VACATION Pics 2 (New Mexico/Colarado)

"Princess" reaching for her food! What a BIG Bear!

Elk

Mountain Lion

Beautiful Colorado

New Mexico/Colorado Vaca Pics 1

On the train heading to New Mexico

Well one of us slept

Beautiful New Mexico

Visitor Center on way to Pagosa Springs

A resort in Pagosa Springs/River we went tubing in

Fireside Inn Cabins

Inside the Cabin

New Mexico w/ a side of Colorado Part 3

We woke up the next morning, ready to get our adventure on....but first breakfast! Grandma Pat & Emily made pancakes & bacon. I should say really really good bacon (from the local Santa Fe farmers market) & fluffy yummy pancakes. After breakfast and with our bellies nice & full we decided that we would leave around 10:30/11:00 to start tubing. Aunt Barbara had already gotten the tubes for us(while breakfast was cooking). She rented 3, one for herself, and two others for Emily & I. Nic was happy to have the cabin to himself & sleep late. (a favorite thing for anyone who knows Nic)and although Grandma Pat would have absolutely loved to have been able to actually do the tubing with us, she unfortunately couldn't because she has a bad back. Which is just starting to feel better, (thanks to Physical therapy) so she didn't want to risk hurting it any further. We were disappointed she couldn't do it with us but completely agreed it was for the best. Also this way, she could be our personal river "photographer" a job she was more than happy & qualified to do, see Pat is kind of a non-professional "professional" photographer. Meaning she takes incredible pictures, & has for years, some of which have even been published in a friend of hers book but never did it as a "profession" per say, but she's still very talented. I love so many of her photographs. Anyway, we set off to the really long walk from the cabin to the San Juan river, which took all of 2 minutes! LOL! Barb who had driven down to the river bank w/ the tubes, was just putting the last tubes down on the water's edge when we arrived. Two men who were fishing & just leaving had just asked her, "You're not really going to do that, are you?" She was like, "yeah, why?" If I know Barb she might have been thinking, "why CAN'T I?" LOL! :) Like Pat, she's got a bit of spunk! But then they say, "That water is FREEZING!" Oh ok. She tells us what they were saying, & I'm thinking, just great something to look forward too! lol I can attest the men weren't lying... Our butts were freezing!!! But freezing butt or not we took off, The water was VERY VERY LOW! Which was good and bad. The water being low, meant for the most part "speed" wasn't going to be a factor, which for first timers & being we had a child in tow was probably a good thing but because it was very low, all the rocks were exposed. SO there was a lot of "Bum bumping" as Aunt Barbara called it, where the rocks would hit you in your hiney. (if you weren't paying attention & leaning back a little on the tube, it could be painful!) It was a "little" like those lazy rivers at resorts except a lot more dangerous with rocks & falls & every thing. For the most part the current would take you where you needed to go & actually aside from one major "oh shit" moment, I can honestly say Emily & I did really really well for our first time. I was a bit nervous about Emily, I think any mother would be, & add in the fact that Emily sometimes needs a little extra help with things, I might have been a little more anxious when we first started than I tried to let on, Thankfully as luck would have it, the tubes had little hooks on the side so I had pretty much a "death grip" on Emily's. Emily was very brave about the whole thing, & she did really really good but I could tell was a little scared at the 2-3 ft water falls/drops whenever we reached them. I am proud to say that we never tipped over once! I can't say the same for Aunt Barbara, to her credit though it was because she was watching/directed us where to go & perhaps not paying all that much attention to where she was going at the time.. LOL! She only tipped once though. So what was Emily & I's "OH Shit!" moment??? Well at one point while the water was just finishing being rocky , Emily & I got stuck on two separate rocks (the current pushing us in different directions) I held on to Emily's tube for as long as I could & finally had to tell Emily, "I have to let go, it'll be fine but just try not to move too much & I'll catch up to you!" So I let go & Emily floats down, at this point thankfully, a relatively calm section of the water, which was good, but now knowing how the river runs... there's always calm before a "fall" or rocky section so I was a bit anxious to catch up quickly before she came across anything too bumpy, which is a lot easier said than done. You see the water was relatively low but in the middle part of the river, it was about 4 ft. deep & the ROCKS are very very slippery so every time you tried to get a grip on them, you'd slip. I was yelling down the river to Em... "I'm coming Em, just try not to move a lot!" A little more panic in my voice than maybe I wanted to show. But after what felt like 10 