A Jeanne in the Kitchen

A trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park was our last big adventure for the trip. We actually visited it twice, once for an evening picnic and some stargazing and then again in the day time. We weren’t planning on going twice, but that’s just the way it worked out. Glad we did too. They are two completely different ways to experience the Sand Dunes.

The tallest sand dunes in North America, just outside of Alamosa, CO, are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. The dunes were formed by the right combinations of wind, water, and sediment. Creeks and streams brought in large amounts of sediment and sand into the valley. Wind then blew the sand toward the bend in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where opposing storm winds helped squeeze the sand into the tall dunes you see today. They are a sandbox of epic proportions, where the entire dune field encompasses 30 square miles and the tallest dune towers 750 feet high.

We decided to visit the Sand Dunes at night to stargaze. It’s a great spot to watch the Heavens above because it is so isolated and there aren’t any interferences from city lights. We packed up all our picnic stuff and dined beneath the stars. We all agreed, it was a great evening. At first, we weren’t sure how things would turn out, especially since it was cloudy and over cast. Then one by one, the stars started to appear and each one got brighter and brighter. We even saw the International Space Station zoom right past us. We didn’t believe that’s what at was at first, but then we checked, and sure enough, we had seen the Space Stations zooming past us at about 5 miles per second. In addition to seeing the Space Station, we also saw about 6 deer in the creek, a coyote on the prowl and a lot of bats flying around us. The deer were only a few feet away, but as soon as I got them in focus with my lens, they scampered off to places unknown. I wasn’t able to get any photos of the local night life, but we all saw them. We knew they were there.

The Dunes at night.

The Dunes during the day time.

This is just right about where we had our evening picnic, right at the water’s edge. We were surprised to see water there. We weren’t expecting it.

After doing the dunes, we headed north again, homeward bound. We had one last bit of exploring to do, as well as a nice dinner, before ending our trip.

We made a stop at The Cave of the Winds, in Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs, to do some caving. All of us had been there before except for the Californians on the trip, Lori and Karen. (I am no longer a Californian. I have been in Colorado for over 23 years, so I’m like a native now).

In 1880, brothers John and George Pickett scouted for new caves in Williams Canyon. They discovered a small cave near the limestone archway. They noticed that the flames on their lit candles flickered in the wind coming from somewhere within the cave. They crawled through a small opening and emerged into a large chamber that promised an amazing world of exploration.

That world was structurally opened by George Washington Snider, a stonecutter from Ohio. Soon after the cave’s initial discovery, Snider excavated passages and found Canopy Hall. He continued to excavate and soon was giving guided tours. Cave of the Winds Mountain Park in Colorado Springs has been in continuous operation since February 1881 – it is one of Colorado’s original visitor attractions!

Outside the caves.

Inside the caves.

This concludes our Southwestern Colorado and Southeastern Utah adventures. As you can see we survived through it all. We hiked and climbed through the mountains, slid down sand dunes, explored caves and encountered all kinds of wildlife. And through it all, we are still smiling. We all had a great time and made many happy memories.

Last stop before ending the trip was a stop at Scileppi’s Italian Restaurant for dinner.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After leaving the Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde, we headed north, and landed in Durango for lunch, not far from Mesa Verde at all. We ate a little different today. We had our main meal in the early afternoon and our picnic for dinner (more on that later).

Durango, Colorado gained its fame to claim as a mining town in the days of the Wild, Wild West. Here are 8 fun facts about Durango.

1. It is known as the Hollywood of the Rockies, with over 30 films being shot here, ranging from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid to National Lampoon’s Vacation and Ticket to Tomahawk.
2. It is a culinary haven. Once known as the city with more per capita restaurants than San Francisco, Durango has always served as a foodie’s paradise.
3. It is a headquarters location for a lot of professional athletes. Beginning in 1915, professional fighter Jack Dempsey became the heavy weight champion after defeating Andy Malloy.  Today, Durango attracts world-class athletes to competitions like the Iron Horse bike race and the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Race.
4. THE HAPPIEST (AND WORST DRESSED) WINTER TOWN IN AMERICA – the Snowdown Celebration, hosted annually at the end of every January, is one of the best and largest winter festivals in the state. The massive costume party, now more than 41 years old, is meant to lift the spirits of locals and visitors alike. It may be part of the reason USA Today named Durango the “Worst Dressed Town in America” back in the ’90s, but that’s a badge worn with honor.
5. Durango has hosted a number of famous artists and writers over the years as they worked.
6. Durango is a fisherman’s paradise.
7. It is a historical hotspot. With more than 2,500 preserved archeological sites, four nearby National Monuments, 13 historic sites, 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and one National Park, Durango boasts unbeatable access to our nation’s best-preserved history. You could spend months solely focused on exploring the ancient history around the southwest, with still so much more to see. Spend a day at Mesa Verde National Park, tour the Chaco Canyon UNESCO site, and make a point to escape into the Weminuche Wilderness for some intimate outdoor time.
8. Durango is home to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway that transported over $300,000,000 worth of precious metals that were mined from the area.

