Poronui, Taupo NZ. 11/18/2015 W

Today’s fruit with granola was pineapple and coconut!

My fried egg.

After Steve and the rest of the anglers and guides took off in the helicopter I was going to try to go for a ride. Last time I rode was in New Mexico where the elevation was 9000 feet and I got very tired. Here the the elevation is 2250 so I hope to do better.

This field is where cattle wintered over. Turnips are planted and the cows feed on them all winter. First they eat the greens and then they eat the turnips.

These are our horses for the ride. I had Shelby, the dark horse.

This is where we stopped for lunch. Dismounting was quite inelegant as my hips got stuck on the back of the saddle. When my guide helped me lifted my leg up I fell right to the ground! I landed with a quick soft thud! I can be quite the klutz at times! Years ago when Sally took dance classes I took a summer class with her. We were supposed to dance across the room doing jetés across the room. I couldn’t stop and ended up crashing into the wall! We all had a good laugh at that!

We remounted after lunch and I was able to walk, trot and canter on the ride back.

Dismounting at the end of the ride was a lot easer as there was a mounting block!

After my ride I asked to check out the wine cellar, which was in the building I showed you yesterday.

It was gorgeous.

There was a bottle from 1967 that I wanted to google a price for but couldn’t find it on line. Not sure if it is vinegar now or superb. It’s not mine, so who cares?

Steve’s fishing locations are all pretty much inaccessible unless you chopper in. It would take days of hiking to get to where he goes via the helicopter. Yes, this is an extra fee, but if Steve doesn’t fly to the spots where the water is fishable, he can’t catch fish! Here are some pictures from his trip today.

I went to town with one of the other guests here who is a non fishing spouse. She needed to mail a package at the post office.

Lake Taupo. A former caldera like Lake Tahoe. It is the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere. In Taupo I bought three pairs of pants as I thought that I had left a pack with seven pairs of pants on the bed at home! Three weeks vacation with one pair of jeans and two dress pants wasn’t going to cut it for me!

A beautiful fish that Steve caught! This fish was 8.25 pounds! The fish was 26 inches long with a girth of 16 inches. This was Steve’s personal record to date, so I would consider the trip a success so far!He fished the Rangatikei and caught five fish for the day. This stream was bigger, but easily crossable at the tails of pools and wider riffles.

The helicopter approach for Steve’s pickup at the end of his days fishing.

This is where it landed!

The view on the way back.

Appetizers after fishing was beef on a bun.

Chicken pate (not raw).

This I never really figured out what it was!

Nor this one!

Beautiful flowers in the lodge.

Romaine hearts with a chorizo creamy dressing.

Roast pork with twice baked mashed potatoes.

A vegetable medley.

Flan for dessert.

How many pairs of black pants do you own?

How much clothing do you bring on vacation?

Steve’s beard looks a lot less white today. Do you think he packed some Grecian Formula to darken it up? Just asking for a friend.

Poronui, Taupo NZ. 11/17/2015 T

Today it is supposed to be sunny and 69 F! Since we are in the Southern Hemisphere, that means we are in late spring!

I wonder what’s for breakfast.

The beautiful spread of fresh juices, coffee and granola.

The sandwiches for the guides and fly fishers!

Delicious banana apple muffins.

Cantaloupe with raspberries.

Omelette for Steve.

Fried eggs for me.

After breakfast we met Duncan, Steve’s guide, and I checked out where the helicopter would land.

Steve with Duncan his guide.

Flyagra for flies that sink instead of float.

Steve’s gear ready to go.

Waiting for the helicopter to arrive.

The helicopter lands outside the lodge. Helicopter flights are an extra charge. A very expensive extra charge, but if you don’t fly out, you won’t find fish!

Loading up and they are off!

After I saw the anglers and the guides off I decided to take a walk to find someplace comfortable to read (besides our cozy cabin with comfortable chairs, a coffee table for my feet, a kettle to make tea and a drink stocked refrigerator. Remind me again why I wanted a walk?)

Over the stream that ran behind our cabin I wandered. If it hadn’t have rained so much in the past few days Steve might have been able to fish here.

I found an outdoor pavilion where barbecues were probably held.

Then I wave Hi to the horses, I was planning on riding the next day.

