Week 2

Week 2: What a week! We had our first snowfall of the year in Cleghorn Canyon and learned how not fun cold weather camping is. A book store in rapid city called "Bam!" came in handy when the weather got cold. Needless to say we weren't able to stay in Rapid for Thanksgiving due to multiple nights in the teens. No one wants to see a 38 gallon cracked black tank. We used de-icer in our pipes so they wouldn't freeze and started heading south. Wal-Mart camping in Cheyenne WY was actually really fun- minus all the rodeo and cowboy figurines on every sign in the town. Our first national forest stop was at 10,000 feet elevation outside of Breckenridge. Phils sister Julia (who lives in Breckenridge) came over in the morning and we had over-easy eggs and fresh avocado. Phil and I have been eating fresh local foods- he thinks his 6 pack is already coming back--- ya right!   Along I-70 W we watched skiers from Copper Mtn. to Vail coming down the slopes. Looked like a lot of fun if you like bruised butts, windburn, and frozen boogers.
  We ended our travels in a valley not well known on the western slopes of Colorado. Phil said if any of you like good sports car roads and scenery like he does, take Highway 133 from Carbondale to Paonia Colorado. Arriving to Paonia appears a valley with wine vineyards growing up the mountains, apple trees, peach trees, lemon trees, and almost any other fruit you can think of grows here. Paonia's "claim to fame" is that everything grown here is over 98% organic, in an industry where less than 2% is organic. We only know about it because 4 years ago on our honeymoon Phil & I came to visit a man named John Priest. This is where the story gets good. 6 years ago, Phil sold a truck to a guy who lived in Paonia CO. Still not sure why, but Phil kept his business card in his wallet which had his address, phone number, and name. On our honeymoon traveling from Vail Co (which is where we got married) to Moab UT we stopped to visit John Priest. John is a 70 year old man with dreadlocks down to his knees. He lives in a geodome house  & has not eaten meat in over 40 years. John is a hippy.
He was the highlight of our honeymoon and showed us his 500 tree Apple orchard in Paonia. He about fell over dead to see us standing on his doorstep 4 years later, with two new additions to our family. After long hugs, we sat in the geodome and ate dried homemade organic apple chips & listened to Johns stories until Violet had a milk starvation attack. Paonia is like Napa Valley in the mountains- minus the money, bus tours, and over paid celebrities. We love it here.

Today is Thanksgiving and will be our third night staying in a fruit orchard. We saw a sign for Turkey Dinner downtown so we might check that out tonight. Let our pictures tell the story. Happy thanksgiving Fam!