None of these fun facts were known to us when we stopped in Durango for lunch. But we can certainly vouch for #2 on the list. We stopped at a little Italian bistro named Primi, where we dined al fresco on their beautiful patio that was a window to the town.

PRIMI, meaning first course in Italian, refers to the many types of pasta found on restaurant menus across Italy. Perfectly al dente noodles are often handmade and accompanied with simple and flavorful sauces. Our inspiration is drawn from the many humble restaurants in Italy that use a few high quality ingredients to create mouthwatering dishes.

As you would expect by their mission statement, everything is home made fresh in house everyday, including all their desserts and gelatos. When they run out, they run out. Fortunately for us, they did not run out of anything, yet.

We started lunch off with some rosemary focaccia for the table and cool, refreshing drinks. Some of us had wine, others did not. I bet you know which option I chose. 🙂

Then it was time for our lunches to arrive. We all sampled different pasta dishes. Everything was fresh and delicious, and they all disappeared quickly.

There was one container of lemon gelato left, that was on sale, so we “forced” ourselves upon it and and helped them out so they could make another batch. It was cool and refreshing and just hit the spot. There was just enough for the 6 of each us to enjoy a little bit, and that little bit was all we needed.

Primi is located at 1201 main Street, Durango, CO.

After lunch, we were all very full and needed to walk around a bit, so we strolled down towards the Animas River and enjoyed the sights. It was a beautiful day and a perfect way to enjoy the day after lunch.

Since it was Memorial Day, Durango honored its fallen in a very patriotic way.

The day’s adventures did not stop here, but I am going to leave it here for now. You’ll just have to trust me. There is method to my madness, or at least most of the time. 🙂 There are still more adventures on the way. Stay tuned.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We did a big loop on our trip out west by going out to Grand Junction and Colorado National Monument first, Our Trip To The West – Day #2 – Colorado National Monument then out to Utah and Arches National Park, Our Trip To The West – Day #3 – Arches National Park , and from there, south and back into Colorado again. This time our adventures took us to Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings.

The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved in North America. Sometime during the late 1190s, after primarily living on the mesa tops for 600 years, many Ancestral Pueblo people began moving into pueblos they built into natural cliff alcoves. The structures ranged in size from one-room granaries to villages of more than 150 rooms. While still farming the mesa tops, they lived in cliff dwellings, repairing, remodeling, and constructing new rooms for nearly a century. With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. Cliff dwellings were built by the Ancestral Puebloans, who were ancestors of the Pueblo Native American tribe.

The cliff dwellings were built from 1200–75. The people had lived on flat ground around Mesa Verde. To keep their community safe, they started to build homes in the cliffs. In the mid-1200s, the population began migrating to the south, into present-day New Mexico and Arizona. By the end of the 1200s, most everyone had migrated away. Drought probably caused food shortages, especially because the population had grown so large. The resulting hardships may have led to tension and conflict. Eventually, the Pueblo people of the Mesa Verde region decided to migrate south, where the rains were more reliable.

We missed our window of opportunity to purchase tickets to go inside the actual cliff dwellings, but we still got a chance to see how life was lived in and around them. We still got to see all of the dwellings and the pit houses and pueblos too. Fortunately the Visitor’s Center offered very good representations of what life was like.

These are representations from the Visitor’s Center. Life was hard, but the people seemed content. A hard life was all they knew.

We were able to hike all around and there was still so much to see and so much history to take in.

Boys will be boys.

The girls were all looking pretty.

After exploring the area on foot, we took in a couple of short documentary films that went into even more details about what life was like for the Puebloans. We got to see what they ate and what tools they used and learned a lot more about the culture of the cliff dwellers. All of it was very interesting.

All this corn was stored in the pot for 1000’s of years. Corn was a main staple of the Pubeloan diet.

I have always loved and been so intrigued by history, of all kinds. I have never been able to grasp or understand it when people say they have no interest in history. History is our past and by learning about out past, we are allowed to progress and move forward. Without knowing about our history, we can have no future.

We all thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating trip to the past. If you haven’t already been to Mesa Verde, I highly recommend it. It’s fun to step back in time. Upon leaving Mesa Verde and the Cortez area, we were back in the car, headed north to Alamosa for more adventures yet to come.