I thought I finally found my perfect spot. Sofas, lots of natural light and a beautiful trophy specimen on the wall. I think that it was a 16 pointer! Although the room was pretty, the chairs all faced inside and not toward the view. Plus there were so many flies buzzing in the room I couldn’t stand it any longer!

So I trudged back to the lodge but by mistake took the upper pasture because I saw the lodge in the distance. Unfortunately I was supposed to take the lower pasture!

So after walking back and forth I finally figured out my mistake and made it back in time for lunch.

A lovely garden salad.

A cheese plate and fresh grated beets.

While I was reading today and exploring Steve was off fishing. Here are some pictures Steve took from the helicopter, some of the places that he fished, and the fish that he caught!

After Steve was done clambering in the streams Steve had to hike to a meadow to wait for the helicopter to pick him up. Steve told me that I would have divorced him if I would have gone along. He is right. I stroll, I don’t do whatever he was doing!

Steve fished theUpper Mangamarie above tree line. He described it as follows: It was super clear, about 200 cubic feet per second. It was tough going due to gorge sections that require scrambling “up and over” cliffs and deep pools. I caught 3 rainbows. Steve has told me since that it was one of the most difficult days fishing that he ever had. Not only were there cliffs, but he had to climb them wearing waders and his fishing boots!

Two of the fish weighed 4.5 pounds, one was 5.5 pounds.

Later in the afternoon the helicopter returned Steve, Duncan, and the rest of the anglers and guides. Then after showering and changing it was time for dinner.

For appetizers we had bacon wrapped figs, they looked too rare for me to eat!

Curry chicken wings.

Green lipped mussels, which are a Kiwi (New Zealander) favorite! Mine too!

Cheese straws.

Meat with vegetables.

Chocolate lava cake (lava was set and not oozing.)

Can you believe how white Steve’s beard was?

Would I have physically been able to clamber all those rocks like Steve did?

Weren’t those bacon wrapped figs disgusting?

Poronui, Taupo NZ. 11/16/2015 M

You are probably wondering what happened to Sunday as we left Poughkeepsie on Saturday. New Zealand is 20 hours ahead of New York time, so it is very confusing! We totally lost Sunday but will get to relive two Sundays on the way back home!

After landing in Auckland, we transferred to a little plane to take us to Taupo which is located on the North Island of New Zealand.

New Zealand is composed of two large islands, North and South. We would be staying one week on the North Island in Taupo at Poronui Lodge and then take a flight to the South Island where we would rent a car. As Steve is not good with his left and right, clockwise and counter clockwise I have some trepidation with him driving here. (Like the United Kingdom, driving is on the left side of the road.)

The plane was very small. There were less than 15 people on our flight including the pilot and copilot!

But still big enough to fit Steve’s big beard! He did get it trimmed after our trip West during the month of September!

Outside the airport you can see the large Norfolk Island Pines. When I was in college I had a small Norfolk Island Pine in my dorm room. They grow quite large here.

Poronui is a large hunting and fishing lodge. They also have large Manuka bushes and many hives for bees that produce Manuka honey. Manuka honey is said to have many healthful properties. Here are some dairy cows for that beautiful New Zealand butter.

There are also red stags that are raised here, the Chinese use the horns for medicinal purposes. Think aphrodisiacs!

It is spring here and very rainy. The landscape is so lush!

Steve is outside our cabin. Come on inside! The outside is nondescript, but the inside is really great!

The living room, with a gas fireplace.

Looking toward the bedroom.

The bedroom. Steve says howdy! I did not make Steve sleep on that little bed. I kept my suitcase on it!

The bathroom with a heated towel rack.

From the bedroom looking toward the deck. What a beautiful place to read or just relax and enjoy the view!

This was the view outside our room.

I may need to put this on a loop for a relaxation tape!

We had a little fridge with complimentary drinks. Alas, no Champagne!

Lunch was quiche and a lovely salad.

Sunflower seed bread with gorgeous New Zealand butter.

Chocolate cake and chocolate truffles for dessert.

There were also fresh humongous chocolate chip cookies that need more chips!

Steve did not fish today as it was the first day. He will go off tomorrow. Not sure what the fishing will be like as there has been a lot of rain lately. Fingers crossed he will catch some monster fish. That is why we came here! Our package included fishing for me also, but the fishing is supposed to be technically difficult, and the terrain difficult also. So I will likely not go out with him. What else is new? Ha Ha!

