Forgotten Washington – Day 0

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

John Wise and Caroline flying to Washington State

Disclaimer: This post is one of those that ended up being written years after the experience was had. Sadly, there were no notes taken so whatever is shared here must be extracted from the images and what memories they may have lent us. Fortunately, there was an itinerary still in my directory of travel plans, so that will help with some details. As to why this wasn’t noted or blogged about, I was in the throes of writing/editing my book Stay In The Magic and felt that any other deep writing would derail that fragile effort.

Flying out on the last flight to Seattle, Washington, as not only is it the cheapest flight of the evening, it’s non-stop. Tagging along with us is one of our favorite baristas from our local Starbucks, where I’ve been transcribing and editing my book; her name is Rainy. We’ve been trying to offer our favorite baristas something more meaningful than another dollar in the cup that will be chopped up and shared with half a dozen of their co-workers. Rainy was the person who was always vocal in her envy of how frequently we were traveling. Asking her why she didn’t travel more, she mentioned being trapped in the cash flow/debt spiral, so we offered her free accommodations and a plane ticket if she’d like to hang out with us for five days; she’s asleep on Caroline’s left.

Sou.Sou

JWise Photo of the Day

SouSou shoes seen on Rei at the Phoenix Public Market in downtown Phoenix, Arizona

Caroline and I were at the downtown Phoenix Public Market yesterday when she noticed a girl walking by wearing what she thought were shoes by Sou.Sou. I walked over to the girl, whose name is Rei, and explained that my wife was curious if her shoes were from Sou.Sou. The look of astonishment on her face that someone here in Phoenix recognized her rather exotic and typically never seen in Arizona shoes had been identified. Turns out that she had bought them recently in San Francisco: after researching Sou.Sou in the Bay Area, Rei picked up her shoes at New People 1746 Post Street. This shopping ‘center’ is now on our list of places to visit, New People includes a 143-seat underground cinema, a cafe, an art gallery, the New People store for pop culture items, a fashion store area that includes Sou.Sou Black Peace Now, and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright – watch Kamikaze Girls! The designers of Sou.Sou is out of Kyoto, Japan and so far, their work hasn’t been picked up for cheap imitation by Wal Mart, keep your fingers crossed – now go to San Francisco and play.

The Workshops

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise at the Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Here she is, my fiber-addicted wife, Caroline Wise. Metamucil, you ask; maybe oatmeal or whole wheat bread is her fiber of choice? Heck no, all that would be cheap compared to someone who has joined the flock of weavers, spinners, basket makers, dyers, knitters, and other assorted people who enjoy the hobby that takes over all of your space. Fiber artists don’t have anything like Knitters Anonymous; they have the exact opposite: Fiber Guilds.

— Please Take Note: well after this was all posted, I decided to merge some of the workshop images onto their date-appropriate pages so things coincided with when they were happening. I chose not to delete this post, which is mostly duplicated now, as this page has received so many visits that I don’t want it to just disappear from the search engines.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

And what do guilds do? They organize workshops, retreats, and classes. They write books and magazine articles and produce videos. Bands of merchants selling the hot wares follow this tribe around to encourage further consumption and great new projects yet to be spun, frogged, carded, and strewn about as dozens of UFOs – Un-Finished Objects.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Ever heard of dyeing fabric with mud? Forget your Dolce & Gabbana; we’re going stone age and wearing mud again. I’m not even sure then why we must first put it on fabric instead of just rolling around in the stuff. To be fair, this method of dyeing with mud is called Bogolanfini, a traditional African method – albeit one modified by Judy Dominic. Judy particularly enjoys the inspiration of the designs used by the people of Mali.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Try pronouncing Katazome or Shibori. Katazome is a paste-resist dyeing method using rice paste, soy milk, various pigments, and a lot of indigo. It was this class given by John Marshall here in Durango, Colorado at the campus of Fort Lewis that brought us to the Intermountain Weavers Conference. Every other year, IWC hosts a fiber hoedown that attracts members and non-members alike to spend three days trying new fiber drugs. Trust me, it is not uncommon to hear someone asking to borrow a needle.

