Roadtrippin' 2015: Ouray, Colorado and heading back home

Our final stop on our 10-day road trip was Ouray, Colorado. Raisin Bread visited Ouray once before and has raved about it since. It was sort of on the way back to Albuquerque, so we decided to make a stop here.

As we made our way into the mountains, it was obvious that the weather gods were not on our side.

Ouray likes to call itself the "Switzerland of America." Unfortunately, for me, I think Colorado hates me. I have visited Colorado three times, and each time, the weather has either been awful or I got sick. This time was no different. The weather was terrible pretty much the entire time we were there.

The temperatures hovered around the 40s for the entire weekend and it rained off and on the whole time. Since our main interest in being there was to go hiking, the weather put a damper on those plans. We even considered just going back to Albuquerque but we would not have gotten any money back on our lodging, so we decided to stay.

After making the drive from Moab, which took 3.5 hours, we were at a loss on what to do. We took a dip in the hot tub and then took a nap.

Carson napping

We also walked around Main Street as much as we could, visiting the shops.

Grey, rainy and cloudy Ouray

We did, however, have a fantastic dinner at The Outlaw. It is an great steak and seafood restaurant, decked out in old saloon fashion.

On top of that, they have a live piano player by the bar. Bonus points!

Raisin Bread had a huge slab of prime rib.

While I had the surf and turf - filet mignon and a king crab leb. The steak outside of the steak was a little too overdone for me, but the crab was amazing!

The next morning, the weather looked like it was going to hold up for a couple of hours so we completed the Ouray Perimeter Trail, which basically goes around the entire perimeter of the town.

A word of warning if you decide to do this hike, the trail is not marked well at all. We lost some time trying to figure out which way we were supposed to go and back tracking when we made a wrong turn.

Although the weather still could have been better, the scenery was beautiful. I love all of the colorful trees.

The trail was very muddy because of all of the rain and the pups got so dirty! We even had to carry them in about three spots because the mud was so deep.

Towards the end of our hike, we arrived at Cascades Falls. Reaching a waterfall always makes me feel like the hike was worth it.

In total, we did over 5 miles along the Perimeter Trail. We headed back to the hotel and it started raining pretty hard. We had to give the doggies baths because they were covered in mud and soaking wet. 

Finally, we were able to head out for some lunch. We decided on Maggie's Kitchen for some big juicy burgers. 

After lunch, I walked around town for a bit and picked up another ice cream cone before heading back to the hotel for a quick nap.

Our last night of our road trip was met by an unfortunate dinner. We dined at Bon Ton, where I was served the worst lasagna I have ever had. What a disappointing end to our fun road trip. 

The next morning we were back on the road with our destination being home. The mountains were still covered in clouds and rain.

Hello, New Mexico!

Our last and final stop on our roadtrip was Serious Texas Bar-B-Q in Bloomfield, New Mexico. I had a yummy brisket sandwich, which filled me up quickly. 

Well, that concludes our road trip! I love experiencing all of the things that our country has to offer and oftentimes, the best way to see all of the interesting small towns and sights is to hop in your car and drive!

Roadtrippin' 2015: Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands Island in the Sky District

On our second day in Moab, we visited two different parks. First up was Dead Horse Point State Park. One of our friends recommended this park to us. We discovered that the hiking trails are dog-friendly, so it was a perfect place for us to visit.

In addition to hiking, Dead Horse Point is also well-known for its mountain-biking trail system. We wound up doing about 6 miles within the park along the hiking only loop.

Dead Horse Point is so named because the point was once used as a place to corral horses. For some unknown reason, the cowboys would then leave the horses that they no longer wanted at the point, where they would die of thirst. Seems quite cruel to me.

In addition to the views of the Canyonlands, you are also able to see the Colorado River from various points along the trail.

The second half of our day was spent in the Island in the Sky Section of Canyonlands National Park. Since dogs are not allowed on the trails, we took the driving tour route again.

We started off by driving to Grand View Point. The sky was clear and we were able to see so far away. 

Next, we drove to Upheavel Dome. This required a short 0.5 mile hike, but Raisin Bread's leg was not feeling good and we also did not want to leave the pups in the car since it was hot out, so I did the trail by myself (with a group of French-speaking tourists).

It was definitely worth it. Upheavel Dome looks like something out of a movie.

We drove to a few more overlooks. Raisin Bread and I kept saying that movie makers must have gotten their ideas from taking tours in the high desert. You can really see how the landscape has influenced many creative people.

Our final stop in Island in the Sky was Mesa Arch. This also required a 0.5 mile hike so we took turns doing the trail, while the other person stayed in the car with the doggies. 

What a beautiful day! We got in lots of hiking and saw some of the main points of interest in both parks.

For dinner, we headed to Sabaku Sushi. We started with a half squid and half seaweed salad.

I did not feel like choosing what to eat so I took the easy route and ordered the chirashi. 

Moab is totally a tourist town, so we figured after dinner ice cream cones were a must. There were several ice cream shops, but we stopped into Crystal's Cakes and Cones. 

Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream cone

I wish we had more time to spend in Canyonlands and Moab, but we had to head for our final stop on our road trip. I loved the cottage that we stayed at as well. It was right in the middle of town and was super conveniently located.

Roadtrippin' 2015: Petrified Forest National Park

Before heading to our main point of interest for the day, we hit up some more attractions that I found on roadsideamerica.com.

Holbrook, Arizona lies on Historic Route 66. A fact which they don't mind reminding you of.

We visited the Wigwam Motel. If you have ever wanted to stay in a fake wigwam, this is your place! Also, for some reason, there are a bunch of classic cars parked outside the wigwams.

Then there were the dinosaurs standing by the side of the road.

Finally, we saw the cowboy riding on some petrified logs while a Native American watches.

After that half hour of dilly dallying, we arrived at the Petrified Forest National Park through the southern entrance.

We were pretty much able to cover the entire length of the park road, entering from the south and exiting through the northern side.

We started at the Giant Logs loop, which features lots of large petrified logs.

I love all of the colors that you can see within the wood. So beautiful!

Next, we completed the Agate House and Long Logs Trails.

Agate House

The Long Logs section has tons of petrified wood for viewing. 

The logs of petrified wood under the backdrop of the badlands made for an interesting scene.

Jasper Forest was my favorite section of the petrified wooded area of the park. It has the largest concentration of petrified wood.

Agate Bridge

This next section of the park wound up being my favorite section of the park even though there was basically no petrified wood there! The Blue Mesa Trail descends down into the badlands. I just thought the colors were so gorgeous. The purples, blues, greys and whites were just unbelievable.

We ended our trip through the Petrified Forest by visiting a series of overlooks in the Painted Desert section of the park,

and completing our final hike of the day: the Painted Desert Rim Trail.

After so many days of activity, I was really craving an Italian meal. We found the Mesa Italiana Restaurant in Holbrook, which seemed to be the most popular joint in town. The place was packed!

I ordered a plate of the spaghetti with meat sauce, and it hit the spot.

I ended my day with a delicious chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. By the time I was done with dessert, I was uncomfortably full.

But I sure had a great day, exploring the outdoors!