Day 51: Off to snowboard!

I wake up around 7:30. Ughhh. Not ready to get up at all. I go back to sleep despite the wind rattling all over the place. I hope no one wants on the garage since I have locked the only door to it from the inside… Oh well. Matt will call me if it is a problem. Hopefully. I get a text at 10:30 from Matt. “Pancakes?” I don’t really like pancakes but food sounds good and pancakes will do. I guess I ought to get up. I shower and wander to the kitchen about an hour later. Pancakes are probably gone by now…

I can’t find anyone. I wander around and try to decide what to do. I find some coffee. I think it is ok if I have some. They have been super nice about feeding me and have told me to help myself… As I am pouring coffee, Matt appears. Yes, I can have coffee and there are pancakes and bacon! Yay.

Matt gets some coffee and talks to me while I eat. There is supposed to be a snow storm at Wolf Creek ski area on Monday/Tuesday. He can probably get off of work to go. That sounds good to me! Ivonne has told me that Wolf Creek is amazing so I feel that I should go. I want to stop in Santa Fe and check it out on the way. We can do that! Alright. We have a plan now. I’m not sure if Ivonne is coming or not since she had bad allergies last night and I have yet to see her today. Matt has stuff to do around the house still so I go find the Hammock.

I spend a while laying in the sun. The sky is so blue and there is not a could in it! I decide I should probably pack up my truck. Matt’s dad comes out and asks if I am leaving. I think so. I am not 100% sure though. He goes to cook the meat that Matt had pulled out of the freezer for dinner last night. Since Matt and I and possibly Ivonne are all leaving today, he wants to cook it while there are still people there to eat it. Fair enough!

A little later, the spare ribs are done. They are pretty awesome. Everyone finally appears. We have a conversation that goes from religion to music to I don’t even know what. At some point, Ivonne is convinced that she should come snowboarding. Her allergies should be better somewhere else anyway.

Soon after, we are finally on our way. We take two vehicles so I can head off to Denver when we are done. I get a walkie talkie and get an excellent tour as we drive along. There were lots of movies filmed in the area and a lot of cool rock formations that actually have names. They do a great job telling me about everything. So good that I am overwhelmed with information and don’t remember as much as I wish I did

We get to Santa Fe and wander around in the plaza area. It is kind of the tourist area but is cool anyway. There is some building ordinance that requires all buildings to be adobe. This is kind of cool but there is a lotttt of adobe. It is just after 5 so a lot of places are closing or closed. It is still cool to wander around and see everything. Some of the street vendors are still out and the general store is still open. 

Plaza area in Santa Fe

Nice adobe hotel

They had mentioned in the “tour” that turquoise is really popular here so I conclude that I need to buy some. I find a vendor with some sweet rings and get one. We wander around the general store. It is full of souvenir things. In the far back there is a place that sells “frito pies”. Which are apparently really awesome. Sadly, they had just closed and all of the food is already downstairs. Mannn, I had wanted to try this local delicacy. Oh well.

We head back outside and to a brewery that Matt claims has the best IPA in the world. I am not a huge IPA fan so I have no say on the matter. He grabs a growler out of his truck to get it filled. There is a gorgeous sunset that you can see on the way to the brewery. I try to take a picture but my camera utterly fails to catch any of the vibrancy. Bummer. We go inside. While we went to just get the beer, we end up ordering a pizza and waiting for a while. Oh well. I hear more about Santa Fe and the area. It seems like a nice place to visit. The to-go pizza finally comes out. We end up eating it there and leaving the box. 

It was a lot prettier in person!

We head back to the trucks. We stop at an art gallery and admire a huge wooden vase that is inlaid with turquoise. It is really pretty and we try to decide how much it would cost. Luckily, the shop owner is leaving and walks right by. We ask. $12,000. Wow. I could buy a truck for that.

We head on the way to Colorado and Wolf Creek. Well, to be more specific, Pagosa Springs which is a little ways from the ski area. There are no hotels at the resort. We drive for a while in the dark. I don’t like driving in the dark much. I continue to get the super awesome tour. “If it was light enough, you could see this cool thing to the left…” A few hours later, we arrive at a motel. Matt checks another place nearby for vacancies. They don’t have any so we stay.

It is not the nicest place I have ever stayed but it will work! And it is way better than the place I was at in Flagstaff. And I am not alone so it is even better! We unload all of our gear from the trucks and bring it into the room. Matt pulls out his camp stove and starts making sandwiches. Warm sandwiches, hence the need for the stove. Tasty! We watch TV for a while before finally going to sleep.