Fabric coming out of the indigo dye bath still green - IWC in Durango, CO

John Marshall teaches his students this old Japanese art of Katazome that is quickly disappearing as modern manufacturing processes and the desire for inexpensive clothing make this a dying craft. After the students applied pigments and paste resist materials and probably some other processes in an order I have no clue about, they would dip their work into a vat of indigo. As the cloth is pulled from the indigo, it is still green, as were the leaves that went into the vat that makes indigo.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

The magic of indigo happens as the materials are exposed to the air; they begin to oxidize. This oxidation process is what turns the fabric that familiar blue we are all aware of. Depending on what is being dyed, the fabric can turn deep shades of blue, as do fingers and even the hair of one of the ladies in Caroline’s class. Hey Nancy, not sure what I think of blue bangs on white hair, though it wasn’t bad. Maybe this will inspire this grandmother-aged sweet lady to now consider a tattoo of an alpaca with crossed shears. Argh.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

The other word I introduced you to was Shibori. Shibori is an ancient Japanese fiber art similar to the Rajashtahni and Gujarati craft of Bandhani. These two styles of dyeing can involve an incredible amount of handwork. Small or even larger segments of cloth are wrapped, stitched, folded, twisted, and bound with string; at times, hundreds, even thousands, of the wrapped bundles are applied to a piece of cloth. This slows down and can stop the dye from reaching all of the cloth as it is dipped in dye to produce beautiful patterns. Now, think of where you may have seen or heard of a cloth that is a descendant of this process. It sounds a bit like Bandhani; how about the good old Bandana? Bet you didn’t know that it wasn’t the hippies of the 1960s who invented Tie Dye.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

After much work and a ton of international coordination, the board members of IWC were able to convince the renowned Scholar, Curator, and Artist Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada to lead a workshop teaching this art form known as Shibori. Ms. Wada not only taught an overflowing class of enthusiastic students, but she was also the Keynote Speaker of the conference. With nothing else going on that night, I stuck around to listen, good thing I did. While fiber arts may not be my specialty, I can certainly appreciate the craft and skill that goes into this work. During the presentation, we learned of the work of a number of artists working in Japan that elicited the oohs and aahs of the overheated theater that reached its seating capacity. Some of the artists who truly made an impression on me were Jurgen Lehl, Christina Kim, and the guys behind Sou.Sou; Tsuyoshi Wakabayashi, Katsuji Wakisaka, and Hisanobu Tsujimura.

Sign directing attendees to the 2011 Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, CO

The grounds of Fort Lewis are spread out, although it may have only felt that way because Durango sits at 6,512 feet above sea level (1984m). On one end of the campus was the Student Union building, where check-in, the cafeteria, and merchants were located. In a nearby building, five or six classes were being held; next door to that was the theater. On the way north across campus was another building where a few classes were taking place, followed by the Arts building where Caroline’s class and five others were going on. At the far north, a juried fiber exhibit was taking place.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Vegetarian trophy heads. I didn’t see this one coming. For those who enjoy a little stuffed head taxidermy of a trophy kill but would like to be animal cruelty-free while admiring the beast mounted on the wall, try knitting your own. That’s just what this young 22-year-old woman, Syndi Roberts, did. I wonder if I found a dead bear someday out on the trail that died of natural causes, and I shorn that old bear to bring the fiber home to Caroline. Could she spin my bear fur into yarn and knit me up a bear head? I’d imagine that I would be the envy of all my tree-hugging buddies.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

From furry heads to hot bodies. What kind of fibery workshop/festival event would be complete without a fashion show? A bad one, the Intermountain Weavers didn’t disappoint. This 80-something-year-old babe stole the show with her soon-to-be trendy again swimsuit that dragged out the wolf whistles. Betty relished the attention, strutting her figure while notching up the temperature in the theater another few degrees. She pranced left, sashayed right, and flaunted every bit of sexy she could muster.

Questionable as to what exactly is going on here at IWC in Durango, CO

From the bodacious to the lascivious. This show had it all, including this kinky master/slave display featuring elements of domination and bestiality from two bad-ass grannies who knew how to get the kink on. Sure, they wrapped it in some innocuous Mary Had A Little Lamb skit, but I knew the sub-context; nothing is lost on me or my vivid imagination.

The next day, things went back to normal, and the attendees got back to serious craft. Caroline was now ready to start dyeing her designs on hemp cloth. With her rubber gloves and apron, there would be no turning her skin or hair blue. John Marshall was pushing his students to complete half a dozen projects, teaching them the art of Katazome.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

During my relatively short stay on campus, I took some time to visit all of the classrooms to see what else was on offer. In this class, maybe a dozen people were working on improving their tapestry loom skills. It was also possible this was the first time on such a loom; I didn’t want to disturb the instructors, so I simply stuck my head in, snapped a few photos, and left.

