Salida, Colorado

After a very enjoyable stay in Mesa Verde, Colorado we headed to Salida, Colorado. Friends, Pam & Jonathan Pullen, mentioned that they were looking at Salida as a possible retirement site. It was on our way (sort of) so we headed to Salida. It is very scenic countryside along the way and in the distance we could see snow. We are watching for bad weather in case we need to make a quick turn south! There are several mountains around Salida that are over 14,000' elevation and we passed over one of them on the way there! The snow in the distance soon became close up! Fortunately, we went through around noon and the snow was only on the side of the road!

We found our campground and were parked right next to the Arkansas River. We got in about 4:00 and it was 40 degrees! By morning it was 20 degrees with ice all over everything. After we thawed out we took a drive around Salida. They have a nice downtown area that looks like their are in the process of revitalizing it. They have antique stores, boutiques, art galleries, cafes, sporting stores and more. The housing was interesting in that they don't really have "tract" housing developments but rather sell lots in an area and people put whatever kind of house on their lot that they want; such as victorian, sante fe, modern and large or small. We were somewhat surprised that housing costs seemed higher than we thought they would be, averaging around $300,000 (from the window of two real estate offices). We did see some deer wandering through the housing areas and got a picture of a buck just sitting behind someone's house!

We had lunch in a restaurant called "Bounty". Really good food and very friendly with a cute gift shop inside. Overall we found the town really friendly and homey. Not really any department stores but Denver or Colorado Springs aren't far away and if you are an outdoors person, it's great! It did get very windy in the afternoon and one local mentioned that it happens frequently. Anyway, Pam and Jon will check it out!

Pam did ask if we would take a look at the B & B that they may stay in when they visit. It was really cute with big feather beds! It was very nice.

On Monday, October 12th - Teddy's birthday - we left Salida and ended up in Garden City, Kansas. We drove through mountains for an hour or so, following the Arkansa River. When we got close to Kansas we drove through the town of Royal Gorge. We could see fog in the distance and it was very foggy and a cold 38 degrees when we drove through the town. It stayed cloudy and 43-44 degrees with frost on the bushes for the rest of the drive into Garden City.


Today is a relax day. We haven't really had a day "at home" so we decided today would be a great day to get laundry done since it's drizzling and cold. We do have to go fuel up the truck but other than that we are "in" today!

Staying toasty and warm..."Ain't Life Grand!"