Best Weekend Ever

So yeah, had another Great Weekend, they seem to be stacking up, topping themselves...where is it all going?? Friday afternoon, found me lounging on JC's porch at quitting time (his quitting time, as I am still not really working), a PBR for him, pistachios being nibbled while we congratulated ourselves on making the executive decision to stick around town and not load up for another desert expedition. The decision was based on several factors but most compelling was simply that we didn't feel strongly enough about going. So we chatted with Monkey, his neighbor, for a bit, then hopped on cruisers and rode on the bike path beside the river all the way out the Valley Floor to the Boomerang Bridge, where we paused and made out and talked about how lucky we are to live in a town where we can hop on bikes and ride around at sunset by the river, flanked by 12- and 13,000-foot peaks. We made our way back into town, to Fat Alley, for a cocktails and food, again happy to have our drinks handed to us before we even make it up to the counter to order them! We did a drive-by of the Buck, saw Frannie in the window seat and went in for a frosty beverage (or two) and chatted her up, hearing all about their Costa Rica surf trip this off-season. The best part? We were in bed chatting and laughing as it got dark!

Saturday inched its way up the list of Best Days Ever, starting off with bed, breakfast and bed, what a great combination, then heading out in the Volvo to explore a section of road that neither of us had ventured down before--141 that connects Nucla to Dove Creek, basically. There is a herd of wild horses we were hoping to see, that live in Disappointment Valley and sure enough, with binoculars, we spotted some, way off in the distance, just before a huge Golden Eagle, soared overhead. Those things are gigantic and majestic. Crossed the Dolores, running huge right now with rafters speckled here and there in the muddy rapids, got a sense for the old mining outpost of Slickrock, then ascended the other side of the canyon into Egnar and finally Dove Creek. I gathered spring lilacs in the graveyard there and then we happened upon a mud bogging competition that was just finishing, huge trucks with huger tires, covered in mud in a field with a long trench dug out and filled with water. The locals were more than happy to tell us the lowdown on how the competition works and, more importanlty, how the trucks work. Then up the valley from Dolores, river raging and aspens blooming green, back into town at sunset. Pasta and chianti, shower and a venture behind the graveyard as the sun descended, found a four-leaf clover and then when I picked up the Alaska memoir book, opened to a passage about a Golden Eagel (no joke), so we chatted about intellect and theory and life before slipping into a blissful slumber. We had a lot of fun that day, lots of hilarity. Here is the photo of the drive into Disappointment Valley:

And that, believe it or not, is a Golden Eagle--hugest bird of prey EVER:

And there is the 'ole Volvo at the mud-bogging show in Dove Creek:

Sunday? Started out just as great, bed-breakfast-bed, then hiking up Clay's Way, a new trail to me that took us up above Tomby and connected back to the Jud Wiebe. We stopped at the top, again admiring not just the views of Bear Creek and Bridal Veil and Ingram Falls, but that we literally walked out our front to door to do it, and there, right there by the graveyard we can see our houses. Then some porch time, pistachios and PBRs, and again another bike cruise for a snack but on this Last Sunday of Off-Season, nothing is open--except Baked In Telluride, where we peopl-watched from the porch with a slice and a beer. Out to Boomerang Bridge on the Valley Floor again, another make out session before two mountain bikers rode up, vodka and clementine Izzes on the porch until we leapt into action and drove up to the base of Bridal Veil Falls, felt the pounding of the water on the earth and spray so overpowering it was like being in the rain, then cruised back down, Phish cranked, darkness falling. And again, a blissful slumber.