minutes struggling to get out of my tube & into a calmer perhaps swimmable section of river, once I managed to get there, I swam as fast as I could to Emily's tube, all the while dragging my tube behind me. I finally reach her & again death gripped her tube's hook, and together safely manage the next set of rocks. I don't think there was a water fall right there but fairly soon after there was. I didn't care what happened, I was holding on to her, cause I definitely felt better when I was holding her hand/tube, especially cause Emily would say, "Oh NO!" every few moments thinking there was a drop coming & I could tell her, "Em... we are fine, this is really FUN, it's going to be fine!" I meant it, it was blast!! I honestly think Emily had fun too, but she get's very nervous over things like this. WE had all talked beforehand that depending on how the first leg of the river went we could get off at this one section, before the last two drops & while Emily kinda said she wanted to stop, I thought it was important to show her we could do it & plus I didn't want to stop, it was way too much fun and I knew we could totally do it no problem. I think it was a good thing to teach her not to give up! SO we did the entire thing, and when it came to the last two water falls we had no problems at all, we came through them right side up & smiling! It wasn't until we re-connected w/ Pat at the end that I realized how tiring it was! Several different times I had to really use my arms to negotiate where our tubes were going. One time we did get too close to the wrong side of the bank & we ended up having our tubes go right into a bunch of low lying tree branches" I went first so I was able to raise up the branches so Emily got through them just fine, I probably was hit by a branch or two but in the rush to control the branches for Emily, honestly couldn't tell you. Even so, the whole thing was so much fun! I would definitely do river tubing again! :) Brian's all for it, so we might just have to try finding something like this in NJ! After having successfully gotten out of the river, Emily & I found a bench to sit on & wait while Pat/Barb took the tubes back to the shop since we all couldn't fit in Barb's car w/ them! It was nice to sit & just watch the river, without having to pay attention to it! Pat came back to pick us up & we headed to do a little "shopping" first at the place we rented the tubes from, Barb had noticed they were having a t-shirt sale & later at this really nice souvenir gift shop in town. As I stated before this is Emily's favorite thing to do, & since she had $44 to spend, all of which was burning a hole in her pocket, she was happy to go, I think this is the only time she likes shopping. The girl normally hates shopping for necessities like clothes, & groceries, but this is fun shopping! Anyway I was all for it as well, cause I wanted to get Brian a t-shirt & get a postcard from the trip. We spent a while in the store & then headed to the "Pagosa Brewing Co." which is both a local micro brewery & a cool place to eat. We were able to get a table outside, Pat, Barb & Nic had all been there before. So they knew all the different beers & had even brought back empty bottles to get 4 more quart sizes of the "Kayaker" Cream Ale beer to go. Apparently this is one of their most popular beers, & has won a lot of awards! Our waiter Chris could easily tell that Barb was a fan of theirs, as she was wearing one of their "Pagosa Brewing Co" T-shirts. Chris was nice & before he could even ask what we wanted to drink. Emily says, "Chris? what else do you have to drink BESIDES beer?" LOL! funny girl! After he goes through the list of drink options for her, she says, "I'll take a "ROOOOOOOT" beer! We then all order our own drinks, & food. I had a BBQ chicken sandwich which was served with their homemade potato salad! YUMMY! & I believe Emily had a cheese quesadilla & Barb and Pat both had the Salmon fish and Chips. The beer battered fries that came with this dish were so good, luckily for all of us it was a very generous portion & we all got to enjoy them. Definitely a favorite for this group! Barb & Pat both also raved about the Salmon! Nic had a burger. Everything was really good! If you are ever in Pagosa Springs CO, I highly recommend this cool funky place, especially if you like beers! We ended the night by going back to the cabin & us ladies soaking in the hot tub which was right there at the Fireside Inn Cabins! They designated a cabin for their guest that was open & had an outdoorsy feel to it, & the only thing in that particular cabin was a hot tub. We had the whole thing to ourselves, as no one else was there. While Barb, Pat & I went in the hot tub, Emily & Uncle Nic played a game of "LOGO Challenge" on my tablet. A game that test peoples knowledge of all kinds of different company "logo's", the fun thing about the game is, anyone can play, & the more people the easier it is, cause everyone knows different ones. Emily really likes it, & I think Nic enjoyed playing it with her. We all had such a nice busy day, & I know, Emily & I went to bed happy & very tired! :)