We gathered in the main lodge for dinner. Here I am checking my messages.

Chicken mousse that Steve and I did not try as we don’t care for innards.

Mushroom soup.

Fried pork bellies.

Deep fried venison chorizo in a fry basket.

Dinner was roast New Zealand Lamb with vegetables.

We also had tomatoes with peppers, and a gorgeous salad of fresh spinach with shelled peas. You have to look pretty hard to see the peas, but they are there!

Dessert was a lemon tart with strawberries, garnished with whipped cream and rhubarb sauce.

At this lodge wine and alcohol is included in your rate. Sometimes it can make for some very drunken guests. The guests here are all acting appropriately so no chance at any great stories tonight. Perhaps tomorrow? Dinner conversation ranged from books we were reading to the lack of snakes in New Zealand vs the plethora of snakes in Australia to bar code readers and how bar codes are everywhere.

At most of the lodges that we have been to the guides do not eat with the guests. At Poronui the guides eat next to their angler and also serve and bus the tables. I don’t like it so much, as that means that Steve has even less chance of talking to me. I would rather be the center of his attention. Alas, that will not be the case here!

Yesterday there were showers on and off. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be sunny with a high of 69! Steve will be off flying in a helicopter to catch some wily trout. Or so we hope!

Should Steve drive on the South Island?

Do you like him better with or without the beard?

Did you know that 1/3 of adults have ophidiophobia?

Did you know that is the fear of snakes? It is the most common phobia.

Off to New Zealand! 11/14/2015 S

I’m back! Have you missed me? My renewal for my WordPress account is coming up for renewal, so I best get my money’s worth and post some memories.

Off onto another recap of a past trip! This trip was Steve’s retirement present and I got to tag along! We were off to New Zealand for three weeks, and you get to come also. Lucky you! For those of you who know nothing about New Zealand, it is comprised of two islands. North and South. Those are easy names to remember, unlike many of the rivers that Steve will fish!

We will stay in Taupo on the North Island for one week and then rent a car on our travels on the South Island. We will stay at three fishing lodges, and one fancy schmancy place that I picked out. Steve will fish from the fancy schmancy place also. Actually it’s not fancy schmancy, just really nice, but how often do I get to write fancy schmancy? How often do you get to read those words? Likely never again, but one of my goals in this blog is to improve the vocabulary of my dear readers!

Dinner on the flight to Los Angeles from New York. This flight was on United Airlines.

Salad greens with butternut squash.

Short ribs.

Gelato with strawberry and chocolate sauce.

Then milk and warm cookies.

Lost Angeles is so pretty at night with all the cars lighting up the road. Side streets look blissfully empty.

This airport has the worst signage. We thought TBIT on the departure board meant To Be Something Something. Instead it meant Tom Bradley International Airport. It was a good thing we asked someone, otherwise we would have missed our plane, and this excellent adventure would never have happened!

Then we needed to find the shuttle, and then the departure area, there has to be a better way! But finally we found the correct terminal!

As we were flying business we got access to a fancy lounge.

Newspapers in so many languages!

The lounge has won awards for nicest airport. I can see why. These are the outdoor fire pits.

Of course I found the chocolate mousse and a decaf cappuccino!

Not looking forward to the 13 hour flight form Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand. Total time form NYC to Taupo, New Zealand our final airport is 26 hours! Ouch!

Here is Steve enjoying his little nook on the Air New Zealand plane.

I forgot to turn the flash back on, but the first course was a lovely tomato and mozzarella salad. The lighting on the plane was a calming purple hue. It was very restful.

I chose the parsnip and spinach soup for my entree. When I have a long plane flight I often just have the soup for my entree.

Can’t skip ice cream with fruit for dessert.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean at sunrise.

Breakfast was a fruit salad.

Croissant and toasted fruit bread with orange marmalade.

Then more carbs with the whole wheat waffle with dried fruit and cream anglaise. No pictures of Steve’s food as we were behind each other. I am sure Steve had the omelette!

Here is a map of our flight.

You can see a close up of the Pacific. This is where the tectonic plates are colliding and one is going under the other.