Visiting one of the weaving workshops at IWC in Durango, Colorado

This weaving workshop was specializing in creating stripes. The patterns and techniques that have been developed over the previous 20,000 years by the hands of countless human beings across all geographical regions of our planet are as diverse as there are sunrises in one’s life. If we are fortunate, these women who are keeping these arts alive will inspire a new generation to pick up the craft, and with any luck, some of the history, skills, and methods will find their way onto video to be shared with future generations. You see, I have this hope that at some point in our evolution, we humans will become enlightened, and through the work of the many minds who are creating ever greater efficiencies, humans will learn to enjoy their time where learning and crafts lead the day as opposed to rushing around responding to non-sensical information and the demands of work.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Advancing one’s skills or learning new ones is a goal of these workshops. Here, these two women are working to expand their knowledge of sewing. Maybe this is also an opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded individuals and get away from spouses who may not be exactly supportive of these hobby crafts. The most striking aspect of my short visits to these events is the camaraderie exhibited between attendees. There is no hesitation to share tips and tricks; there is no bragging about statistics that put one person in a bragging position where their expertise creates celebrity – most of the time!

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

This is an example of the final outcome. Spend years perfecting the techniques that broaden the ability to discern the beauty in patterns and then deploy those skills to inspire your fellow artists. This handwoven shawl was on display in the non-juried Intermountain Spirit exhibit, with attending members encouraged to submit their best work, too.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

My vote for best of show would have been this handwoven basket. The irregular shape and southwest mountain colors with a fine band of green glass beads really worked for me. And people think basket weaving is a boring chore for retirees with nothing better to do, as though staring at a small screen and tapping out messages in 140 characters or less is a statement of the pinnacle of sophistication people have attained. Do I sound bitter about the neglect of our skills, intellect, and respect for those who learn? Well, I guess I am – oh, how I wish humanity would find its next renaissance.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

The culmination of Caroline’s efforts at the Intermountain Weavers Conference 2011 event in Durango, Colorado. Next year, she will likely attend Fibers Through Time 2012 to be held in Phoenix, Arizona. If we are still living in the southwest the following year, I wouldn’t imagine it as being too far a stretch that she will once again find herself in Durango attending IWC 2013.

Easy Day

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Los Pinos River running through Bayfield, Colorado after leaving the Vallecito Reservoir further upstream

It’s going to be an easy day today. I don’t feel like going far, but I am curious about what lies east of Durango and south of Bayfield. Before entering the small historic downtown area of Bayfield, I had to first cross a little bridge spanning the Los Pinos River. This is the same river that feeds Vallecito Reservoir further upstream, where Caroline and I are staying during our visit to Colorado. If you drive the speed limit through town, it will take about 30 seconds to have seen it all. Back on the main road, I am moving away from the mountains that are fading in my rearview mirror.

Wide open view of the area south of Bayfield, Colorado

I followed a sign that pointed in the direction of Ignacio. Along the way, I passed Chimney Rock Archaeological Area. There were a couple of guys at the primitive gate with a small tent; obviously, something special was happening here today. I’m told the entry fee is $10 – cash or check; I have $7 cash and no check. There is no ATM to be found here either. On this particular weekend, Chimney Rock is hosting the Native American Cultural Gathering featuring singers, storytellers, and dancers from various Pueblos. This event is now on our calendar of things to return to. I suggest you check out the Chimney Rock website, as they have events all year round.

A telephone pole next to barbed wire fence in the dry grass with a deep blue sky

Good thing I didn’t have enough cash; I may have gone in and really enjoyed myself, but I’d rather share this with Caroline on a future visit as we both enjoy these types of events. So, I continued driving instead. These roads are not popular with RVers or bikers; it would appear that mostly locals were passing me. The land is mostly flat with some rolling hills, but still, this is a landscape I appreciate. If only I could have seen these places before power lines traced the routes, airplanes flew overhead, and the roar of engines screamed past me as people raced to buy something else.

A random shack not much larger than an outhouse sits falling apart on the way to Ignacio, Colorado

Moments of solitude are all I am afforded when stopped roadside to admire a view. Invariably, someone else will chase by; on occasion, youngsters think they need to honk the horn and yell some unintelligible words warbled by the Doppler effect of their speeding car. They disappear over the next rise, and I am once again alone to listen to the birds, the stir of grasses as lizards dart by, and a few brief seconds of silence.

