Our vacation has finally reached it’s end and for some of you you couldn’t be happier! I know, I know, you made yourselves pretty clear that you want the blog back to normal when I checked my e-mail this morning. I guess I can laugh and take it as a complement. Trust me it will return to normal by Thursday with some sort of recipe to do with Hatch chillies that we brought home with us. But for the rest of you, I’ll try to make this as short and sweet as I can and wrap up this vacation story.

Our last night in Pagosa Springs was a blast. It all started with a very enthusiastic woman who pulled up next to us in a yellow school bus. She opened the doors with a pull of her bony hand and screamed at us in her raspy voice, “Well aren’t you getting in?” Tim and I looked at each other, shrugged and hopped on in. After a few moments of chatter with her a band of tie-dye, hiking boots and fleece wearing “hippies” (I jokingly call them hippies, but in reality they are no where near the hippy clan I know and love in Texas; I’ve concluded their just Coloradoans with good taste in music) jumped on the bus and off we went up the mountain. She dropped us off in the middle of a campground with sweet a mandolin melody flowing in the air and instantly Tim and I knew we were going to have a great time. Once we found a spot to lay a blanket we were instantly enthralled by the likes of The Infamous Stringdusters and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. A mind blowing show and Mia had a blast talking and playing with everyone around us. It was a great time made even better by a wonderful Pagosa Springs couple that gave Tim and I and our very sleepy one-shoed daughter a ride down the mountain. Seriously, the people in Pagosa Springs are amazing!

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

We awoke the next morning to the last sounds of geese landing on the river. We packed up and before we left one of our favorite vacations behind we stopped in for a green chili and egg breakfast at a local coffee house next to the hot spring that we never got a chance to jump in. Oh well, I guess we have to return one day. Darn.

With bellies full we hit the road. A couple of hours into New Mexico we happened into Carson National Forest and stopped to take a couple of photos of Echo Theater, a natural rock formation. It was there we ran into a group of musicians, their friends and a dog named Hopi. Soon we found ourselves surrounded by this beautiful red rock cavern with guitars blazing and voices echoing off the walls. Hence Echo Theater, right? It was a great chance meeting and a wonderful impromptu concert that reminded me of the old days traveling with Tim from gig to gig.

After we left and were on the highway we heard a loud thud. In shock we thought I ran over something but quickly realized I had left our huge overly stuffed CD case on top of the car when I was reloading and forgot to put it back in. I pulled over and Tim ran in between cars and 18 wheelers to save our CD collection. Of course everything is backed up on the computer at home but we have priorities people. Thankfully with music saved we were on the road again.

We drove for hours, stopping in Santa Fe at a little cafe with cold beer and insanely good green sauce and taking in the views as we tucked on. Unfortunately, the greatness of the chili sauce was out shined  by what the beans did to our digestive tracts and for the rest of the day it was like WWIII with our butts as the firing cannons. Just not pleasant but so hilarious that we were all laughing at each bombshell. We have manners but in what I have no clue.

Our next destination was Clovis, New Mexico. What the heck is in the tiny railroad town of Clovis you might ask? A building. Not just any building though. This was the Norman Petty Recording Studio. A studio that once recorded the sounds of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings and the husband just had to put is hand on the door. It’s now closed and overgrown with vines and weeds but I can understand his enthusiasm as it was a just as inspiring to me.

After a brief stay in Lubbock we made it home seven hours later and my eyes were very happy to see the rolling cactus and oak tree covered landscape. We made it home with a head full of memories and a truckload of Hatch Chilies. I would love to tell you that Pagosa Springs is a horrible place and to never go there but it would be a lie and I would only say that to keep it all to myself. It was a memorable trip that hopefully we will take again. The beauty is indescribable and the adventures will stick with us forever. People of Pagosa Springs and everyone we met on the trip, you are awesome and we are glad to have met you! See you next time.

For all of you that want the blog back to normal, just hold on and I promise it will be. I’ve got one more post of some of my favorite shots, including the one I almost died for, but Thursday we’ll be cooking again and next week I will be back in my comfy sock monkey slippers. Thanks for putting up with us this past week!