New Mexico w/ a side of Colorado Part 2

Well on Sunday we got up relatively early, having packed the night before we were pretty much ready to go in the morning.   Pat had made arrangements to take us all to Pagosa Springs Colorado!! Emily & I have never been to Colorado, so we were SUPER EXCITED!  Especially because we were going to be going tubing on a river! (This would be a first for both of us!)  So after a quick breakfast of bagels, coffee & chocolate milk for Emily we were ready to head out.  Pat is a wonderful host & always plans the neatest things for you to do when you visit,  I had a feeling this one was sure not to disappoint.  It's funny during the drive there & back because of the beautiful scenery & breathtaking views, not to mention Pat's narrative I couldn't tell you how long it took, it wasn't too long, maybe two & 1/2 hours. We stopped at  "The Village of Chama Visitor Information Center" at about the 1/2 way point to wait for Aunt Barb & Uncle Nic who would be joining us... Extra YAY!   We looked around & used the restroom & while waiting for them,  we signed the visitors ledger & announced we were from New Jersey! After a short while longer Aunt Barb & Uncle Nic joined us.  We arrived in Pagosa Springs around lunch time & ate at this quaint bakery that had sandwiches & salads & stuff.  We ate outside, I got a Chicken Panini w. a side salad.  really good.  Emily got a grilled cheese. & of course we all drank WATER!  I'm unfortunately not much of a water drinker normally so that's why I keep mentioning how much water I drank! We were not without our water bottles ever!  After lunch we headed to the cabins where we would be staying, a cool place called Fireside Inn Cabins,  Being it was Colorado,  I expected to be deep in the mountains but apparently there is a major highway that is like the only one to get you from point A to Point B right in the middle of the town of Pagosa Springs, so the Cabins & river were right off this major road,  BUT it still managed to feel homey, because when you were down at the river bank which was within a small walk from the cabin you still felt secluded because you couldn't see the road from there.  The Cabins were really nice, We were in cabin 101 which had a big room that included a living room with a futon bed & a full kitchen w/ a big refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot & even a full stove (which for some reason had only two of the burners that worked,  we managed though) & there was a table for four people.  There was also a master bedroom & a bedroom w/ three twin beds. *bunk beds & then a third pull out bed under the lower bunk. (really roomy)  Pat took the futon, Emily & I took the bunk beds & Barb & Nic were in the master bedroom. Plenty of room for all!  We even had a deer head on the wall to let us know we weren't in NJ anymore... lol! Around 4pm we went to a place called "The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park" a short drive from the cabins & they had a 4pm feeding time tour.  We saw bears, mountain lions, a gigantic elk, porcupines, wolves, coyotes, goats, emu,  all ready & some impatiently (calling) for their dinners.  The guide was a young woman who was really nice, after her little speech & feedings she asked if there where any questions,  Emily almost always shot her hand up in the air, (even if she didn't have a question ready... LOL!)  The bear was the coolest for me, her name was, "Princess"  she was a really funny bear,  the guide would throw up grapes on top of the enclosure surrounding her & she would get up on her back legs to get them off the top! We could definitely see how BIG she was.... She apparently liked sweets & fruits the best & would carefully pick thru the other foods to get to her favorites, "grapes".  The guide said her absolute favorite thing to eat is "starburst" candies but she only gets them once in a while.  As luck would have it, another guest had some on her & asked the guide if "princess" could have them.  She said sure, & put a few in the bucket of food, don't you know that the bear used it's giant paws to sort thru til she found that tiny candy & ate them up first.  It was so funny! After the tour, & a visit to the "gift" shop- Emily's all time favorite thing to do on any vacation, we headed back to the cabins.  After having seen all those animals eating, I think it made us all hungry! We were ready to eat!  We packed a dinner of "hamburgers & hot dogs" that we were able to grill on the gas grill that the management let you use & even had the entire picnic area to ourselves...there was a cabana that had a fancy wood table w/ wooden bench complete with butt cheek imprints curved out on the wood benches for each member of the party.. we all got a kick out of that! Now let's talk about the "meat"  I knew something was up when I saw it.... these were the biggest hot dogs & darkest hamburgers I ever saw.  I'm not dumb... I knew something was up, they were feeding us BISON!!! :) LOL! But I was good,  I've gotten better at trying things in my old age.   I must admit,  they really didn't taste much different, & Pat/Barb are all about eating "HEALTHY" apparently bison meat has less fat than "traditional" hamburger.  The hot dogs were a mix of bison/ yak! WHAT! haha... It was good though, & along w/ corn on the cob, & baked beans,  we all managed to get quite full!  Emily didn't even notice the hot dog was a little different than usual. LOL! Back at the cabin we played RACKO,  a family favorite of ours.  After teaching Barb the ropes,  we had a nice time playing BONUS I actually won, which doesn't usually happen.  Emily is really good at RackO & usually kicks butt, but not tonight... (cue evil Muauahhhahhh Laugh) I was the big winner!  We all headed to bed, because the next day was the day of "TUBING"  Anyone who knows Emily & I knows we aren't big dare-devils so for us this was huge! We couldn't wait,  see this is on the ground, this we could do, we aren't big "heights" people. But this looked fun!! So we were excited...  


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