Barbed wire fence in Colorado

I’m a sucker for old weathered relics from the past. My imagination can easily get lost exploring the story behind the object that has performed sentinel duty for decades prior to my arrival. I enjoy dreaming of who the builders were, who passed this way, and what life was like for the folk who one day stood here chatting with a neighbor out in the middle of nowhere. I probably over-romanticize the scene, influenced by a movie or two too many, but that’s ok; I’m still happy that memories can take me somewhere after my intent has delivered me to the place where my mind can play.

An bunk house that is part barn falling to bits on the road to Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

One more stop before this brief road trip is over, this time at a collapsing barn that appears to have also been a bunkhouse. The proper house is long gone; only its stone chimney survives in the background. Inside the building is a slightly underground “cellar,” not sure that’s what it was, but it looks like it could have functioned in that capacity to my untrained eye. There is an old bunk bed frame with a stamp of U.S. painted on the ends; looks like surplus World War II-era Army bunks. It will be when augmented reality becomes reality, and I can have some type of mobile device that, with the use of GPS, I can learn the history of the family that lived in the house and what kind of life they lived here at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, then I will buy a cell-phone or tablet.

Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

I was back at the cabin before lunchtime. Before, I would make a late lunch / early dinner for myself and grill a piece of fish for Caroline for when I meet her on campus later, I sat lakeside writing – and burning. How old does a man have to be before he learns that even in the shade, sunblock is required? Answer: it probably will never happen, so no numeric value of age can be given – thus, this is a trick question. The rest of the day was given to lounging right here with pen, paper, and a book for when my mind could not produce renderable words.

Caroline Wise at the Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Here she is, my fiber-addicted wife, Caroline Wise. Metamucil, you ask; maybe oatmeal or whole wheat bread is her fiber of choice? Heck no, all that would be cheap compared to someone who has joined the flock of weavers, spinners, basket makers, dyers, knitters, and other assorted people who enjoy the hobby that takes over all of your space. Fiber artists don’t have anything like Knitters Anonymous; they have the exact opposite: Fiber Guilds. She’s obviously happy to see me, probably because I’ve brought Caroline her dinner, as we’d be sticking around after the workshops were done to attend the fashion show being held on campus.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

And what do guilds do? They organize workshops, retreats, and classes. They write books and magazine articles and produce videos. Bands of merchants selling the hot wares follow this tribe around to encourage further consumption and great new projects yet to be spun, frogged, carded, and strewn about as dozens of UFOs – Un-Finished Objects.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

Shibori is an ancient Japanese fiber art similar to the Rajashtahni and Gujarati craft of Bandhani. These two styles of dyeing can involve an incredible amount of handwork. Small or even larger segments of cloth are wrapped, stitched, folded, twisted, and bound with string; at times, hundreds, even thousands, of the wrapped bundles are applied to a piece of cloth. This slows down and can stop the dye from reaching all of the cloth as it is dipped in dye to produce beautiful patterns. Now, think of where you may have seen or heard of a cloth that is a descendant of this process. It sounds a bit like Bandhani; how about the good old Bandana? Bet you didn’t know that it wasn’t the hippies of the 1960s who invented Tie Dye.

Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado

From furry heads to hot bodies. What kind of fibery workshop/festival event would be complete without a fashion show? A bad one, the Intermountain Weavers didn’t disappoint. This 80-something-year-old babe stole the show with her soon-to-be trendy again swimsuit that dragged out the wolf whistles. Betty relished the attention, strutting her figure while notching up the temperature in the theater another few degrees. She pranced left, sashayed right, and flaunted every bit of sexy she could muster.

A Moment To Explore

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

A dandelion gone to seed, also known as a wish.

Fresh homefries and eggs were enjoyed sitting at the window of our cabin overlooking the lake as the sun rose over the San Juan Mountains. We may have sat lakeside on the deck had it been about 15 degrees warmer. It’s not always easy going from 110-degree days with 90-degree nights to 55-degree mornings – especially when you are dressed for summer in the desert. We woke late, moved slowly, and when it was time to leave the lake, we drove slowly on the way to Durango. Caroline had to register in the early day at Fort Lewis College so she could get checked in for her class.

Wildflowers roadside north of Durango, Colorado

Last year, Caroline volunteered to set up the Intermountain Weavers Conference website with online registration and payment for their bi-annual fiber conference. For her efforts, she was gifted a workshop. I’ll tell you which workshop in an upcoming blog post when I can show you what she was doing. Today, though, was simply registration. Vendors of various weaving and fiber art supplies were already set up and selling their goods when we arrived upstairs to see what temptations might exist for Caroline to spend her puny budget. Funny how “puny” never really stays that way but has this mutability where budget becomes bonanza, which is what she ultimately walks away with.

