Kristin's Birthday In New Mexico & Colorado
Saturday morning May 22nd is a special day for our family as it is Mommy's (Kristin) birthday!
So how do you start a birthday when your on the road in a pretty much abandoned town? Well of course you drive until you find a hole in the wall cafe.
Santa Rosa was our first stop of the day to eat at Sun & Sand. Kristin isn't a big breakfast eater to begin with so I kind of get to pick the breakfast spots most of the time. You can be sure I'm going to pick a mom and pop cafe just about every time.
After a great breakfast we headed back down the road towards Santa Fe, NM. In Santa Fe we went to the farmers market near the train station in downtown. While walking around it started to rain a bit then turned into small hail. That was a sign to get back in the van and try to out run the storm.
We got out in front of the storm for a few hours and made a couple stops along the route to Pagosa Springs, CO.
Third stop of the day was Abiquiu Lake and man were the views beautiful. This reservoir was built in 1963 and impounded the water from the Rio Chama. If you have the time I would suggest dropping a line in the clear waters as the lake is supposed to have many species of gamefish. This time we didn't have that much time so we just did a little exploring around the public park on the southern end of the lake.
Stop #4 for the day was a quick hike to the Echo Amphitheater also in Abiquiu, NM.
Beware the park is actually closed! But every other family that was pulled over just walked around the gate so we did to. It is in a little disarray and we could see from the start why it was closed. Just stay on the concrete path. The boys loved it when we got close enough to hear their voices start to echo. It wasn't overly impressive but all together a nice stop to stretch the legs a bit from all the driving.
After all the talking back (echo's) we did to ourselves it was time to head on to the next stop of the day.
DINNER! Driving into Pagosa Springs, CO. we started looking for a restaurant for dinner as we are a fairly early eating family.
Mountain Pizza and Taproom was the location of choice and what a great selection it turned out to be. By far some of the best pizza we have ever had besides (Grateful Head in Hochatown, OK).
This place has a very laid back atmosphere and a full wall of beer on tap if that's your kinda thing.
With full stomachs and a need to get back on the road we headed away from Pagosa Springs on our way to Cortez, CO for the night. But wait we still have another stop to make before dark.
Mesa Verde National Park was home to the cliff dwelling Pueblo people from 1200CE to around 1300CE. What a cool place this turned out to be even though we couldn't walk down to the location due to wildlife activity in the area.
Only thing left for the day was a little jaunt to Cortez, CO to rest our bodies and minds for the night. Hope you enjoyed our stops for the day and if you choose to make some of them on your next family trip please reach out and let us know if you also enjoyed them.