Linda and I were relaxing last Sunday afternoon when I happened to check the weather in Raton, New Mexico. Now I did this because we had been talking of driving out there when the weather was nice. As it happened, the weather forecast looked great, so I turned to Linda and said, "Hey Honey, how would you like to go to Colorado?"
She looked at me like I had just lost my mind.
"Today," she asked, "it's 3:30 already."
"Yeah, we can stop somewhere for the night. The weather is going to be beautiful and the mountains should be gorgeous with the snow and everything."
I looked at her and saw her mind was busy processing my proposal. "What do you think about it," I asked.
"I'm ready if you are," she said.
"Are you sure," I asked.
"Yes, I think it will be fun."
She gave me that winning smile of hers and I knew she was onboard. So we quickly packed a few items of clothing and personal supplies, loaded them into the pickup and headed west. On the way, we made arrangements for the neighbor to feed our cat and called ahead to reserve a room in Enid, Okla.
It was a beautiful afternoon and the drive west was pleasant in every way. When we got to Tulsa, I needed to buy gas so we stopped at a service station. We were amazed at the price of gasoline, which was $1.15 a gallon. After refueling the truck, we found a Subway and bought a turkey sub. I've been working on losing some weight, so we planned to eat light on this trip. We ate while we drove and made good time to Enid. We passed our night there without incident and continued west the next morning.
Originally, we had planned to stay at Raton, N.M., but, as we got closer, we saw it would be better to go on to Trinidad, Colo., so we called ahead and moved our reservations to the Holiday Inn in Trinidad. Linda and I like this little city. Trinidad has a neat feel to it, with a renovated downtown area that has some interesting shops and cafés. That evening we ate at a little place called Tony's. I had a salad while Linda had a cup of beans. I had a simple chef salad, but I doubt if salad is their forte. They did seem to have an interesting assortment of dishes on the menu. If I wasn't watching what I eat, I would have ordered the steak. It sounded really delicious.
The next morning we ate at the hotel, which was attached. I had a vegetable omelet with unbuttered, whole-wheat toast, which kept me going all morning. Linda had some bacon and hash browns with a piece of my toast.
After breakfast we drove downtown and got on the Highway of Legends, which is a scenic route that takes you up through some very beautiful mountains. It didn't take long and we were up around 10,000 feet and loving it. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground and mixed with the evergreen trees, and the groves of aspens were quite striking. We drove through several small towns and each one seemed to have its own charm.
One of the most striking areas we saw was when we drove through the little town of La Veta. This town sits at the base of several mountains and the views are awesome. As we headed out of town, the highway rose dramatically so that we could look down on the town as we drove along. There was a place to pull over near the top of the hill, so we stopped there to take a few pictures. As I looked at the mountains and the town of La Veta, I told Linda I wanted to drive back into town to see what it looked like coming in from a different direction. So we turned around and headed back downhill. As we came into town, we decided to take a walk to stretch our legs. I parked on the main street and we walked up one side of the street and down the other. It was cool enough for a jacket, but certainly not cold.
La Veta is a lovely town with a number of businesses on the main street. There is a bakery and a massage therapist, a grocery store and several real estate businesses. On a side street, we saw an artist colony and a quilting retreat center. Everything is clean and neat and there are a number of older homes with a lot of character. Linda and I both felt right at home there. We came to a used bookstore and, as my custom is, we went in to check it out. The bookstore was run by a lady named Annajo. She told us quite a bit about the town and the area. She really hated that we were only there for the day. We had actually been through there back in August, but we hadn't stopped in La Veta. We exchanged email addresses and it was on to lunch at a café called Sammie's Place. We both had green chile soup with a tortilla. It was very good and I felt virtuous that I had not over eaten.
After we left La Veta, we headed on to the town of Walsenberg, Colo. There we got on interstate 25 and headed to Colorado City where there is another scenic loop. This loop is quite beautiful and brings you into Pueblo, where we ate dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. I had grilled salmon and a dry-baked potato. Linda ordered the barbecued baby back ribs. I enjoyed my meal and again patted myself on the back for eating healthy. After dinner, we drove back to Trinidad where we spent our last night in Colorado.
The next morning we left for home by way of Kansas so we had a long drive through some desolate, albeit beautiful, country. Linda loved the drive and so did I for a time, but then I began to feel dizzy and realized I had vertigo. My right ear felt completely closed. I suppose I had a buildup of fluid in my ear. Over the years, I have had trouble with vertigo and really hate it, especially when I have to drive. I couldn't seem to focus on the road and finally had to stop for a bite of lunch. I had a turkey sub and we took off for home.
Actually, I had planned to stay night at Wichita, but we got there around 4:30. So, after dinner (grilled salmon again), and feeling much better I headed on home. We finally pulled into our driveway around 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday night. It didn't take us long to get ready for bed. I was exhausted after driving all day so asked Linda to let me sleep late. She was kind enough to do this for me and we both had a restful night. And a great little outing to Colorado.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 02/24/2016