Road Trip: Day One

So…. we were so busy I never had a chance to get a memory card reader, let alone post! As a result of our extreme fun, all posts will be waaaaaaay later then I had hoped for. Anyway, at long last, I present to you my spring break road trip, day one:

 

Saturday March 22 2008:

We left Thornton at the butt crack of dawn: 6:15 to be exact. Hubby was kind enough to stop by Star-Crack to get me my morning fix for the journey.  So, sleepy and with a honey latte in hand we headed towards our first destination: the Sand Dunes.

Along the way we watched the sunrise light up the Rockies. These were taken from the car around Colorado Springs.

 

You can see Pikes Peak in the distance. 

 

 You gotta love the Rocky Mountains!

 

     I had heard there was a little yarn shop along the way, in a town called Walsenburg. I had not-so-subtly hinted to hubby that maybe we could stop and check it out. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the address or any directions! Duh!

    We arrived at Walsenburg around 9 in the morning. Hubby was pretty sure that even if we found the store, it wouldn’t be open so early on a Saturday, but I remained optimistic. He humored me and we decided to look on Main Street. After driving up and down the street a couple times, we gave up, I pouted a little and we decided to resume our journey. Just then, as we turned back onto the road that leads to the highway, the shop appeared! Halle-freakin-lujah!

 

   

   Hubby still wasn’t sure if the shop would be open but he stopped so I could look. As fate would have it: they opened at nine! It was a few minutes before nine, so we drove across the street for gas. By the time we were done, the shop was open. J

   I am thrilled I was able to visit Edla’s Yarn Shop. Edla is super nice and she has a very wide selection of yarns and notions at reasonable prices. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping in. The shop was larger then I expected and very cozy. Here’s the stash enhancement:

 

   Now, back to our trip. We arrived at the Sand Dunes at a little after 11. All I can say is wow! The dunes are so amazing: not only are they beautiful, but it’s unbelievable that they are there in the middle of nowhere, nestled up against the mountains. The sand is like beach sand. I am at a loss for any adjectives that would accurately describe the beauty of the dunes, so I will let the pictures speak for me.

You can see the Dunes nestled up against the base of the mountains.

 

What a beautiful sky!

 

I love the contrast of the sand, sky, and the snowy mountain top. 

 

See the people? The dunes are huge!

After climbing a few of the smaller dunes, we found an isolated picnic area and enjoyed our lunch that we had packed. It was so quiet and peaceful, the perfect place to have a picnic lunch. So far, the first day of our trip was awesome!

We left the Dunes around one,  on our way to Durango.

 

Headed into the Rockies

Penis Rock (the first of many…)

I enjoyed a little nap along the way (the first of many!) and we arrived at our hotel in Durango at about 4:30. After checking in, we changed and headed out to main street Durango.

Looking back on Main Street. Such a cute, typical mountain town.

I love how Main Street ends at the mountain.

We shopped a little and had dinner at Farquahrts, a cute little-bit-of-everything restaurant. Hubby had the pizza, I had the “local” burger (the menu said the meat was local and hormone, etc. free), and we sampled the local micro-brews. The pizza and burger were fantastic! Honestly, one of the best burgers I have ever had. I wish I could say the same for the brews. Unlike most Colorado micro-brews, they weren’t any better then anything you can find that is mass-produced.

On the way back to the car we stopped at a candy store and bought some desert. We happily ate our purchases at the hotel, watched some bad TV, and went to bed: content, tired, and full.