Learn from the past to build for the future. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After our Arches National Park experience, it was back to Southwestern Colorado once again. Next stop, Cortez, CO. It was another 2 hours and 112 miles to go before settling in for the night.

Once in Cortez, we checked into our hotel and walked around town a bit to find a good place for dinner. We chose a family owned Mexican restaurant. We all agreed it was an excellent choice and a great way to end the day. Dinner was at Mi Mexico.

The decor inside Mi Mexico was very Southwestern and eclectic, which made it fun.

!La comida estaba delicioso! The food was delicious! We sampled many fantastic dishes and everyone was very full and very satisfied at the end of the meal. We had beef fajitas,

albondigas,

camarones al mojo de ajo or shrimp with a garlic mushroom sauce, and a smothered burrito.

For dessert, o postres, we sampled some sopapillas with honey and cinnamon and deep-fried ice cream.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel for more fun and games. It felt good to walk around a bit. We brought a bunch of games to play for our evening entertainment, and every night was filled with lots of laughs, lots of comraderie and lots of fun.

Live, love, eat, and make the most our of everyday. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Mi Mexico is located at 801 E Main St, Cortez, CO 81321. They open at 11:00 AM and you can dine inside or outside on the patio.

For our third day of the trip, we left Southwestern Colorado and ventured into Southeastern Utah, near Moab, where we explored Arches National Park. Arches National Park boasts of 76,518 acres of beautiful natural sandstone arches, geological wonders and gorgeous landscapes. It takes a little over 2 hours to go from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, Utah, where Arches is located. So we packed everything back up into the car to get to our next destination and we were on the road again.

Arches National Park is just as gorgeous and just as impressive as Colorado National Monument, but it’s bigger, so there is even more to see. Arches is about 3x the size of Colorado National Monument. Again, our day was filled with driving around the park, getting out for hikes all around, taking a bazillion gorgeous pictures and a picnic lunch with a beautiful vista. What a way to enjoy life and commune with God and nature, right?!

Once again, pictures just don’t do this magnificent park justice. And again God and Mother Nature painted a beautiful, colorful mural of natural beauty. We were all awestruck. It was absolutely breathtaking.

I will leave it here since there is no way I can show you everything. Once again, I am NOT going to share all of the pictures I took. It’s would be too overwhelming. The best way to experience Arches is to actually go and see it for yourself. It is truly a magical place.

Color your world beautiful and take in as much beauty as you can. We live in a very beautiful world. We just have to allow ourselves to see it and take it all in. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After exploring Colorado National Monument, we decided it was time for more wine tasting at yet another local winery. This time, we ventured into Two Rivers Winery, where we ran into some other park explorers we had met earlier. I guess great minds think (or drink) alike. 🙂

Though there were 6 of us, we decided to share a combination of 4 wine flights. There were 8 different samples per flight, ranging from sweet to dry, in white, pink and red. Some of us are red wine drinkers, some of us are white wine drinkers, and then there is me, who will try it all if the name wine is in the title. There was a little something for everyone in these flights. Though in all honesty, I am really more of a dry white wine drinker than anything. I don’t care for sweet wines at all, regardless of their color, unless it is port. 🙂

Lauren is trying the wines with gusto and a smile.

Happy travelers.

After exploring Colorado National Monument, hiking around, a small lunch of fruits and snacks, and wine tasting, it was time for a full meal. We went to yet another restaurant in Grand Junction, called The Feisty Pint. The Feisty Pint was another restaurant that Guy Fieri visited and features on his hit show, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

The Feisty Pint offers pub food with flare. Again, we all ordered something different, both to eat and to drink. I started it off with a Mule. YUM!

Mike, Karen and I all ordered fish ‘n chips.

Larry ordered “potachos” or nachos made with tater tots.

Lauren ordered chicken fingers and Lori ordered a French dip that had been jazzed up a bit, or “jiuzzed” up as Lauren would say.

At the end of our meal, our tummies were definitely full and we were all feisty.

We all had a little voodoo in us and the voodoo ranger had to keep us in check.

After dinner, we strolled around Grand Junction some more then headed back to the hotel for an evening filled with fun and games and lots of laughs and comradery.

More fun adventures are still coming. This is only day #2. Stay tuned.

‘Til next time.

Our hotel in Grand Junction did not offer breakfast, so that gave us the perfect opportunity to go back to Cafe Sol, a place Larry and I had dined the last time we were in Grand Junction. Sol for the Soul The food was just as good as we remembered and it was a good way to start our big adventure for the day.

