Ericca and I are here in the Southwest enjoying the high elevation, hot sun, green chili, and red rocks. Well, I'm always here, but it's SO much better with Ericca! (Ericca is dried UP, but she's learning quickly that the body requires a 3-times-a-day lotion application.)
We thought we'd say a collective "hello" and "we love you" and share some details of our most recent adventures west of the continental divide.
I (Ericca) flew into Albuquerque on Friday night and we started the visit off right with a nice (cold) New Mexico beer. New Mexico has awesome beer, and you should come drink it. with me. (melissa)
We stayed at my (melissa's) friends place, but she was sleeping when we got there and when we left the next morning. but she still looks cute when she sleeps, and ericca got to see that.
We pit stopped at REI in Abq to gear up for a backpacking trip. A nice man who worked at REI convinced us to turn our one night, two day hike into a two night, three day hike and we ended up very happy with the added time in the wilderness (more to come on this adventure).
Before REI though, we went to grab breakfast in the typical southwest fashion: scrambled egg slop with spicy stuff, wet beans, and usually a very delicious and hot tortilla. Can someone explain why southwestern food is so bad in the southwest?!? If you come, just stick with the tortilla.
The ride from Abq to Gallup is a good 2 hours. There is only one route, I-40, and when there is an accident (very often due to the massive amounts of tractor trailers that cruise east-west) the ride can easily become 4, 6, 10, 100000 hours long. in the blazing hot sun. We were re-routed onto historic Route 66, which was very cool to see (historic junk yards for days).
We finally got to Gallup at after about 4 hours and I (ericca) got to see some good old Gallupian traditions. First and foremost, getting asked for money at the gas station. By asked for money I mean, a lady walked up to me at the car and asked if i would like to buy her necklace so she could have gas money. From what I've heard (and seen), this is a common practice and the money is not usually for gas. I also got to see the tail end of the Gallup Flea Market which is another big to-do here. Commonly sold goods include: Navajo tacos, tamales, hand-crafted indian jewelry, knock-off indian jewelry, puppies, birds, cats, tires, horse saddles, a myriad of ceremonial herbs, native chanting on home-made cassettes, knives, sports jerseys, sno-cones, and awesome junk, junk, junk. Finally, we stopped to get food and then went home to Melissa's house!!
We got to relax a bit at home before heading over to see a dear friend of Melissa's, Bob. Bob was having a going away party so I (ericca) got to meet the crew and unfortunately say hello and goodbye to Bob all in one night. Let me just vouch for the amazing group of friends Melissa has found herself here in Gallup. We had a night full of good food, some tasty beverages, and lots of laughs.
So, the next morning we awoke at the crack o' dawn to head on North to the Weminuche Wilderness, within the San Juan and Rio Grand National Forests, in Colorful Colorado. (Someone explain how they put the wilderness in the forest, in the state forest, in the national park, with the national monument...does this system make sense to anyone!?) With great anticipation for what lay ahead (bears, raging rivers, smelly hikers, things with spikes!) we set off into the Wilderness. Characteristically, we had no idea where we were going, but we had a map! And Ericca had read the guide book the night before, and man, did her memory prove to be SHARP.
We started off thinking it was a 26 mile hike, and we had 3 days to complete it. It turned out to be a bit longer, not too bad though. However, elevation can cause, well, it had many side effects that you would never guess! We're writing a book about them all. Stay Tuned!
The craziest thing is that Ericca went from sea level to 13,000 ft in 3 days! I (melissa) took one look at her muscles and knew she was tough enough for anything, but it was still an incredible feat. I think most people puke and die from that sort of drastic change.
We got a bit of a late start on our first day in the wilderness due to some getting lost and nearly running out of gas, but we made it to our first camping spot before dark. It was a beautiful little spot with a view of a peak right from our sleeping bags. What a treat to wake up to the sun rising over a 12,000 ft Mtn peak!!
Our second day was full of magnificent meadows, wondrous wild flowers, fabulous fourteen thousand foot peaks, strenuous switchbacks, and a gorgeous glacier lake. We gained 3,000 feet of elevation in about 7 miles and then got back down to around 9,000 feet for our second night of camping. We found a nice spot near a river (where we took the coldest bath of our lives!!) and watched a strange group of hikers watch us for a suspicious amount of time. We went to bed that night listening to the river rush by, with the sun still in our eyes. It literally had to be 6 PM, but we were dang tuckered out.
Side-note: have I (melissa) mentioned yet what the sight of water does for my poor, dehydrated soul?! The whole trip satisfied an ache for moisture I didn't realize had grown so deep. Rivers! so wet. so refreshing.
We woke up the next morning and booked it out. We hike to a quick 4/4 beat, counting it out to keep a consistent pace. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8. When that gets boring we sing "I don't Care" by Icona Pop.
We didn't completely rush out though because the water kept calling to me (melissa). When I suggested to Ericca that we dip our toes in the water what I really meant was can we strip down and get the hell in there?! She definitely picked up what I was putting down because she quickly proceeded to slip off the rock straight into the rushing, glacier water. This was all after attempting to gracefully slide in, and not before putting her hair in a bun to keep it dry. Pointless. I watched her whole head submerge. Oh, did I mention we were stark naked as the day we were born?
We then dried our goose-pimpled bodies off on a warm rock. Right on the side of the trail. We won't detail what that looked like.
And of course, as soon as we began hiking again we ran into a gentle, elderly couple who's hearts most likely would have stopped if we had gotten dressed 2 minutes too late. Impeccable timing.
Okay, this is getting long. So here's the short of it. We got out of the woods, were ambushed by a heard of sheep, stopped in Durango for dinner and beer (delicious again), saw a bicycle fashion show and grabbed some sweet shwag, caffeinated, listened to some live music, convinced ericca she's moving here, peed on the side of the road, saw a crazy orange moon, listened to lots of country music, got home, showered, moisturized, slept.
The next day we went hiking in McGaffey Park (again a park, within a state forest, within a mountain range, WHAT?!) and went up a mountain and fire tower, and saw 3 horny toads! Then we came home and made falafel and brussell sprouts and homemade ice cream. (more like sweet, icy milk, YUM) We had a cardboard fire and painted each other's backs. Really hippied out.
Today was a sad day when I (ericca) woke up and realized I would have to return home. We planned to make the best of it though, of course. We made a tasty breakfast then went for a drive to find a lake, but it was all dried up, naturally. So we snuck into the hotel pool here in town and went for a refreshing dip! Now it is time to moisturize, get packed up and head back to Abq to catch my flight home.
I'm (Ericca) sold on the southwest and I hope this awesome account of our adventures (all in a week!) will convince you all to give it a try! I (melissa) will happily house you for 100 days before you need to start contributing to rent.
We both love you all and miss you all. I'm (Ericca) going to try to have a party at my house when Melissa is home too, so maybe we'll even get together twice in one month!
Did you make it far enough to see the pictures?!
beautiful Aspen groves
this is where we had to ford the river because the bridge was taken out by an avalanche
a collection of most of the wildflowers that we came across, the bottom right is the CO state flower, the columbine.
the glacier lakelove, love, love,
ericca and melissa
