Salida

After enjoying my mini-excursion to the Black Canyon, I drove back to Gunnison and decided to stop there for dinner. It was still Thanksgiving Day, of course, and I had only eaten my oatmeal in the morning and a sack lunch in the car...so I figured I deserved a fancy dinner with home-cooked spuds and mass quantities of pie. Unfortunately, the only restaurant that appeared to be open was the local McDonalds.

Does a Big Mac meal and a Mint McFlurry count as an adequate holiday feast? Well, yes. Yes, I believe it does.

They even had a television tuned to ESPN so I could catch up on all the football scores as I consumed my sesame-seeded sandwich and golden crispy spud sticks. It would have seemed a bit more like a traditional Thanksgiving if I'd have been surrounded by noisy people, but frankly, having the entire dining room to myself was not unappreciated. I did spend a moment reflecting on the multitude of blessings I enjoy in my life, and ate my meal with a huge smile on my face.

Thus sated, I hopped back in the car and made my way back across Monarch Pass and settled in at the Holiday Inn Express in Salida. I thought about going for a brief swim in the hotel pool, but decided that the short length and lack of lane stripes held less appeal than a hot bath and a good book.

The only impediment to my complete relaxation after a great day of driving, sightseeing, and exercise was the hotel room's heater. The only setting control it had was a digital temperature selection button, and despite repeated experiments at different temperatures, I couldn't get it to do anything other than cycle on and off about every three minutes. The temperature was fine...but the frequent changes in room noise made it hard to stay asleep. Imagine a jet engine next to your bed, turning on and off repeatedly at intervals that seem to triggered when your heartrate reaches indicates you have achieved relaxation. Why can't they offer a model that has a "fan on" setting, so that the noise level isn't constantly fluctuating?

And why do hotels no longer offer enough covers on the bed? There's plenty of in-room coffee, brochures for local restaurants, soap, shampoo, and hand lotion...but if you're a person who likes the comforting weight of heavy blankets while you sleep, you're just plain out of luck.

Otherwise, though, the room was plenty comfy. And the breakfast was delicious. They had gooey cinnamon rolls, so I had no choice but to load up on those, meaning I had no room for pancakes. And that was a shame because they had an automatic pancake making machine that said it would spit out fresh flapjacks in about a minute...with all the mechanisms and cooking apparatus hidden within a colorful tin box. I really wanted to see how the thing worked since I had not encountered this contraption before, but couldn't justify baking the batter when I wouldn't be able to stuff them down. Oh well.

Salida is a cute little flat town surrounded by mountains. It boasts a hot springs pool, numerous river-based recreation opportunities, and a large cone-shaped hill with a big S and plenty of Christmas lights.



It's called Tenderfoot Mountain. The road you can see cutting across is appropriately named "Spiral Drive", and is open to the public (up to a point.) There is an extensive network of hiking trails that fan out from the parking lot about halfway up the hill, as well as the main road that was open for pedestrians. I decided to go up to see the little shack at the top.

Having failed to look up at Tenderfoot when I had pulled into town the night before, I wasn't sure what shapes the lights would bring to life, but there sure were a lot of bulbs spread out across the hill. I could tell that some of the shapes were stars, but others remained a mystery, even as I admired the handiwork of the construction crews who laid out the support structure.

In this photo, you can see the big "S" from above. It's made up of concrete slabs, and doesn't look very impressive when you see it up close. But it was fun to think that I was now walking past a town landmark. I passed a couple of other hikers, and a couple of runners, too (including one pushing a baby jogger). I suspect that many of the local people come up here for their daily exercise.

The views across the valley are great. I took a bunch of pictures, including the panorama I shared with you a couple of days ago.



[Side topic: What is it about sitting at a high spot and being able to see a long ways that makes it so cool? Is there some genetic imperative about climbing that has to do with ascension up the food chain? Why is looking across a valley such a "Wow!" experience?]

After enjoying the views from Tenderfoot, I went back into town and drove through the historic shopping district. It's all quite appealing, but at this hour on the day after Thanksgiving, nothing was open. I guess those merchants choose not to participate in Black Friday madness. [By the way, am I the only person that is tired of the terms "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday"? First of all, I'm surprised that no one has protested against Black Friday on the grounds that it sounds racist, and secondly, why should a good day for certain merchants get its own name, anyway? I guess there is precedent (Village Inn's "Pie Rush Wednesday" for example), but I just can't make myself feel obligated to shop on a day that's named for retailer profitability. If you're going to add words onto the names of days of the week, I'd rather participate in something called Sundae Sunday.]

After crusing Salida, I headed north to Fairplay, where I stopped at the local grocery store to pick up a turkey sandwich. (Ah, there's my recognition of traditional Thanksgiving rituals!) I took the sandwich up to my Elkhorn Ranch property and had a nice little picnic among the denuded aspen trees overlooking the valley. I spent an hour or so enjoying a nice walk on the hills and into the woods, and then finally headed home. It was a fantastic trip, and I'm really glad I went.

What about the rest of the weekend, you ask? Well, there was more running, and a few other activities. I'll tell you about those later. For now, though, I think I'll continue to be thankful, even though the holiday has passed. There are just too many cool things in life to spend a single day without be grateful for the beauty of Colorado, the ability to travel and explore, and the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the benefits and joys of vigorous exercise. It's all wonderful, and I don't ever intend to stop savoring my good fortune in being able to do these things. I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was also a joy.

As always, thanks for dropping by. Have a great day!