A chipmunk hiding in the brush in the mountains north of Durango, Colorado

Seeing this would be the only day for my wife to do some sightseeing in the area, after registration and lunch, we headed up the road in the direction of Ouray, Colorado. We didn’t get far: the sign said Ouray was 67 miles away, and we knew that our cabin was 30 miles in the other direction, requiring at least 45 minutes to get there from the college. Having an appointment with our barbecue and a lakeside sunset, our meandering through the mountains would be limited. At one of our stops with a fair amount of wildflowers that were demanding our attention, we spotted this little chipmunk. Our first wildlife encounter.

Caroline Wise blowing a dandelion, making a wish in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado

Make a wish. What was it? Can’t tell, or it won’t come true. Do you believe that? Don’t know, but it must work to some degree, as so many of my wishes keep coming true. I’m here with you today, ain’t I? It’s a familiar story repeated ad infinitum: we get lost in the green, and our eyes get woozy, taking in the deeply saturated colors of the forest. Do people who live in lush areas know the pleasure we feel when we compare the world of the parched to that of the verdant?

Purple flowers growing from some random roadside plant in a tablespoon of soil on a rock north of Durango, Colorado

And now, our worlds meet: Tan, let me introduce you to Purple and Green. This burst of color appears to be growing in 2 tablespoons of soil. No, I am not feeling nostalgic for what we left behind in Arizona; it was Caroline who asked me to take the photo. As I get older, I slowly learn to be slightly more obliging, and so I stopped, rolled down the window, and took the photo for her. I hope you enjoy “Plant on Rock.”

A roadside cascade north of Durango, Colorado

If you like cascades, you’ll love your drive on Highway 550 north of Durango. Keep a keen eye; they are everywhere. Attention road designers, those of us armed with cameras are a danger to ourselves and others when engineers do not afford us pullouts at convenient locations, i.e., beautiful landscapes. We will stop right in the middle of the road if need be and take pictures – wife yelling at us and all. It has even happened that people encourage me to do so as they drive around me yelling at me to get a good one, combined with hand gestures I interpret as a thumbs-up of “good job, buddy.”

Panorama of a mountain top and its surrounding area in the San Juan Mountains north of Durango, Colorado

By this time, we no longer need to pull over to take photos; we are only driving 1200 feet an hour; who needs miles per hour when you are in nature? I think it’s almost funny when a Kia is driving slower than a 40-foot motorhome towing a Hummer. If you people behind me are in such a hurry, why are you driving through someplace that is astoundingly beautiful? Did it not occur to you that some people don’t enjoy rubber-necking traffic accidents but can’t help themselves when driving on California’s Pacific Coast Highway, anywhere in Yellowstone, or moving through the mountains, desert, forest, or anywhere else that demands one’s appreciation?

A travertine bump on the side of the road with a mysterious bubble of water coming out of the top - north of Durango, Colorado

Is this real? Caroline and I have driven this stretch of road many a time, and we have never seen this before. A travertine bump being created by a flow of water out of the top of what looks suspiciously like a pipe? The travertine looks real enough; the water is not all that hot; why haven’t we seen this before? It turns out that it is real. It is called Pinkerton Hot Springs – suppose I’m now a monkey’s uncle.

Los Pinos River just before entering Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

Los Pinos River is seen from the bridge into Five Branches Campers Park seconds before it enters Vallecito Reservoir. There’s something about these types of wild rivers, even when they are small, that begs me to get out of the car, abandon everything, and follow them upstream. To all you millionaires out there who are in ownership of your very own private stretch of wild river (think Montana / Wyoming area), I’m available for house watching — summers only!

A sunset created sky flame made of clouds over Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

Another barbecue, another lakeside dinner, and one more beautiful sunset. We are working on a theme here on my blog this year; I should change its name from Photo of the Day to My Perfect Day. What more can I say that would let you know how wonderful a day Caroline and I just had?

Going Out of Town

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Cow Springs Trading Post with an old Standard Oil Products sign still standing in front of this now disappearing relic on the Navajo Reservation in northeast Arizona

Not much left of the old Cow Springs trading post and gas station here on Highway 160 between Tuba City and Kayenta, Arizona. The condition of things makes one wonder how long they have been closed. Standard Oil was a company founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870 that was broken up with a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911. So, it’s possible that this sign has stood there for more than 100 years. Though, I’m probably way off with this summation as Route 66 was still years away from being built, and Ford’s Model-T was just barely a few years into production. Add to this that the breakup of Standard Oil resulted in 34 baby Standards; maybe the sign is only a mere 75-ish years old.

