The Road Less Traveled

Day 7
Frisco, Co to Santa Fe, NM

I don't know what it is about the west, but everyone is always active. In the past few days here rarely a moment goes by where you don't see someone riding a bike, running, or going paddling/rock climbing/hiking nearby. It's a great habit to pick up, so Nikki and I decided to go on a bike ride with my sister in the morning, and then do some kayaking in Lake Dillion. Lake Dillion is this huge man made lake that has water in it the temperature of ice, but it made for an awesome place to kayak. The lake is full of wildlife and tons of little secluded islands for you to explore. Well we paddled around the lake for about and hour and decided to turn around. It was at this moment that we heard a nice loud crack of thunder and noticed a huge storm coming up right over the ridge from the West. It's amazing how a nice and tranquil lake can develop a nasty chop with whitecaps at the blink of an eye here. We went from enjoying the morning to paddling like we were trying out for the Olympics in about 2 minutes. We made it back to the dock just in time and took shelter in the local bar. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees in a matter of minutes and then the deluge was upon us. After most of the storm had passed, we decided to ride in the rain back to the house which we soon decided was a bad idea after we all developed ice cream headaches from the freezing rain. Of course once we made it back to the house, the rain stopped and the sun was shining again. We packed the car, and let Napoleon say his goodbyes to Barley and his new friends from around the neighborhood. We took the scenic route south and and through places like Leadville and Buena vista. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changes from mountains to plains. We entered the "land of enchantment" and immediately saw what was so enchanting about it. Around every turn, even though there were very few of them, there was something new to see. The desert was actually very green with tons of little knee high bushes covering the ground. Finally we reached Santa Fe and as soon as we entered the town, we fell in love with this place. Everyone was walking everywhere, there were art galleries on every turn, there are green spaces in all the nooks and crannies, the weather is great, the people are friendly, and lots of good local food. It's no wonder that Bill Richardson would have rather stayed here than go to Washington D.C. After we settled into our hotel, we ended up walking to downtown where we ate at Cafe Pasqual's. The food was a perfect welcome and introduction to the area. If you have time you can ask us about it, I don't want this to be another food dissertation. Plus they just finishing having the Folk art market here on Sunday and this place is teeming with all of these artists. We are definitely coming back in the future for it. Today we are doing more exploring of Santa Fe and then camping tonight in the Cibola National Forrest, so if we don't post in a few days send out a search party. Thanks everyone for all you comments and calls..we miss you!
Day 7 stats
321 miles
127 folk artists
23 casinos
3 ice cream headaches