Steve will not be happy with these next two pictures but I don’t care. And since it is my blog, I get to post almost anything that I want. Steve does get to have the edit finger function and remove stuff that I might get in trouble with. Let’s see what happens here!

Anyway, there are certain haircuts on guys that I really like. This is one of them. Steve does not like to wear his hair this long and since it is his head, I let him wear it however he likes to wear it.

The guy changed his clothes before he landed. Perhaps he was meeting someone who liked his hair the way he wore it. Or perhaps his lover would rather he wear his hair shorter like Steve does!

One time a long time ago, I got my hair cut short and my ears pierced. Steve almost cried when he saw me. Now I try to let him know if I am going to do a drastic hair change!

It is strange getting used to the time. It is Monday morning around ten. Back home it is Sunday afternoon around four. We lost all of Sunday traveling but will get two Monday’s coming back!

That’s it for today, or tonight, or tomorrow in that case as we left on the 14th of November her and will arrive in New Zealand on the 16th!

Do you have a dream trip for when you retire?

Or are you already retired and you went on your dream trip already?

Do you wear your hair the way your significant other prefers, or do you say “To hell with you!”?

From Lexington to Charlottesville 9/27/2015

It’s Sunday morning and we are ready to to leave Lexington. It is now actually five years later, and I don’t have any notes to say where we slept the night before! But I do have pictures of breakfast from my over 23,000 pictures in my camera roll! I seriously need to do some editing some day!

If there are pancakes and fried eggs, then it must be something that I had for breakfast! Steve prefers hash browns and he does like his Moons over MyHammy, so we probably ate at a Denny’s.This looks like their product! Steve and Elliott used to go to Denny’s for breakfast sometimes before they went skiing. Their favorite remembrance was the time they went to a Denny’s on New Year’s Day. They overheard the gentlemen (I use that term loosely-Steve refers to them as losers when he tells the story), had either been working or drinking all night. They were trying to decide what were the best years of their lives. I think that 2020 has not been a very good year for many of us.

Then it was goodbye Kentucky and Hello West Virginia! There were lots of hills in West Virginia, many with steep grades. Then it was off to Virginia.

We met Elliott and his girlfriend Kanna in Charlottesville. They had joined a local winery and we had a wine tasting. It was fun. Primarily because we were with Elliott and Kanna. I don’t really find wine tastings that interesting. Just pour me a glass, and if I like it I will finish it. If I don’t, then Steve gets more!

I think we allowed Elliott to pick one bottle from Steve’s Bourbon stash from the liquor store that we went to the night before. Kanna got nothing.Dinner was at The Local. We had a lovely cheese and fruit appetizer. Looks like I had a green drink. This must have been a Caesar Salad. This could possibly be catfish, or fried mystery meat. I have no clue what this was. Steve’s arm is in the picture so he must have ordered it!

Then off to Homewood Suites to sleep it all off!

Do you like Bourbon?

Have you ever had a green drink?

Do you ever wonder why West Virginia is considered Wild and Wonderful?

Cow Creek Ranch, Pecos NM 9/22/2015 Tu

We told the cook that she didn’t need to stop by this morning to cook us breakfast. She had to travel at least 30 minutes for each meal that she prepared for us as she did not work full time at the lodge.

I was never so happy to leave any place that we stayed at . (At least that I can remember!)

Here is Steve letting us through the gate to leave.

And our van approaches the gate to leave!

Boom! One set of gates done. More to go!

Good bye Cow Creek! Not sorry to be gone!

This whole stay at Cow Creek was not quite pleasant, I find it cathartic to relive it’s end!

Good bye burned out forest!

Onto the dirt road.

Then it was onto a stone road.

Some parts of the road were really bumpy.

Then we got to the narrow section with blind spots ahead.

Where a truck always seemed to be approaching, with poor visibility of the road ahead.

The road was so uneven.

With steep drops offs on one side.

And a truck barreling down the road to look for downed wood in the forest.

I told you it was a bad road!

After an hour on the dirt/stone road we made it to pavement. Yay!

The car was a real mess from the dust and dirt!

Now would be a good time to recap Steve’s thoughts about Cow Creek.

