It ’s amazing how the respectable moments in life can happen when you ’re least have a bun in the oven them .
Will has a timeshare that we trade in every twelvemonth , usually for a week at a ski recourse . This class we went to Powder Mountain , Utah ( ingrain in our hearts as the epic site ofhis peak proposal ! ) , but we ended up with supernumerary points that we could put toward another week ’s stay somewhere else . There were n’t enough stage to send us to a mythologic destination like Hawaii or Mexico — in fact , the choices were embarrassingly limited . Did we really need seven day in Mesquite , Nevada ? ( Where?you say … Exactly . )
Out of the short inclination uncommitted to us , we at random picked a town called Pagosa Springs , an unassuming small Transportation near the border of New Mexico . We figured that at least we ’d be in Colorado and could drive to nearby Telluride if we begin really bored . We had never heard of the place , none of our friends had ever been , and we had no anticipation . We just did n’t desire to throw forth our point .
As it work out , that one week in Pagosa Springs was enough to convince us to put Southern Colorado on our yearly route head trip listing . It was just that unbelievable .
It come out with a beautiful drive through the Arizona eminent desert on Highway 40 . With storm cloud over our heads and the Lord’s Day waning on the apparent horizon , the ordinarily muted landscape painting was bathed in an extra rich golden glow . Just immense , wide-eyed openness everywhere .
We opt to drive straight through from Los Angeles , making it to our doorstep in the middle of the Nox in a surprisingly painless 15 hour . My humankind is a motorcar !
Our condo sit on this adorable lake , which glassed off to an amazing sheen in the evenings .
The next morning time we explored this tiny town , best known in the area for its natural hot spring . The San Juan River meander through a placid “ business district ” that can be walked in 30 leisurely proceedings .
Parts of Pagosa Springs were pure and wide-eyed slices of Americana .
Other parting were thoroughgoing and simple slice of land life .
This little glimpse into heaven made me realize that I ’m really a country girl at heart , and I require Accho of lush , green , hilly , sprawling purdah in my hereafter . Or at the very least , a little farm .
Ideally , a farm with the sweetest llamas grazing on it .
We happen upon other wildlife too , all equally sweet .
One good afternoon , we incur ourselves on a magic , showery twenty-four hours tug through the Piedra Wilderness .
Pondered life up on a cliff overlooking the Piedra River Canyon .
( Meanwhile , the sun started to peek out from behind the cloud . )
We stopped on the side of the road to shoot some beautiful , gentle creatures .
Journeyed on endless dirt roads with lovely discovery at every turn .
We thought this rainbow was pretty extra .
And it turned out to be a double rainbow !
But at the goal of those rainbow , we had a momentaneous reverse as the one and only road was wash out by a rocky creek .
Thiscreek … abstruse , stale , tight - strike .
Nothing that a few strategically rearranged stones could n’t fix , and an all - wheel Subaru could n’t ford .
At the end of that road , we drop dead on a drizzly - atmospheric condition salary increase to Piedra Falls . We love these types of drizzly , muddy hikes . The land smelled musky and fresh , the air crisp and sporty and scented with pine tree .
We listened to the leaves of quiver aspens rustling in the walkover .
The artist in Will was overwhelmed by how much there was to photograph .
Piedra Falls was nothing short of royal . Fed by recent - summertime monsoons , the weewee thundered down a drop into a minute bouldery canyon . It is much more hefty in somebody than it looks in the photo .
And through it all , we saw not a exclusive other person . Just surrounded by the trill and chirp of forest life , the bloodless noise of the river flowing past us , but beyond that … beautiful secrecy .