The big adventure planned for the day was to go and explore Colorado National Monument. Colorado National Monument preserves one of the grandest landscapes of the American West. It is 31 square miles or 23,000 acres of spectacular red rock landscapes, deep canyons, and towering sandstone monoliths to enjoy, and enjoy we certainly did too. It was magnificent! Truly a breathtaking and AWESOME experience!

We did a combination of driving around and short hikes, with a picnic stop for lunch, through the magnificent park. There are plenty of other locations that feature the red rock formations that are seen here, but none to this scale.

People always ask what is the difference between a national park, like the Grand Canyon, and a national monument like Colorado National Monument. Generally, a national park contains a variety of resources and encompasses large land or water areas to help provide adequate protection of the resources. A national monument is intended to preserve at least one nationally significant resource. The primary difference lies in the reason for preserving the land: National parks are protected due to their scenic, inspirational, education, and recreational value. National monuments have objects of historical, cultural, and/or scientific interest, so their content is quite varied. A national monument is part of the park system because it’s a Park Service unit, but it isn’t a national park. While they’re similar in that they’re protected sites that highlight a historical event or natural area, they’re established and managed differently. The National Park System has since expanded to 424 units (often referred to as parks), more than 150 related areas, and numerous programs that assist in conserving the nation’s natural and cultural heritage for the benefit of current and future generations.

We all took a bazillion photos, so I won’t share them all with you, but will instead only give you some of the highlights. Besides, photos just don’t really capture all the beauty and awe of the park and they certainly don’t do the park justice. This beautiful area is Mother Nature and God at their best, for sure.

I could go on and on with beautiful pictures, but I think you get the general idea of the massive amounts of natural beauty on display. We were all completely mesmerized. If you’ve never been to Colorado National Monument, I highly suggest you add it to your bucket list. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Take in all the beauty that surrounds us and color your world beautiful. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Grand Junction is the largest city in Western Colorado and serves as a hub for transportation and shipping between Denver and Salt Lake City. The population of the Grand Junction, according to the 2010 Census, is 146,723. The name Grand Junction stems from the junction of the Colorado River (formerly known as the Grand River) and the Gunnison River. The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1880s, but the area’s history of human civilization stretches back thousands of years including the Ute and Fremont tribes, among others. Remnants of the tribal history includes petroglyphs and cave paintings, among other items. In the late 19th century, settlers were drawn to the fertile Grand Junction area for its agricultural potential, and the area remains one of Colorado’s largest food producers, including peaches, pears, cherries and corn. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first grapevines were planted, sparking an increase in wine production. Now home to more than 20 wineries, Grand Junction is known as Colorado’s Wine Country. The warm days and cool nights are exceptional conditions for producing hearty grapes, and red wine varietals in particular flourish in the conditions.  It is also a college town, home to Mesa State University, which is now part of the Colorado State University or CSU system.

After our dinner at TacoParty Good Eats For The Trip – #1 we strolled all around town to take in the sites. We were all impressed with how clean the city was and how many flowers there were. Beautiful, colorful flowers and fun, fanciful artwork lined all the streets. Of course we took it all in and had a lot of fun. That’s just what we do. 🙂

The Boys

and the Girls.

Mike and Lauren stopping for a quick pic.

Artwork, creativity and fun are all a big part of the town’s zest for life. It’s all over the place, everywhere you look. You can’t help but have a good time in a place like this. Good times and fun are just a part of the culture and a way of life here.

Larry and his BIG boy bike.

As Larry put it, two dinosaurs on a bike.

And this is how the bikers really roll in town.

The rise of the Phoenix.

Gorilla fun.

King Kong like Jane (Karen actually).

And finally, it was time to turn in for the night.

And this is just all from day #1. As you can see, we had a lot of fun. We always do. Stay tuned. The fun is only just beginning. I have tons more to share with you.

Stay safe and say well. ‘Til next time.

As I mentioned yesterday, Our Trip To The West – Day #1, we had a lot of good, fun picnics during our travels. Most of our hotels provided breakfasts, and then we had picnics for most of our lunches, while we ate most of our dinners out. I rarely eat 3 meals a day, so I ate mostly fruit for our lunches. In fact, I rarely even eat two meals a day, so needless to say, I ate way more than usual. 🙂

The first of our restaurant meals was in Grand Junction at a trendy, new taco restaurant called TacoParty. We did this on our first night in town. TacoParty was a hip and trendy place and it was packed. We all love Mexican food and tacos in general, but these tacos all had a tasty new twist to them.