A harrowing drive up the worst road I’ve ever seen, a burned over landscape and truly bad food will prevent a repeat visit, but I caught a lot of fish in our 2 days there. Cow Creek is a small high mountain (8800′) stream, about 10’wide and perhaps 20 CFS, that has been “improved” by digging deep holes every 30 yards or so over a 2 mile stretch. This section is divided into 12 beats. They have also dug 7 ponds. The work was done as tastefully as possible, but still feels artificial. The deep pools and ponds hold bookies, browns, cutbows, and rainbows, some 5-8 pounds. They are very wary and tentative due to the concentrated pressure, I enjoyed catching a few big ones of 4-6 pounds, one of which took a mouse against the bank near the inlet of Pond No. A. With a strike worthy of a lunker bass, but I most enjoyed the natural stretch upstream, which is tiny water full of small wild browns, bookies, and a few Rio Grande cutthroat. With stealth and accurate short casts, even bow and arrow casts, the fish rose to small dries, especially a Royal Wolff in size 18.

I found this place for breakfast on Yelp. Chocolate? Yes, please!

The bakery looked very promising.

We were told to sit anywhere, I plopped ourselves in front of the window so we could watch the bakers. “You looking at me?”

While we waited for our breakfast to be brought over, we enjoyed watching how some of the pastries were prepared.

First the dough needs to be run through the machine, several times to create the perfect flaky croissant.

Then it is placed on the slab, ready to be cut.

Here the baker is piping chocolate onto the dough.

On the right spinach croissants are being prepared.

Our breakfast were derived. I had the blue corn blueberry pancakes with piñon syrup. I probably should have had the strawberries and cream waffle. These were a bit dense and dry.

Steve had some kind of Mexican slop. If that isn’t a gloppy breakfast I don’t know what is!

Then it was time to find our hotel. We went from no stars to a five star American Express Fine Hotel with benefits!

We would be staying at The Inn of the Anasazi.

The hotel was right on the courthouse square. We went for a walk. Come along.

We checked out The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

The church was started in 1869 and is designed in the Romanesque Revival style.

It was lovely inside.

Nearby was the famous Loretto Chapel.

Inside is the miraculous staircase.

There is no newel or center pole. The staircase was built without nails. It is held together by pegs and glue. That is why it was called the “Miraculous Staircase.”

The Gothic Revival altar is made of wood painted to look like marble.

While in Santa Fe we also went to some museums. The Georgia O’Keeefe museum was going under renovations so they didn’t charge us to enter. We also went to the Historical Museum. No pictures allowed!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to window shop at Lucchese boots. We only window shopped.

Our room was very inviting.

This was the special amenity we were given by the hotel. A handful of potato chips, a handful of popcorn and some nuts. We shared.

We had dinner at the hotel.

I love cornbread, as does Steve.

One of us had a salad.

I am not quite sure what this entree was.

This was definitely salmon!

Dessert was flan, ice cream and chocolate. All three of my favorite food groups!

Do you think I was too hard on Cow Creek?

Are you nuts?

Which one these food groups is your favorite? Flan, ice cream or chocolate?

Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado. 9/16/2015 W

Waffles again for breakfast. Yum Yum.

Steve went off fishing while I hung out. Pretty soon it was time to eat again!

You can tell that I wasn’t crazy about the salad!

We had salmon for lunch.

Dessert was a berry crumble, and a berry bar!

So after lunch I went to the bath house to soak in the hot spring there and then went to soak in the spring outside. It is not really a general store, they just call the main indoor spring the Dunton Store!

This is the inside of the Dunton Store. I got the picture from their website.

With a view of the mountains, it can’t get much better than this! This spring was just outside of the cabin that the couple who owned the fancy Mercedes stayed in. They had left earlier in the morning so I might have actually soaked it in for a wee bit!

This is one of the places where Steve fished today. He caught 29 fish for the day!

Dunton’s elevation is 8600 feet. I celebrated no altitude sickness with a glass of champagne before dinner. And it was a raucous dinner! Two new guests came so I did my social duties and introduced the new comers to our two newlywed couples and our 10 year anniversary couple.

Dinner was a pretty micro green salad (you almost need a microscope to find the individual pieces, although it seems a close up from my iPhone works well!)

The entree was duck breast. The vegetarian option was panned by those who partook of that option.

Dessert was a fig and chocolate cake, I think. It was interesting.

