A Perfect Day

We headed up to Pagosa Springs for the weekend to “dog-sit” for my parents while they headed to South Bend for my Dad’s 50th high school reunion. (A pretty impressive event, if you ask me.) Saturday was an amazingly therapeutic day, one of my best in a while. I woke up Saturday morning, had my coffee, made some biscuits and read a book I am really enjoying on my parent’s deck (which has a 180 degree view of the mountain peaks.) Mid-day D. and I set off for a five mile hike. The sun and fresh air seemed to cleanse me a lot more than a detox diet or day at the spa. To give you an idea, this is a picture I snapped during the hike.

At the end of the hike, we had a celebratory cold beer and I truly felt like I had just put in an honest day’s work. That evening, we had dinner at a place that deserves pretty much perfect marks, called the Alley House. We sat on their deck in the perfect early Colorado evening sipping a lovely bottle of wine while enjoying spicy Chipotle Edamame, perfect Ahi Tuna and very fresh asparagus & mushroom stuffed trout (that last one is D.’s, anyone how knows me knows that I don’t eat fungus.) As a final treat, we had Sambuca and Crème Brulee. It was one of those meals that makes you want to memorialize every bite. As if that wasn’t good enough, my parents had called ahead and treated us to the meal as an early anniversary gift! To cap off the day, we headed to the natural hot springs in Pagosa. They have over a dozen different pools ranging from the river to 114 degrees. In a moment of pure insanity, we took a dip in the 55 degree river, which was quite cold at 10pm. Although sticking around the Southwest for another year wasn’t in my plans, I am already seeing how much I have to gain from this year. On the trip home, we started a list of all the places in the Southwest we would like to see together in the next year. We already have about ten weekend trips on the list that are within driving distance. When I think about places I have lived, I feel like I never took full advantage of all they had to offer. This “bonus year” in New Mexico lets me be close to family for a while longer and allows me to do all that stuff we haven’t focused on in the madness of wedding planning/house buying/house renovating/working 60+ hours/school applying/etc. I feel like I am finally spending some time in the present instead of just applying all my efforts to planning the future.