bit reluctantly) along towards our next stop.
Our third stop was Mesa Verde National Park where we saw Pueblo Indian dwellings from the 1190's. I was in awe as we learned about their culture and history and thought about how different their lives were. We learned that they weren't expected to live much longer than 30-40 years if they survived to adulthood. They worked very hard every day-man, woman, and child-and had harsh winters and blistering summers to get through each year. They built their homes mostly from sandstone right up against the mountains but did most of their living outside. They meticulously built a temple for worship-it's structure was the most sound of any of the buildings we saw. I felt blessed to be able to see such an incredible chapter of history up close.
Mesa Verde is a pretty small park so we saw as much as we wanted to see in a couple of hours. We stopped for a coyote to cross the road on our way out of the park and then headed towards Durango-our next destination. We had planned to camp that night and pretty easily found a camping ground ten minutes outside of Durango. It was a quiet, forested area. We set up camp and enjoyed some reading before bedtime. I found a little "friend" in my bag that Emma had packed for me and the tears nearly came back-I'd been missing her SO much even in the middle of such a grand adventure.
The next morning we packed everything up and rode back into Durango to the Durango & Silverton Train Station. We excitedly boarded the steam engine and chatted with another family in our car until we started chugging along towards Silverton. It was about a three and a half hour ride through mountains, passing waterfalls, and surrounded by trees as we followed the roaring Animas river to the quiet western town of Silverton.
In Silverton we wandered shops and looked for souvenirs. It was such a neat old western town but, to be perfectly honest, we couldn't enjoy it fully because we were SO nervous for what was coming next--rafting the Animas River. The river was unusually high for the time of year and we had gotten a call the night before by the rafting company to warn us of the added thrill. We would be riding class IV rapids instead of III. We had no idea what to expect really because it was a first time riding white water rapids for both of us.We enjoyed Silverton the best we could before the rafting company picked us up to take us to the river.
River rafting was incredibly fun and horrifying rolled into one. I (literally) was certain that I was going to die. I was sure that I'd fly off the raft into the raging water and drown. Luckily, our guides were really professional and did their best to put me at ease. I could tell that they took safety very seriously and that comforted me as we pushed off of land and began our ride. I sat in the back, right in front of the guide and Sam was right in front of me. I had my feet firmly tucked under the seat in front of me for stability and after a few minutes, I started to relax. The class II and III rapids were more fun than anything. Before we hit the class IV stretch, we steered our raft to the shore to let off the two kids under 13 who wouldn't be allowed to ride in that area. I was a little tempted to get off myself but, knew that I'd be disappointed with myself if I did. We moved forward, right into the rapids. The guide had kindly talked me through the section of the river so that I'd feel prepared. There were to be 4 major class IV rapids in that stretch. When we hit the first, I flew from my seat (in spite of my tightly tucked feet) and into the seat in front of me, right beside Sam. I was on my hands and knees and struggled to quickly re-situate myself before hitting the next rapid. The rest of the ride was just as wild. Sam and I later said that after that first hit it was almost like we didn't know quite where we were and as if we were riding in slow motion. What a thrill! I was terrified in the moment but so glad I braved the rapids when the ride was over! It was an adventure we'll never forget.
The next morning was the start of our journey home and the actual day of our anniversary. We left Durango and dipped into New Mexico before stopping at Four Corners National Monument. There we stood in four states at once and explored all of the stands surrounding the monument that were filled with local art and crafts. We bought a few handmade souvenir's and chatted with the artists while we stretched our legs.
The rest of the drive was admittedly boring in comparison to the breathtaking views of Colorado. We did enjoy driving through the Monument Valley and passing Lake Powell. We kept busy with music and conversation and were welcomed home with an ending through Cedar Canyon where we were reminded why we live where we do. The whole experience turned out to be one of our favorite and most memorable trips together to date. We are already planning a trip back because we loved the area so much. It was the perfect way to celebrate 6 years of wedded bliss.