After dinner we hung out and looked at stars!

Was today’s post too short?

Do you think my friend got her AIS at 8 am?

Were you surprised that I introduced all the couples?

Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado. 9/15/2015 Tu

Good morning!

Tuesday started with a great breakfast.

At Lunch we had a great salad with a vegetarian stir fry that was so-so.

The cookies with hazelnut filling were spectacular, so I had a happy tummy! I didn’t particularly care for the peach cream pie.

We had a dip in the bath house, and then in the outside spring until we heard thunder. Then it was time to vacate the outside hot spring!

Steve fished most of the rest of the day on the Dolores River and I did some reading. As the elevation here was a little bit higher than Brush Creek I didn’t want to exert myself too much. Our cabin was also the closest to the dining hall in case I had problems breathing. Elevation here is 8600 feet. The elevation at Brush Creek was around 7400 feet. We were gradually increasing our elevation. Our next stop will be at an elevation over 9000 feet. We shall see how I will do in a few days at that higher elevation!

Dinner was most entertaining. (Not because of the food, but the people we met!) We started off with a great garden salad.

Our entree was Trout en papillote, chanterelles, wild leeks, and pine nuts. Served with manoomin roasted carrots and pine cone syrup. The twist was that the trout was baked in a corn husk! What a clever twist on the traditional paper papillotte.

I was not crazy for the rustic apple tart served for dessert. No chocolate!

So today’s crazy story is that there were two guests from Denver who owned many Mercedes-Benz cars. They were having a photo essay done on them for Mercedes- Benz magazine. The couple are avid MB classic car collectors. They own seven cars. ( I think they own three homes and are selling one-but I am digressing here, so back to the story!) One of the cars that they own is a green 1956 300 SL Gull-wing.

The doors open up just like the wings of a gull! The wife even had matching luggage! (Which I didn’t see, but I don’t think she would lie about that! )They stayed for a few days in Telluride and had pictures taken of them in the car tooling around. As the roads to Dunton were too bad the car was kept in an air plane hanger in Telluride so it wouldn’t get dusty until the couple was done with the photo shoot in Dunton!

They traveled with a young photographer. (I wasn’t sure at first what was going on, they appeared to be a threesome, but I couldn’t figure out who was with whom!) The couple were to be photographed in Dunton relaxing in the hot springs and fishing. I know not if they caught any fish! At meal time, the photographer, who always had his eyes looking out the window, would exclaim “The light, the light!” The couple would then dash out of the dining hall for pictures!

They were to leave at AIS 8 a.m. the next morning. This was a new expression to me, and it is something that Steve and I now use. AIS means Ass In Seat (of the car you are going to be driving in!). Now this lady spent a lot of time on hair and makeup, so I am sure that she required a lot of lead time to be AIS at 8! They were going to drive to Gateway Canyons (where I had wanted to stay near Grand Junction-but it was too far out of the way for us) for a continuation of their photo shoot. The photographer wanted to have a helicopter in the photo shoot but the management at Gateway nixed that idea! After that they were going to go to Aspen for more pictures. I was not quite sure how the car was going to get to Gateway, were they going to have someone else meet them or would they have to go back to Telluride and pick up the car?

Now for my curious readers, the car was worth $1.75 to 2 million dollars! I looked it up. There are certain questions that even I don’t ask! I did ask their life story, and here it is. The gentleman started out as an enlisted guy in the Army as a dog handler. After that he started an investment counseling business. Forty years later he owns many homes and vintage automobiles. His wife, who happens to be the original wife(!) was dripping in diamonds. Now ordinarily you always think that someone else’s diamonds are too big, but these were not. As far as I am concerned you can never have too many or diamonds that are too big! The couple were the most down to earth people that you could meet! Only in America, can you go from dog handler to vintage Mercedes-Benz owner!

Steve caught nine fish yesterday including three 17 inch trout! Today Steve caught 8 fish and an 18 inch trout!

Do you own a Mercedes-Benz?

Did you ever have a photo spread done on you or your significant other?

Are you dripping in diamonds?

To Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado. 9/14/2015 M

No breakfast pictures today! Not when there is interesting scenery to see!

We hit the road for our five hour drive to out next Excellent Adventure. Seeing wild mustangs and dinosaur bones didn’t really count as an adventure. Just a side trip!

