On our first (and only) full day in Durango, we made a plan to meet Carson for a bike ride. We'd start by riding the Animas River Trail through town, then Barry and I would continue on to ride some of the local roads. Carson was rehabbing from recent surgery and this would be his first bike ride in awhile, so he'd just stick to the river trail (or so we thought!) The Animas River and trail surroundings are gorgeous, and we had a beautiful day for our ride. We rode by an area where white-water paddlers were practicing their skills. Once we hit the road, the scenery got even more dramatic. The Durango area is known for mountain biking, but the road cycling on the surrounding county roads is fabulous as well. It had warmed up nicely by this time, so we'd peeled off our extra layers. I loved this fall display outside a house we passed. Had to stop and take a photo! Well, well, look who decided to join us for this phase of the ride as well! Carson is an intrepid cyclist, and although I worried that he was doing too much, he rode at his own pace and seemed to enjoy himself. I am not sure his doctor would have approved, though! Barry planned this route for us so we'd go right over Baker's Bridge, best known in recent times for a famous scene in the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where Paul Newman and Robert Redford took a dive off it. Here's the view from the bridge. The water is so green when the sun hits it just right. Soon after crossing Baker's Bridge, we turned onto scenic highway 550 and headed south back towards town. Almost immediately we came across this very interesting hot spring bubbling away. Barry zipped across the highway to grab these photos. Wish it had been on our side of the road! After a good ride back into town and cleaning up, we met Carson and his wife Carol for pizza at Homeslice, right across the road from our hotel. Although Barry thought it was a bit pricey, especially for pizza by the slice, the pizza was really good, and his salad looks yummy too. Great beer selection as well. We had a great time catching up with Carson and Carol and chatted away until well after dark. They have recently embarked on the nomadic traveling lifestyle like us, so we exchanged tips and strategies for living this unconventional life. It was fun to see friends from North Carolina, especially so far from "home" (wherever that is anymore!) Stay tuned as we hit the road again and see some of the best fall foliage ever!
0 Comments
After a brief but excellent time in Salt Lake City, we were finally heading south -- the right direction for us most of the time! The scenery on the drive was absolutely gorgeous. I just love the dramatic, rocky topography of this area, probably because it is so very different from the green, tree-covered east and midwest I'm so used to. Rather abruptly, the rock formations changed from a sandy tan color to the brilliant red that this area is so well-known for. Ahhhhhhh....gorgeous! We took a quick pit stop at the "Hole in the Rock" rest stop south of Moab where we remember stopping (heading north) on our southwest trip in 2006. Back then, we spent quite awhile there watching many birds in the trees, including brilliant orange orioles. But that was in the spring, and today was much less "birdy". Before long, we were in Colorado. In contrast to southern Utah, the topography of this part of the state was much greener, with huge stands of evergreen trees flanked by distant snow-capped mountain peaks. Where there were deciduous trees, they were starting to get some fall color -- but nothing like what we'd see in just a day later. This was our first time in Durango, a very pretty city. That evening we met another former Nortel co-worker and cycling buddy from North Carolina for dinner at Zia Taqueria, right across the road from our hotel. Carson and his wife Carol have recently become traveling nomads like us and are spending the month of October in Durango in a rental home. It was an unexpected surprise to find that we would be crossing paths with them briefly as we zipped through town. We really liked this spot, with its "fresh Mex" style food, featuring plenty of unique, flavorful salsas. My fish tacos (below) were some of the best I've had, especially when topped with hot mango-habanero salsa. Barry went with a massive chicken/bean burrito, his favorite. And we had a trio of salsas to dip our chips into. The white one is a pineapple cream cheese variety that I dubbed a "dessert salsa". Yummy! Carol was feeling a little under the weather, unfortunately, so it was just us and Carson for dinner. It was a lot of fun to catch up, talk about traveling, and plan a bike ride for the next day. More to come from beautiful Durango!
We only had one full day to check out Salt Lake City, but we packed a lot in. We rode a plethora of bike trails this day. Although a bit chilly, we had a nice clear day for riding and viewing the gorgeous Utah scenery. We started the morning riding from our hotel on the Airport Trail over to the Jordan River Parkway Trail. The Jordan River Parkway Trail led us to the Legacy Parkway Trail, a lovely trail that took us north of the city. The Legacy trail has no road crossings for miles, which makes it really fast and fun. After going quite a few miles, we missed a hard right turn on the Legacy Trail and ended up on a rail trail up in the Farmington area. This one was also nice but had a lot of road crossings, every one with a gate to go around. We continued on this trail until we finally decided to stop so we'd have enough time to ride around downtown. Barry had read about a "Cycle the City" loop that sounded fun. So, we turned around and headed south to downtown Salt Lake City. These signs marked the cycle route, but they weren't always quite as easy to find as we'd hoped. We took a few wrong turns but managed to get back on course pretty quickly. There was a fair amount of traffic and some construction in areas where we couldn't ride bike lanes, but overall, the city was more bike friendly than I expected. And there were plenty of sights to see. You'll have to squint to see me in this photo of the capital building. Can you find me? We walked our bikes respectfully through Temple Square, the centerpiece of the LDS church in Salt Lake City, but somehow did not get any photos of the main LDS temple. Here's a photo from Wikipedia. We had to cut our downtown exploration a little short as we realized that it was getting a bit late and we were already going to have 60 miles in by the time we got back to the hotel. So, we headed back. Looking beyond the airport, the majestic snow-capped peaks are evident. I can see why Utah is such a prime ski destination. After putting the bikes away and cleaning up, we met a co-worker from the old Nortel days in Research Triangle Park (North Carolina) at a Mexican restaurant he recommended. John is living and working in Salt Lake City now, and it was so much fun to see him again since we rarely have the opportunity to reconnect with friends while we are on the road. I love this photo he took of the two of us. Even though we are still holdouts, I gotta admit, those new-fangled iPhones (he has an iPhone 6) do take good photos! His photo is much crisper than the one our server took of us with my camera, but that may have just been a bad setting (I hope). The Red Iguana specializes in mole, so our server brought us out a small plate with a dab of each of the different moles so we could try them. They were all good, making for a very difficult choice. I ended up with pork enchiladas with mango mole, and Barry ordered chicken with their very spiciest mole! Both were very, very good. If you're in Salt Lake, don't miss the Red Iguana! A dinner out with an old friend was a wonderful way to wind up our time in Salt Lake City -- thanks John!
Next up, we point our car southward and land in Durango, Colorado, where we hook up with another old work friend and have another fantastic bike ride. Stay tuned! |
Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
Favorite Travel Blogs |