Stranded in Fort Collins!

When we woke up yesterday morning, we found out that they had opened the road leading back to Denver from Winter Park Resort. In fact, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright.

That would not last long though!

Our stay at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge

"As close as you can sleep to the chairlifts without sleeping outside!"

Totally true. The two lodge buildings are located right at the base of the mountain and are the most convenient location in the village. The ski rentals and lift tickets are also available in the lodge.

Spring skiing at Winter Park Resort

When we found out that we were going to be spring skiing at Winter Park Resort in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, we had visions of 60 degree temperatures and short sleeve shirts, and sitting on a patio in the sun while having a cold drink with our ski gear on.

It wasn't meant to be.

Snow, cold,...and a great dinner out!

We didn't have much in the way of a lunch yesterday, so after we got ourselves settled at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge we were about ready for an early supper.

Denver to Winter Park Resort

We left Kent and Lynn's place around 10:00am and headed west. Thanks for everything Kent!

We knew it was about an hour and a half drive from Denver to Winter Park, so we had enough to time stop along the way and go for a hike!

Butterflies and Giant Spiders!

We had some shopping to get done yesterday morning. There's a few things we needed to stock up on before crossing back into Canada and Denver is likely the last really large city we'll be in before the border. One of the stores we went to was the big REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.) location near Confluence Park.

A Day in Downtown Denver

First plan though, was to figure out how to get there. Kent and Lynn's house is about 3.5 miles (5.5 kms) from the downtown core. They have a bus stop really close by, but the fare is $2.25. With the two of us going round trip, it would be $9.00, which is about the price of parking downtown for the day. Unless I could find free parking!

We're liking Colorado!

Some people like the desert, some people like the mountains. Ruth likes both, but I'm much more attracted to the mountains and the trees. I've been wanting to see Colorado for a long time, and so far, we're not disappointed at all.

A great spot to spend a week or two in the motorhome!

After our non ballooning adventure yesterday morning, we made the best of it and got an early start to our destination in Taos, New Mexico. It was only a two and a half hour drive, so we knew we had lots of time to explore along the way. And explore we did!

No balloon ride today...

Despite the best efforts of World Balloon Company in Albuquerque, New Mexico...we were not able to get off the ground! They really tried hard knowing that we were only in Albuquerque for three days. But the weather just wouldn't cooperate.

We got up at 5:30am this morning and so did our couchsurfing hosts Cheryl and Mike. Cheryl made coffee for everyone and we said our goodbyes. Thanks for being such great hosts Cheryl and Mike! Then, we headed out to the meeting spot for our balloon ride.

More to see and do in the Albuquerque area!

But the weather was not co-operating as well as it could. Not really hampering our activities, although it was a lot colder yesterday than what we're used to!

As my father once said... "the only thing you can change about the weather is your attitude towards it."

Albuquerque Balloon Museum

Our hot air balloon ride was cancelled again this morning due to bad weather. We've got one more shot at it Wednesday morning though, and so far it looks like it might happen! In the meantime, if we couldn't go up in a balloon ourselves, we figured we might as well learn as much as we could about them!

Wandering around Albuquerque

Mike and Cheryl, our couchsurfing hosts here in Albuquerque, live on the eastern part of the city that borders the Sandia mountain range. We were looking forward to a hike yesterday morning, and Cheryl took us out for an hour and a half in the foothills behind their home.

The Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic Garden

These popular Albuquerque attractions are part of the "ABQ BioPark" which also runs the local Zoo and Tingley Beach. There's a $12.50 ticket that allows you admission to both the Aquarium and the Botanic Garden and it's especially worth a day out if you've got children.

Albuquerque Rattlesnake Museum

Okay, this was different. And a lot of fun!

In "old town" Albuquerque there is a museum officially called the American International Rattlesnake Museum!

Cancelled!

Well, we're supposed to be in the basket of a hot air balloon right now. Unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate and it's too windy this morning so our balloon adventure has been postponed until Tuesday morning. So, slight change of plans, but we've got lots to see and do here in Albuquerque and we'll update you on our activities tomorrow morning!