You can just bet that Steve was itching to fish here! However, there was no time to stop today, as we were on our way to Dunton Hot Springs. Steve was going to be able to get his Colorado fish at Dunton. At least we hoped he would!

\We drove through the San Juan Mountains. The highest elevation was 10,100 feet. The Aspens had just started to turn golden.

You can see evidence of a rock slide here.

This is part of Telluride ski area.

This business in Rico, Colorado had seen better days. After 30 minutes of driving on a dirt road we saw a car with flashing lights. What was ahead?

A cowboy and his cattle.

After an hour on a dirt road we came to the gate that would separate Dunton Hot Springs Resort from the rest of the world! Steve is talking to staff asking them to open the gate for us. This was a former mining town from 1885 that turned into a ghost town. In 1994 it was bought and then restored by the Christopher Henkel, a German born London based investor. If you use Persil laundry detergent you keep his family and this place going! The place looks like a dump on the outside, but it is decorated in a five star way! Our cabin is the little one to the right of the main building. The main building is also where the dining area is located.

This building is where the main hot spring is located.There are several springs here. One of the springs is located in a cabin that you can stay at. That would not be our cabin.You can see the spa in the bath house being refilled. There had been a wedding the previous weekend and all the spas were drained, cleaned and then refilled. The spring looks yucky , that is because of all the minerals in the water. This is one of the outside springs behind one of the cabins.

This was another hot spring, you had to climb down stairs to get in.

Here is more of our tour of the town. The library with the bear skin rug that I tripped on. At least I didn’t go boom!

The library’s bottle of whisky. What proper library doesn’t have a bottle of whisky in it? Here is the waterfall. What proper lodge doesn’t have a waterfall?

Our African themed room. The shower was in a little closet on the right of the door.

The toilet and sink were to the left of the door. The Cabin was tiny!Lunch was great.

Lentil soup.

Then fish.

Dessert was brownies and a peppery blond brownie.

We got to meet the bride and groom from the past weekend’s wedding. (Not the couple in the picture above.) She was in a television series that was being filmed in Atlanta (Not the Housewives!) The groom was in the band of a very famous singer. No names for you!

Of course it was time for Steve to gear up and test the waters!

Here is a picture of Steve catching a fish on the West Branch of the Dolores River. Unfortunately I can’t figure out how to post a copy of an old video for you. This was just behind our cabin!

Did you not believe me? Of course he caught a fish!

Lucky, lucky you! I figured out how to insert videos again!

Here are some pictures of the prep work for dinner. Gorgeous potatoes for roasting.

Also many different colored carrots.

We started with a beautiful grilled escarole salad with fruit to start our dinner.

Followed by grilled lamb chops. Our wine was from Sutcliffe Vineyards. Sutcliffe is located in Cortez, Colorado; the nearest large town .I think there was some kind of relationship between Sutcliffe and Dunton.

Our delicious dessert. Sweet Potato Pie with chocolate chile sauce and maple whipped cream.

Would you come here on your honeymoon?

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Bonus question: Have you ever had sex in a hot spring? Scratch that, I don’t want to know!

Off to Grand Junction Colorado. 9/13/2015 Su

We had breakfast at Brush Creek and then we were off onto the next leg of our adventure. We saw some Sand Hill Cranes, at least Steve did, my eyes for bird watching are not as good as his are.

Then to add to our excitement we had a moose cross the highway in front of us! I was in such shock that I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of the moose! While we were discussing our near accident, we decided to check our luggage and make sure that the mule deer shed (antler) was secure. Nothing like having a pointy flying projectile ruin a wonderful road trip!

Lo and behold, it turns out that two of our large suitcases were missing. The fool wrangler at Bruch Creek who was assigned to put our luggage in the van didn’t bring everything down. So we had to turn around and go back to the ranch.

We then drove to Rock City to try to find wild mustangs. One of the staff at Brush Creek told us that it was a very interesting park. Seeing a gopher hole and Pilot Mesa was easier to find. We did find 4 out of the 1500 wild mustangs. The wildlife preserve was over 250,000 acres. So we were really lucky to see any.

To get this close to the horses you need to have a four wheel drive vehicle with plenty of road clearance and lots of free time. This we didn’t have so it was back in the van again.