A Brief Summary of a Week in Durango

I kept very poor track of my trip to Durango, and for that I apologize.  But I'll do the best I can to reconstruct it so you can enjoy a vicarious breath of fresh, cold mountain air.

Day 1
We started out my first day there, Christmas, with the obvious choice: presents!  (Actually, first we started with coffee.  Then presents.)  So fun, especially with the snow swirling down outside!  However, I learned that a lot of wrapping paper is not recyclable.  Bummer.  That should be fixed.

We spent the afternoon out snowshoeing, which is really just walking with funny shoes on.  But you get to walk lots of places that it would be more difficult to go in boots, so the funny shoes do have a serious added benefit.

Dinner that night was flavored by the good 'ole Brits: Cornish game hens!  And some spaghetti squash with vodka sauce, but I'm not sure how British that is.

Day 2
More snowshoeing, this time up at Molas Pass, where it was c-o-l-d cold.  We were up in the great wide open, and had a lovely view!

(Yes, we look practically the same, just with different background.  We're not finished yet.)

We had a lazy afternoon, and a dinner of delicious, made-to-order tamales.

Day 3
We all so enjoyed our lazy afternoon that we decided to have a whole day of lazing about the house, you know, just to test it out and make sure it was everything it seemed.  And it was!  We started out with brunch at the Kennebec Cafe.  Delicious coffee and scones, though the service was a bit slow.  Fueled by our lattes, we took a lovely drive up into the La Plata Canyon to take in the view, and look what we saw:

How adorable is that?

The afternoon consisted of lots of reading, lots of eating, a bit of work, probably three or four trips to the grocery store, a trip to rent skis, and preparing for dinner -- stuffed squash that came out better than I have ever managed at home.

Day 4
Early to bed after stuffed squash meant early to rise in the morning; we suited up and made the not-so-long drive up to the slopes for our day of alpine skiing.  Getting there early was the right choice, because there were no lift lines.  We ascended and descended, ascended and descended, until we couldn't feel our toes and decided to throw in the towel.

Ahh, yes.  In the same outer layers again!

This was E's last night in Durango, and the night before my birthday, so we went out to dinner at Seasons to celebrate.  The bummer of the night was that they didn't have much in the way of vegetarian options (I went to another restaurant recently with that issue, but the story was different. Stay tuned.), which left E somewhat limited in her choices.  I had a potato gnocchi with with a super-rich and -dark ragu. (Vegetarian sauce was not an option here.  We asked.)

The real discoveries of the night were made when we were sitting at the bar, and took the form of two bottles from the Leopold Bros. distillery: New York Apple Whiskey and Small Batch Gin.  I've never really liked gin, but I could probably get somewhere with this one!  They also have peach, cherry, and blackberry whiskeys, which I simply MUST try.

Day 5
Before we let E get out of town, we had to go out cross country skiing.  The destination of choice was the Vallecito Reservoir, which was lovely on a clear day.

We reluctantly headed to the airport to send E back to warmer pastures, then did some running around town for errands (including, I think, two more trips to the grocery store).

This was my birthday proper, so I got to pick the dinner main: venison loin, one of my favorites.  That particular night, it was expertly prepared with cranberry chutney, wild rice, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted root vegetables.  (Please note that when I say it was expertly prepared, I was not the one doing the preparation.)

Day 6
Dad and I headed back out to La Plata Canyon for some more snowshoeing.  It was a lovely day, with deep snow and a few tenuous creek crossings.  (Technically I suppose they were river crossings, since it's the La Plata River, but that really overstates its size up in the Canyon.)

I was hoping to enjoy my last night in Durango, readying for a mid-afternoon flight the following day, when I got a text message that my flight had been cancelled.  Typical.  A few phone calls to the airline and I got on a different flight home, on a different airline, through Phoenix.  But that flight was quite early, so the rest of my night was packing up and straight to bed for the early return.