Dinosaur Bones And Pagosa Springs 07Nov23-08Nov23

We checked out of My Place with one last look at the desert from the hot tub we used the night prior. Truth told, I left my sunglasses and hat out there and was retrieving them.

We then hit Gloria's for Huevos Rancheros ~ meh; nonsense green chili sauce. We flipped around and headed north of Moab to the Dinosaur Tracks hike. After crossing some sand sections on a "dirt" road, across which Kala's Lexus did well, we arrived at the trailhead after a couple of miles. The 1+ mile trail was pretty cool with signage and exposed evidence of dinosaur bones. We liked that aspect but never officially found the loop hike in the area and improvised our own shorter loop beginning with a selfie with Determination Towers in the canyon behind us. Then, lots of bones. Then some vert.

We headed up an arroyo with a decent trail, till it stopped. I went further up the sand (deposited over the ridgeline into the arroyo) and got the pan out toward the car. We headed back down wondering where the heck a 1+ mile loop might be.

Whatever. We got back to the car, changed shoes, and headed south on #191 out of Moab. The La Sals already had a smidge of snow.

We'd been on the road before, on the way to Canyonlands, but we trundled on to stuff we'd never seen through towns we'd never visited and arrived in Pagosa Springs for check in at the cool Nightingale, right on time at 4pm. We found a good Mex Cantina right near our motel room named Kip's. Cool vibe on trivia night with Wolf Ck trail map on the wall and good tacos and green chili ~ thankful to be in Colorado again for chili.

Headlining Pagosa was a visit to the world renown Springs Resort on Wed. We first ate a tasty breakfast nearby at The Rose. I'd booked a full day of soaking in the hot springs... yeah even the riff raff like us with "just" day passes were allowed access to over 20 pools fed by the hot spring. Lots of minerals, lots of soaking... we tried every pool over 100 degrees from 101° to 120° (The Burg). We brought our own towels and coverups and had a great day recovering from our 1 mile hike to see dino bones. :) The Springs Resort was very cool ~ right on the San Juan river, right in Pagosa Spgs.

Unfortunately the brewery in Pagosa, Riff Raff, was closed Tue & Wed while we'd be there ~ Fortunately though, that's the beer featured at the cantina at the Springs Resort cantina. I told her not to photo bomb me but that didn't work.

The Lobster Pot and the Burg were the hottest at the resort. We couldn't even soak in the Burg initially, right on the San Juan, but later in the day it was sublime. I took the "warrior challenge" and did the plunge into the river... not bad really at 56° (the river righteous was much colder as together we tried that earlier) but relative to 105° it was chilly. Getting out was an issue so Kala agreed to take the pic. Ultimately it all flows into the San Juan.

As respite from the soaking, we headed to view the Mother Spring. It is the deepest hot spring in the world and has long been a source for human recovery. The Mother Spring effluent is piped to all the pools and volume regulated to control the various pool temps. The Springs Resort property is already very nice but is undergoing a major expansion as well. Prices for everything are supposedly doubling next year ~ locals will pay $800/person for a year pass!

Ultimately the soaking was over for us and we cleaned up and headed to a tasty local haunt for Mexican food @ Chavalo's. Pagosa Spgs was a very cool spot... locals implied that only on a couple of days a year was it was too tough to reach Wolf Creek to ski ~ this despite the area receiving the greatest annual snowfall in CO of ~350 inches. Of course too there is great hiking and fishing on the San Juan, Rio Grande, and N&S Forks. Plus despite being discovered, property is still attainable... Hmmm. Sleeping was pretty easy and we woke up Thu early to head home. Breakfast in bed then over Wolf Ck Pass we hit the tail of the storm... NP, we were unloading the car in 4 hours. Gr8 vacation with my young lady; well, for another couple days anyway.

Beach And NFL Kickoff Day On The OBX 07Sep23

The team enjoyed a nice beach day despite the still & close weather. We toted appropriate gear down there all 30 ft for the outing. I even donned a coverup and went boogie boarding in the good surf for a while ~ no one took the live pic so I made a campy pic. Yeah, my board was just from the toy cabinet here and was kind of beat up (and without strap) before I went out... it was worse for wear once I returned. The sisters and the kousins had a fine time nearish and in-ish the water. We saw a pod of dolphins porpoising and jumping today ~ awesome.

After lunch Kala & I headed down to "my" local beer dispensary where the bartender woman knows me now: "See you tomorrow Dave." Today we tasted a couple from HopFly and Bill's as the 1718 had not changed from yesterday. 1718 Ocracoke is definitely my fav from OBX but today we rolled with Bill's Electric Squeeze; they are from Wilmington.

At sunset over the sound we knew we'd not see the sight again. This night we sought good seafood and good TVs (as KC opens the NFL season playing Detroit) nearby and landed at Sunset Grill for seafood. It's a big night for some in the group as they are fantasy players and most have KC players on their rosters. We'll be leaving soon so I'll offer a music tribute to NC from a favorite band's (Heavy Weighs The King) most recent drop, Palm Blvd.

Another Couple Days On The OBX 05Sep23-06Sep23

We took a pretty lazy day as many in the house were prepping for their fantasy draft Tue night. The ladies shopped and I rode a Rip Curl bike which was rusted, underinflated, rickety, small, and made sounds I didn't know a bike could. I looked for helmets, tools, oil, and pump but nada... NP ultimately as the path was pretty flat over the 12 miles. We found an awesome looking spider near the house ~ supposedly innocuous to humans. I scored another Burial, a DDH pale ale named Prophetmaker, good but no compare to their IPAs. I broke the TV after connecting HDMI to watch ESPN as local Spectrum is in dispute with Disney ~ now an entire insurance snafu is underway.

Next day we headed out to the Elizabethan gardens near Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island. Gardens were cool full of butterflies, flowers and trees. It was humid as heck though. We saw a number of statues too, including the largest ever tribute to Queen Elizabeth ~ and the history section taught us more of west Europe's infamy in NAmerica; a number of the plants were NEuropean in origin.

We ate lunch back in Manteo (still on Roanoke) at the tasty Blue Water Grill, adjacent to an inlet to the Roanoke & Albermarle Sound... that's Kala & me in front of spectacular fishing boats in an inlet next to the restaurant... wow.

After lunch we moved north on the island again to one of the four NC aquariums, the Roanoke Island one. It was much cooler (as in it was indoors with A/C) and a fun time. Their core mission is turtle recovery and repair... their turtle displays were great but so were the ones of sea fishes and jelly fishes.

Of course too I saw permit and black drum ~ in tanks rather than on the end of my fly rod.

Dinner was at the house on leftovers.