A family vacation in Pagosa Springs

Village Pointe, Pagosa
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado, has been a family favorite of ours since we discovered it in 1990 - 18 years ago. We had visitors that year from the Netherlands, the family of our foreign exchange student, Mathieu, and we treated them to a tour of the western part of the United States. We used time shares where we could, and one of the places available to us was Pagosa Springs. We were hooked right away, and we purchased a time share there.

Since then, we've traveled there various times with our children, my parents, and my brother and his family, and we've always come away wanting more.

Because of work and other life events, we haven't been there for a few years, and we were long overdue for this trip.

This year, we traveled with our oldest granddaughter, now grown and married, and her husband - wonderful travel buddies, we've discovered - and we met my brother, Steve, and his wife, Connie, there, for another fully satisfying week.

We had two units together that, combined, were large enough to sleep eight - complete with two kitchens, two living rooms, and two baths. It was just enough space for our three families, giving us ample private and community space to enjoy.

Wyndam Pagosa, formerly known as Fairfield Pagosa, has activities for everyone, more than one can take in within the space of one week.

Here's a sample of our schedule for the week:

Sunday

We checked in, drove through town so we could refresh our memories of all we've enjoyed in the past, grocery shopped, and fixed supper.

Monday


Boy in snow at Wolf Creek
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

We drove up to Wolf Creek pass, stopping on the way up to enjoy Treasure Falls and the snow that's nearly always in the basin near Wolf Creek, and then stopping at the overlook high above the valley on the way back.

Steve and I made pizza dough according to a recipe Steve found on http://www.culinarycafe.com/Pizza/Basic_Pizza_Crust.html. Steve brought all the ingredients, including parchment paper, pizza pans, and a baking stone. It was fun watching the yeast proof. We let the completed dough set in the refrigerator overnight, giving it really great yeast-bread taste when we put it all together the next night.

Tuesday

Lauren, Stephanie, Scott and I took a juggling class, and then Steve, Connie, Lauren and I took a Wildflower Cards class where we colored wildflower cards with watercolor pencils and then worked the colors with a wet brush. Both activities were lots of fun.

Lauren shredded nearly two pounds of mozzarella cheese, chopped some onion, and browned some Jimmy Dean sausage (our favorite with pizza), and then Steve and I assembled the rest of the toppings and baked two pizzas for us. For the sauce, Steve used plain tomato paste covered with pesto. Yummmm! I don't know that I've ever had a pizza as good as these were. I'm going to try the recipe at home and see if I can come up with some method to make smaller ones and freeze some because there's only two of us here.

In the evening, Stephanie, Scott, Lauren, and I went to a little root beer float social sponsored by the resort - that was another yummm!!!

Wednesday

Connie and Steve drove to Durango for the day, and Stephanie and Lauren took a water color (real water color) class in the morning - both coming back with a really nice painting that would look good on any wall!

In the afternoon, Scott, Stephanie, Lauren, and I drove down to Chimney Rock and took the guided tour of the ruins. Actually, I took only half of the tour because I was afraid the second half would be too high on the mountain on paths that were too narrow - and when it was over, Stephanie, Scott, and Lauren all agreed that I had made the right decision. The history of that area is absolutely fascinating.

That evening, Stephanie and Scott made tacos for us, with all the trimmings. I can't remember the last time we had tacos, and the minute I bit into my first one, I knew it had been way too long. Another ymmmm!

Thursday

Thursday was a rainy day, a perfect day to play games nearly all day instead of just part of a day. Connie took time out to go to a Tee Shirt Art class, and she came back with a really neat t-shirt she hand painted as a gift for her nephew.

The rain gently backed off late afternoon, giving us some blue patches of sky, and after a supper of Johnsonville Brats (another yummmm!) we took off for the weekly Thursday Rodeo at the fair grounds. This was only the second rodeo the group had put on for this season, so the announcer and support crew were a little loose in their presentation; but they'll pick up as the summer goes on. We've enjoyed going in the past. I don't remember, though, the event where the little kids ride sheep. That was a lot of fun to watch. (I posted a picture or two on Flickr.)

Friday

Steve had caught a cold just before the trip started, and Connie was catching it - and they both were due to be back to work on Monday, so they left a day earlier than they had planned so they could get home and rest a bit.


Preparing to river raft at Pagosa
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Stephanie, Scott, and Lauren took a three-hour 9:00 rafting trip, and after I took them over to the activity center to catch their ride, I cleaned up our units a bit and then went down to the Edelweiss Needlework Chalet in Pagosa. Whatta store!!! They have all kinds of needlework, from knitting and crocheting, quilting, embroidery ... I ended up purchasing two crayon quilt designs from them, created by Black Cat Creations . I also purchased an inexpensive Brazilian embroidery design by Ed Mar.

That evening, we went down to the Pagosa Town Square gazebo and enjoyed some excellent (and free) music presented by the Belleville Outfit . We stopped at Subway and took our supper with us. The group was scheduled to entertain us for an hour, and ended up giving us a great time for 1-3/4 hours. They are sooooooo good! They are a young group and we don't think they've been together long. We bought their first CD, and they've improved since then (tons!) and we're sure they will continue to improve. If they don't make it big, we will be totally surprised. They are good, they love their audiences, and their audiences love them right back! If we ever have a chance to hear them again, we will jump at it.

Saturday

After we took the bikes back early on Saturday morning, we took a drive in the mountains high above Pagosa. It's a drive we always enjoy. Later in the day, we got our things ready to leave for home on Sunday, and we ended the day with frozen pizza and some games.

While we were in Pagosa, we played a little tennis, rode bikes, and did a little fishing. We could have done more of each, and we could have taken some wonderful hikes and many other things, but a week is just too short to get in all that the area offers. Next year..... Yep, next year we will do better! (Sure - we'll just have to keep going back and going back!)