Bright white sand. Everywhere!

Yesterday, we did a day trip out to White Sands National Monument. I think I had heard about this place before, and it was suggested by one of our readers, Poraka, in our comments section that we should visit. So we took him up on his suggestion!

It's always interesting crossing a border...

Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! We're in the United States of America! But they sure do make it interesting to get across a border. I always say that it's a bit of a circus, and the American border is a three ring circus. Barnum and Bailey would be proud!

Glad we came to visit Chihuahua!

Once again, we are overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people we meet. When all you hear from the media are warnings about danger and being told "don't go there", you start to question things. But then when you set out to explore, you find a city where the vast majority of people are just going about their daily business and everyone is friendly and helpful.

Four hours from the U.S. border

A bit of a long driving day yesterday. But in just three days we have placed ourselves only a four hour drive from our border crossing point! We did 550 kms (341 miles) yesterday, for a three day total of 1,263 kms (783 miles).

Aguascalientes to Cuencame

We did 390 kms yesterday to the little town of Cuencame about 100 kms south of Torreon. We were up early with our couchsurfing hosts Paola and Armando so we were actually on the road by 6:30am!

Aguascalientes

We have been to Aguascalientes before, but we wanted to see some more. Plus, we wanted to try and visit the huge Nissan factory on the outskirts of town. So, we set the alarm for 6:00am yesterday morning to try and get an early start for leaving from Hacienda Contreras.

Heading North!

We're heading north this morning!

Here's our approximate driving schedule for the next three weeks...

March Expenses

We spent a total of $1,343 in the month of March. Not bad, but a little higher than we planned partly because we pre-paid for Sherman's storage fees for the summer months. Also spent a little more for gasoline and toll roads. In fact, we were a little higher than we wanted to be in just about every category!

Whiskey's Tree

Our regular readers will remember the sad day at the end of September when our faithful traveling companion Whiskey passed away. We buried Whiskey here at Hacienda Contreras RV Park and to mark her grave with a memorial at the time, we planted a tree.

Sherman goes for a drive!

And, we've made some blog changes. Most of you won't notice, but we've removed the ability for someone to comment as "anonymous". We were getting a lot of advertising comments, and while the spam filter blocked most of them, they were still a pain in the butt! So, anybody who really wants to comment will have to take the five minutes to register for a google account.

Great visit to the dentist (part two)!

You'll remember last week when I went for a cleaning and inspection at our local dentist here in Valle de Juarez. She had mentioned that I had a tiny cavity beside an old filling and so we had made an appointment to have that repaired. On Wednesday, I went and had the repair completed!

We really miss traveling

In the motorhome!

I know, we've done lots of traveling over the last year. But poor Sherman was a little jealous of the little blue car's adventures over the past couple of months while he just sat here. Sherman has been sitting here for over a year now!

Lunch out with the crew

Sal's cousin Chema owns a restaurant here in Valle de Juarez, and Chema's son owns one closer to the campground. A lot of the campers over the winter frequent the restaurants (as well as Chema's Saturday carnita stand) and so he wanted to thank the campers for their business!

10 Things You May Not Know About Mexico

The majority of people don't know very much about Mexico. When asked about Mexico, they think of beaches or resorts. After all, that's the only reason you would come here, right? Or, they think of murders and drug kingpins because that's all you hear about on the news. Well there is much more to Mexico...

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Mexico

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the official start to Semana Santa  (Easter Holy Week) celebrations that go on all week. The little town of Valle de Juarez (population 4,006) goes all out with processions and parades to celebrate this holiday.

Next stop, Aguascalientes!

You may have noticed that we placed an answer to our "Where are Kevin and Ruth going next?" question above. The answer is the city of Aguascalientes!

A Fancy Mexican Wedding.

Saturday morning was market day here in Valle de Juarez, so we took Tioga George and Renate into town with us. They both have motorhomes with them and we also have the little blue car so we know how much it's appreciated when someone offers a ride!

The rigs keep coming!

