t o m a t o e s & t e q u i l a

So....WOW. Telluride. WOW. Amazing. Gorgeous.

I have never seen anything like Telluride, CO in my life. The hubby and I took Friday off and headed down to camp for the weekend and I spent the entire time with my mouth gaping open at the beauty of it all. The hubby said it looks like the Alps. Having never been to the Alps, I had to take his word for it, but I suspect he is correct.



We spent Friday evening setting up our campsite, cooking, and enjoying the views. For dinner we had pizza. Yes, pizza while camping (recipe below). It was really, really easy and delicious. It would also undoubtedly be great kid food since we didn't cut it, we just ripped off chunks of melty goodness.



Saturday we headed in to town, did some window shopping and strolled by the river for a couple miles. For lunch, we plopped ourselves down by the river and had our packed lunch of turkey sandwiches.

Then we rode the free gondola up to the top of one of the mountains to take a gander at the view. Afterwards we headed back into town for an appetizer of baked brie with apples and a drink before heading back to camp to rest and make dinner.







And then it came....the rain. It rained...and rained....and rained. After hours of rain I am very disappointed to report that we packed up and headed to Montrose for a cheap hotel. So depressing. I had up until then been in a pure state of bliss from the astounding beauty of Telluride. We tried to make the best of it and keep each others spirits up - but it sucked. There is no way to deny it.

However, the hubby's grandma came to mind when we were getting really depressed on the way to Montrose. When something hadn't gone well while on a trip she always told him as a kid, "It's not too important, it really doesn't matter, and we're on vacation," along with, "We have to save something to see next time."

And with those wise words we had already decided that fate hadn't led us astray on our adventure in Telluride, it just wanted us to come back next summer and still have plenty to see.

CAMPING PIZZA RECIPE
(Adapted from Sunset Magazine)

1 package pre-made, thin crust, pizza dough
1 c. grape tomatoes, halved
1 packaged pre-shredded mozzarella cheese (I used part-skim)
3 tbl. chiffonade basil

Prepare your fire, grill, etc. - whatever you are using. (If using fire, the dough may take much longer to brown, we used a camping stove.)

Spray a 10 inch pan, (we used a dutch oven - pretty much any size pan would work, the smaller the pan, the thicker the pizza will be.) with cooking spray or coat with oil. Place the pizza dough in the pan so it is evenly spread out - it doesn't have to be pretty - we sort of just tossed it in there.

Let the dough cook until the underside is browned, then flip the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the tomatoes and cheese. Let cook until browned and cheese is melted. Sprinkle basil on top.

You could cut it up but we just ripped off chunks.

Last weekend the hubby and some friends and I went camping outside of Salida, CO. There were some pros and cons to the trip:

Pros:

• Gorgeous aspen groves at our campsite
• A perfectly clear alpine lake to swim in
• Salida was adorable
• Kayak competitions in town on the Arkansas river
• Beautiful views of the mountains

Cons:

• No campfires allowed! UGH!
• Some rain
• The hubby and I forgot a ton of cooking stuff, oops
• The campsite was pretty crowded
• The general dull noise of generators

The highpoint I think was definitely the town itself. The feeling reminded me a little bit of where I grew up - a mix of an old, smallish town with the revved up culture of water sports and the people they attract. I am from an area of California where lakes (some very near by and Tahoe about an hour away) and rivers abound (Bear River, American River, Yuba River, etc.)



Despite being in the middle of nowhere, Salida had what looked like great restaurants, hippy-ish coffee shops, and tons of art galleries and boutiques that were fun to browse.

If you are from Colorado, definitely make the trip to Salida. You can hike, river raft, etc - and then enjoy a nice dinner in town.

As you may know, the hubby and I live in Colorado - north of Colorado Springs and south of Denver in a very small town called Monument. The hubby is originally from this area but I am a transplant from Northern California which I miss more than words can say.

I find that one way of dealing with a bad case of home-sickness is to get out and appreciate the beautiful and wonderful things of one's new home. In that spirit, the hubby and I headed down to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs yesterday to enjoy some unseasonably warm weather and gorgeous views.



I have been to Garden of the Gods several times, but wanted to take some pictures this time to share them with all of you. Essentially, Garden of the Gods is an incredible geological site of vibrantly red sandstone that has been pushed up and now sites completely vertical. The park is pretty large and it is difficult to capture the uniqueness of this site as well as the range of rocks in it with photographs - there is no substitute for the real thing. Nonetheless, these photos are my amateur attempt at capturing something truly beautiful and I hope you enjoy them.