#37-Riding, SOAKING, enjoying...

Good Golly—it’s Wednesday already. Guess we are either having a great time or dead…good thing it’s the first.

Yes, we have been having a very good time in our own little world of southern Colorado, riding, soaking, eating, drinking, and enjoying life with friends.

Sunday ended up just being a mellow day—we relaxed around the house/trailer and then Stacy & I went to the casino for an extra $130 dollars. Now Tom & Betsy understand why we go—of course it was totally Stacy the winner—I lost my $40.

Then we came home to a Tom cooked Vegetarian dinner—it was excellent and even Stacy had seconds and cleared her plate. He made a zucchini casserole to die for, eggplant parmesan, again to die for, and then a creamy stir fry portabella garlic concoction, by then we were just dead! And then as if he couldn’t knock our socks off any more, he made blender ice cream! Best with snow we were told, but ice worked quite admirably—if there were more like him—we’d have one!

Monday saw us going to get the horses, while Yuliya held down the home front, and the 3 of us took the horses up into some high country and rode up a mountain from a lake. The view was fabulous and Stacy & I got along well with our mounts. Stacy got to ride the gaited mule, and I, the borrowed horse. Betsy rode her pride and joy, her black and white, Romeo—very Sedona like only very spoiled. I wanted to ride him! We had a close encounter with a rain storm that ended up only sprinkling, but seemed kind of scary and even kind of like the movies—a mountain dream ride.

That night we made cold boiled shrimp and leftovers—a meal fit again for a king…

Tuesday had to be a catch up morning, and we went to do laundry in Ignacio. Of course, once the clothes got started, we left Yuliya in charge and headed to make another $50 at the casino. Kind of like taking Stacy to work. I lost $60 but Stacy made up for it so we are about $250 ahead for this casino. Hopefully we will continue our luck once we hit Albuquerque.

We were home by 2 and we then went up to Pagosa Springs to “The Springs-A Resort”. It was locals night which allowed us all in for 1/3 the price and we treated ourselves to life of the “Rich & Famous”. We soaked for hours in an assortment of various hot spring pools that ranged from 90 degrees up to 112. We felt like wet noodles as we ate our pizza out in a snazzy local restaurant. It was great—and Yuliya now knows where she wants to live—in the pools. It was bed immediately when we got home.

This morning we saddled the horses—with me on Romeo and Stacy on borrowed horse, Betsy on her mule, and we headed out to trespass on Ute Indian reservation. It was great riding and I loved Romeo. We had to reach an understanding—no treats from me and he had to walk if I wanted him too—he totally thought I was ugly and I stank but we ended up getting along fine. And it’s always good for horses like that to have other people to ride them.

And now the day has turned into a catch up day. I’ll try to get pictures up and Stacy & Yuliya are cleaning basil for pesto. I’m going to make enchiladas tonight with Betsy doing guac—and probably all will end up cleaning basil—Betsy’s garden has been prolific with basil…

The weather continues to be perfect, although it is warming up—still comfortable and gets cooler in evening. We will probably stay here until Sunday or Monday—there are several potential plans in the works if we could get a hold of the other players, so we are just taking one day at a time. We have decided not to do the Taos show—horses trump mediocre art fair on this vacation. After all—we did have to give up a couple of things on it…