Boy, it's getting busy here at Hacienda Contreras! Another six rigs showed up yesterday. I think I counted nineteen RV's here now! Barb says their record was twenty two at one time so it's getting close. We've never been here when it's been this busy though.

Meeting Tioga George!

What a great day we had yesterday. We went in to town for a parade in the morning, and then we had a good hike with beautiful views in the afternoon.

And, popular internet personalities Ms. Tioga and George showed up at Hacienda Contreras RV Park!

Ciudad Juarez

"The most dangerous place in the world outside of a declared war zone." So said a city newspaper back in 2009.

Our route north in early April is going to take us to a Ciudad Juarez border crossing.

Beautiful start to spring!

Looks like not too many people in Canada can say that! Our old home town of Ottawa is cold at -9C, while the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are stuck in a deep freeze. Looks like about -23C (-9F) in the city of Price Albert, Saskatchewan. It had better warm up a little over the next month!!!

A great visit to the dentist!

What? Who says that??!! Can a visit to the dentist ever be "great"?

Okay, it may not have been great, but it was as good as a dentist visit can be. Pain free, and inexpensive. That's what I look for in a visit to the dentist!

A hike and a new gas station!

There are new Pemex gas stations being built all over Mexico. And they're building one right next door to Hacienda Contreras! We went for a hike yesterday morning to get a bird's eye view of the situation...

Market day!

We love Saturdays here at Hacienda Contreras. That's because it's market day in the nearby town of Valle de Juarez, so we try and do a weeks worth of grocery shopping all at once. That means stopping at a few different places, including our favorite fruit and veggie guy Martin!

These boots are made for walking.

And that's just what they'll do. Well, our boots have done quite a bit of walking and I need some new ones!

Quetzaltrekkers

Our regular readers will remember the excitement, exhaustion, spectacular scenery and great photographs that we experienced during the two Quetzaltrekkers  hiking trips that we did in Guatemala in February. We wanted to tell you a little about the organization itself and the worthwhile cause that they support.

I knew I shoulda took that left turn at Albuquerque!

We arrived back at Hacienda Contreras RV Park on Sunday, and here it is Thursday morning and we haven't left the gates of the park! I guess we really needed the break. Usually we're antsy to get out and explore and do some hiking. But we have been keeping busy, and with some important stuff!

Landing Dream House Sitting Jobs

Last month, we presented part one of a two part series on house sitting...

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2013/02/want-to-housesit-top-tips-to-get-started.html

Here is part two...

Time flies when you're having fun!

Yesterday, we got the little blue car unpacked and Sherman sorted out for our three week stay here. I rinsed the roof off and cleaned the solar panels. We went to a one hour Spanish lesson that Barb gives to any of the campers who want to attend. Ruth made a nice roast chicken dinner. And the day just disappeared.

Happy to be back at Hacienda Contreras RV Park!

We were up early yesterday morning with intentions on leaving Puebla at 7:30am. But it was 8:30am when we eventually hit the road and headed out of town for our long drive. We figured that traffic would be light on a Sunday morning, and we were right.

Exploring the City of Puebla

Seems to us that Puebla isn't on the radar of many people who visit Mexico, or many expats who make Mexico their home. After this short visit, we can't figure out why not. It has near perfect weather, it's a very clean and modern city, and from what we saw it doesn't even have any traffic problems. I even drove downtown!

Oaxaca City to Puebla

We were up early yesterday morning to try and get out of Oaxaca City before there was too much traffic, but we still didn't actually hit the road until about 8:10am. It was no problem though and we were soon on a beautiful four lane toll highway heading towards Puebla.

Petrified waterfalls!

What a totally fantastic day we had yesterday! First, we went and visited the widest tree in the world. You can read about that in last night's post here...

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2013/03/the-widest-tree-in-world.html

But then, our day got even better as we visited Hierve el Agua (The Water Boils). This amazing attraction is where spring water with an extremely high mineral content has taken thousands of years to make natural rock formations that look like waterfalls!

The widest tree in the world!

Not the tallest...not the oldest...but the widest tree in the world is the Tule Tree in the town of Santa Maria del Tule, only 10 kms east of Oaxaca City.

What a tree!