September 7th through October 8th, 2025
We'd spent most of our summer in the northern states, and after some time in North Dakota we headed south, back to family and friends and locations we knew well. We were happy to pull into our familiar home away from home, St. Vrain State Park. We had two weeks booked in a site we've been in before, and it was nice to be back. We even had turkeys with us (the bird, not our friends!).
We would be there at the same time other friends would be camping, and we got there right around the same time as Sue and Toni rolled in from Salt Lake City. They were right across from us, and we got to hang out with them that afternoon and evening and four full days. It was awesome!
Since we left our houses in Denver in 2021, we've managed to store some stuff in multiple places. Allie had some of our things in her garage, Monica had some things at her friend Lisa's house, and we both had lots of stuff at Monica's mom's house. Before we left, we cleaned up and got rid of a few things at Allie's, but the big accomplishment was completely cleaning out Lisa's place. Monica didn't have much left and ended up selling or donating almost all of it. It was nice to hang out with Lisa for a bit, too.
Monica goes into the office when she's in Minneapolis, Denver, or Amarillo. She rode into the office with Andrew and Kelly, and that made the commute really nice. We were able to hang out with them after work, too. It was nice to see people at work and get some downtime to visit.
Allie lives close by, so she was able to visit with us a lot while we were there. It's the best thing about going to Colorado!
On the Saturday between the two weeks that we were there, we had a gathering. Allie and lots of friends came over (Zoe, Jane, Kathy, Rebecca, Marla, Erin, and Andrew), and it was awesome to hang out and have some laughs. Unfortunately, it was raining, windy, and chilly through much of the afternoon so we didn't get to play croquet and bocce as planned, so everyone came inside to huddle or stayed outside to brave the weather. It was still a great time.
Matt and Libby came to St. Vrain in their new RV to camp right next to us on the last weekend, and then Mike and Heather joined us to camp nearby in a different campground loop. That meant lots of hanging out and reconnecting. It makes us think of the good ol' days. It's so nice to be able to camp together.
Sometimes two weeks feels like a long time, but in Colorado it goes by so fast. We were able to visit our new, favorite Mexican restaurant, Rumbo 52, seven times in two weeks! We spend a lot of time in locations in the southwest and we eat at a lot of Mexican and New Mexican restaurants, but that place was amazing.
All good things must come to an end, so we headed out of Colorado and kept going south. We turned west at Raton and stopped in Eagle Nest, New Mexico. They call it the "Last Best Stop in the Rocky Mountains" because it's near the end of the mountain range that stretches from there into Canada. It was like a little bit of Colorado and a little bit of the southwest all rolled into one. After the hustle and noise from St. Vrain State Park, the quiet was deafening. Sometimes you could stand outside and not hear anything at all.
We were on the Enchanted Circle, a big loop through the mountains that is chock full of scenery. We got there as the aspen leaves were starting to turn yellow, and when we left three weeks later, they were completely turned. It was truly special.
Luckily, we decided to visit Capulin Volcano National Monument on the last weekend of September. It was lucky, because the government was shut down for all of October and half of November. We learned that New Mexico is the Volcano State, with the largest number of young volcanoes on the continent. Who knew? The national monument has a shelf road that takes you to the top where you can park and look down into the dormant volcano and out toward the many others. It was a really cool experience!
We really had time to relax in Eagle Nest after a whirlwind summer and early fall. Though the restaurant scene left a bit to be desired, we liked getting away from it all. Our campground was close to the little ski town of Angel Fire, and it wasn't a long drive to get to Taos over the mountains.
On one of the days during our second weekend we finally drove the Enchanted Circle. The other ski town of Red River was really nice, and the whole drive was covered in yellow aspen scenes. It was absolutely gorgeous.
When we were getting close to Taos on the Circle, we headed to the middle of the mountains we were circling, climbing to the very top. That's where we found Taos Ski Valley, an adorable little ski village with mountains all around it. Our destination was The Bavarian, a cute little chalet at the base of the ski runs. We grabbed a leisurely bite to eat out on the deck in the sunshine, just loving the views and life in general. We took some time to walk around, and Margot's ankles were doing pretty well. It was a lovely afternoon, and we didn't want to leave. But we headed through Taos and back to Eagle Nest to finish the Circle before the sun went completely down.
Though it was peaceful and lovely up in the New Mexico mountains, we were ready to leave when the time came. People were clearing out ahead of the snow, and it was time for us to get moving. We managed to do the winding, tight mountain road twice with the big coach and trailer, and Margot drove it like a champ (like always!). What a special trip this was, to discover a wonderful place so close to our previous home.