TacoParty, was featured on the hit cooking show, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, hosted by Guy Fieri. In Guy’s words, “This spot is the true definition of HIP! TacoParty (yes, spelled one word) is an incredible hangout that dishes out some of the most creative and delicious Tacos we’ve ever had the pleasure to come across. Their mission or statement stands true, unconventional culinary experience unlike anything else in the Colorado area. While they do dip in the traditional, they often take it leaps and bounds above where you’d never even consider a Taco could go. Quality here is above and beyond and the difference flavors they have are always evolving so you’ll never get bored when you come to the TacoParty. Easily accessible in downtown Grand Junction, it’s often the most talked about and visited spot for foodie lovers.”. Little did we know, that two of the three places we dined at in Grand Junction were featured on the show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. I am going out on a limb to say Guy Fieri likes the eats in Grand Junction. 🙂

The walls were lined with different skateboards and modern items representing today’s pop culture.

The bathrooms even had chalk provided so you could leave your message to the world on the walls.

Like many new restaurants, you ordered your food at the counter and when it was ready, they brought it to your table. Strangely though, silverware was optional and only given to you if requested. Um, most of us still use silverware, at least we old people still do.

We all thought the food was very tasty, but a bit on the pricey side. Or maybe I am just out of touch with restaurant prices though, since we rarely eat out any more. As usual when a group of people dine out together, we had a wide variety of menu items on the table.

We started off with a few appetizers for the table, including some shishito peppers in a creamy sauce, chips and fire roasted salsa and new twist on guacamole, made with apples and cracked black pepper and topped with edible flowers. I have to admit, it was the prettiest and most colorful guacamole I’ve ever seen.

Then it was time for the main course – a variety of different tacos and tostadas.

The night was still young, and we had some exploring to do, so we all decided to walk around Grand Junction after dinner, to take in the sights of the City. We were also had very full tummies and needed to walk off some of our dinner.

TacoParty is located at 126 S 5th St, Grand Junction, CO 81501. All that’s needed to do is to show up, stand in line, and order what you like, then join in on the taco party at TacoParty and enjoy. Easy-peasy.

OK. The moment you have all been waiting for (or at least I hope so). 🙂 As you know, We’re back from our latest Western adventures. By Western, I mean Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. There were 6 of us on this little adventure – our friends Lauren and Mike, Karen and her friend Lori, and Larry and I. We all packed ourselves, our gear and tons of snacks and goodies into the car for our road trip. Before we packed everything up though, Larry made us all a batch of his famous breakfast burritos for the road.

Grand Junction was our first destination. Grand Junction is about a 4 1/2 hour drive due west from our house. It is about a 244 mile trek from our house to Grand Junction. We left the house around 8:30 AM and drove for about 3 hours before stopping for our first picnic lunch. I think we were somewhere around Glenwood Springs.

This was our first picnic for the trip. We ended up picnicking everyday for either lunch or dinner. It was a great way to commune with nature and our surroundings as well as a way to cut down on food costs. There was NO shortage of food, and in fact, even after the trip, we still came back with a bunch of goodies. I brought fruit, snacks, chips, and other goodies, as well as cheese and meat. Lauren brought snacks and both Karen and Lori brought goodies on the plane with them from California. There was NO WAY we were going to go hungry. I know! You’re all shocked! 🙂

Mike and I caught each other.

The place we stopped was beautiful and a great way to start off the trip with a bang. However, we did have a few unwelcomed guests who tried to slither their way to our lunch spot. In just a short space, we saw at least 3 snakes – 2 garter snakes and 1 bull snake. None of them are harmful, but that makes NO difference to me in the slightest. I don’t like ANY snakes!!!! I made sure to keep my distance as much as I could from all of them.

Once lunch was done, we headed back into the car to continue our journey. Our first real stop in Grand Junction was the Talon Winery for some wine tasting. Grand Junction is our grape producing area where most of our wines come from, so there are quite a few wineries in the area.

We were all ready to whet our whistle and to try some wines. We liked them all, and we all had our favorites.

WOW!!! We were all impressed with Arin’s wine carrying skills. And not a drop was spilled. 🙂

There were actually three different wineries all in one – Talon Winery, Meadery of the Rockies and St. Kathryn Cellars.

As you can see, there are quite a few award winning wines made and served here too.

After we finished at Talon Winery, it was too early to head to our hotel, so off to another winery we went. This time, we went to Grande River Vineyards, where there were more good times and good wines to be tried by all.

Lauren bought a pair of wine bottle earrings for all of us ladies. We were proudly wearing them and showing them off for everyone to see, while enjoying a glass or two.

From here, it was time to go check into our hotel. We stayed in Grand Junction for two nights before moving on. There was so much to see.

This is Day#1 of our adventures. I will leave it here for now, but believe me, I have many more fun things to share. Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.