Happy Tuesday that feels like a Monday!
Ryan and I took advantage of yesterday’s federal holiday, and spent this past weekend exploring a little bit of southwest Colorado.
We discussed visiting Durango a few weeks ago, but didn’t plan our trip until super last-minute. Ryan’s friend Moldy (actual name Jacob, but it’s weird when people call him that) — from his former wildland fire Hotshot crew — recently took a new fire job out in Durango. So, he and his girlfriend Kailey, a travel nurse, just relocated.
Moldy and Kailey were here a few weeks ago hanging out, and they pitched the idea of visiting them over Valentine’s Day week since they both had the week off work. They’d originally been backpacking around the Four Corners area, but ended up bailing on their trip early due to a combination of mud and ice, so they last-minute headed back to Durango, and we followed them out there.
The weekend was SO fun.
We started the five hour drive Friday afternoon, and got into Durango at about 7:30 p.m. We unloaded Ryan’s truck and then went to a nearby pizzeria called Homeslice for pizza and beer.
Kailey and Moldy are currently staying in a long-term furnished rental since pretty much all their living situations are temporary, and their rental is located a few blocks from downtown, which is super nice!
We went to bed fairly early, and then woke up Saturday morning. Kailey made us quiche, and then we spent the morning exploring downtown Durango — mostly all the rec stores.
We grabbed coffee at Magpie’s and then went back to the house before heading up to the city’s Horse Gulch Trail System for a little hike.
We did three miles with snowshoes and then came home and went to grab dinner at 11th Street Station, which is this cute little bar/ food truck hub. I had a sweet chili tofu bowl from Avalanche Bowl Company, which was really, really good!
We hung out on the patio for a while (it was super cold) listening to some live music. A Durango-based band called Salamander Collective was playing, which was pretty fun.
We went back to the house and played a few rounds of “Fishbowl” — which is this fun Taboo/ charades game, and called it a night.
We woke up early on Sunday because Ryan wanted to check out Silverton. We had some leftover quiche, then packed up Kailey’s Subaru and headed out to the Million Dollar Highway.
We got to Silverton only to discover… the town was in the middle of a skijoring festival! How cool, right?
It was a little bit of a bummer – almost everything in Silverton was closed for the winter. It’s definitely more of a summer town.
Luckily, we brought snacks: Leftover pizza and Pop-Tarts!
We did find one coffee shop that was open (Coffee Bear), so we all grabbed coffee and snacks before standing course-side and watching the horses tow the skiers around poles, up banks and over jumps.
Dogs weren’t allowed near the course to avoid scaring the horses, and since we had Yukon and Tortilla with us, we rotated off watching the event and standing back along main street with some of the vendors.
After a few hours, we got back in the Subaru and headed back along the Million Dollar Highway.
We pulled off at an overlook which gave us an INCREDIBLE view of the San Juans.
We took all the photos, naturally.
We stopped along Molas Lake for a snowy little hike.
The entire lake was (of course) snowed over, but it was still beautiful. We walked around it (part of the Colorado Trail) and through the campground, which was closed for the season.
Afterward, we drove down the road to The Nugget, a little après ski bar next to Purgatory.
We had a few beers outside by the fire, and then went back to Durango.
We were super tired at that point, so we ordered takeout from Himalayan Kitchen and went to bed early.
Ryan and I were up at about 6 a.m. Monday to start our drive, since he had an afternoon flight scheduled yesterday and I was scheduled to teach my usual Monday evening yoga class.
We grabbed coffee and bagels at Durango Bagel, and then we were on the road back home!
Overall, it was such a fun weekend. I’m hoping to head back at some point this summer with my paddle board in tow — assuming, of course, fire season doesn’t destroy me.
Til my next hike!