A billboard on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona telling us that uranium workers are eligible for in home nursing at no expense to the person hurt by uranium poisoning

Still on the road out of Arizona, traveling through the Navajo Reservation. Just outside of Kayenta, we passed and then turned around to grab a photo of this billboard. Ya’at’eeh is the Navajo greeting of Hello, but that’s not the most interesting part of the sign. The billboard reads, “Uranium Workers – In-Home Nursing At No Expense To You.” I’d like to say that makes me feel good that people who have dug out the 3.9 million tons of uranium ore and subsequently showed signs of uranium poisoning and increased cancers are now being taken care of. But, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that folks on the Rez were told of the dangers, and then it would be another 11 years before cleanup efforts began. I guess the whole “out of sight, out of mind” thing works great for those who benefited from the nuclear energy and weaponry that gave us convenience and security at the expense of a bunch of Indians who now get some in-home care to deal with their misfortune. But I shouldn’t let this sad story get in the way of enjoying a road trip; time to speed back on down the highway.

El Capitan rock out in the center of the photo. This rock is north of Kayenta on the way to Monument Valley on the Arizona / Utah border

Off in the distance, we spot El Capitan. As one drives north out of Kayenta on the way to Monument Valley, this towering rock is one of the first truly large monuments seen before entering Monument Valley. The small spire on the left of the photo is Owl Rock. We are heading towards Teec Nos Pos, the last town on the way out of Arizona, before passing through Four Corners and entering New Mexico. We’ll only drive 1 mile through New Mexico before the road enters Colorado. After that, we’ll soon be on the Ute Reservation. You know you are in Ute country when you see a mountain range that looks like a face in profile lying on its back – the Sleeping Ute.

Wildflowers north of Vallecito Reservoir about 30 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado

No denying that we have left the desert. We are in the mountain meadows of the Durango, Colorado area. Caroline and I have driven the 478 miles (770km) into the San Juan mountain range for Caroline to attend a workshop over at the Fort Lewis College campus in Durango. We have stayed in Durango plenty of times and taken the train to Silverton our fair share of times, too. For this visit, I decided that we should stay out on a lake, away from the metropolis of the little mountain town down the hill.

The view of Vallecito Reservoir from out cabin on the boat dock at the 5 Branches Camper Park

We are checked in and admiring the view of Vallecito Reservoir from our cabin. The specific location of our small cabin is on the boat dock at Five Branches Camper Park north of Bayfield, Colorado. We’ll be staying five nights, and with any luck, we might find ourselves one of these days out on a kayak exploring the lake. For now, we are thrilled with our location and the tremendous view.

Caroline Wise pulling down our Murphy Bed at Five Branches Camper Park on Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

A monumental day for Caroline; she is pulling down the Murphy Bed, the first time she has ever slept in one. I would have to characterize her as being “tickled” that she gets to pull our bed out of the wall. Pushing it back up proved funny; she got stuck under the weight of it without the ability to put it back down or push it far enough up – so she yelled for me. The cabin is only $65 a night, but you had better reserve early as this cabin and the park, in general, fill up early for the short season when they are open.

— Update: in 2023, there’s a minimum 1-week stay, and the rate has ballooned to $143 per night.

Dinner on the dock at Five Branches Camper Park on Vallecito Reservoir in Bayfield, Colorado

There is a private corner of the dock that features a BBQ grill and a table with a couple of chairs. The entire dock is closed off after 5:00 p.m. to ensure our privacy. After a lengthy delay in getting some faulty briquettes burning, we finally had a hot grill that let me put Caroline’s veggie burgers on next to my hunk of cow flesh and a couple of ears of corn. After arriving at the cabin, I put some potatoes on to boil for potato salad – no, I do not go the lazy way of buying off-the-grocery-shelf tater salad. Our dinner was all smiles with a gorgeous backdrop to the day. It was yummy, too.

Sunset over Vallecito Reservoir at Five Branches Camper Park in Bayfield, Colorado

The day finished its performance before turning over the lake to evening with a small bit of color floating on the water. We sat on the dock with some of the most polite mosquitoes we have encountered, but only for about 20 minutes before they decided good manners would only be extended so far. Then we were fair game. Sorry guys, but we’ll have to disappoint you and run for the indoors away from your greedy little proboscides.