When I learned our friends, Brian and Missy Gamble, were going to be tent camping near our route, celebrating Missy’s birthday, I changed our plans a bit to hang out with them! We stayed four nights at the Chalk Creek Campground, about 10 minutes from Buena Vista. The campground bordered a cute creek; but unfortunately our site was closer to the highway and playground than the creek, so it was pretty noisy. It could have been worse when six 15 passenger vans pulled in one afternoon with a bunch of middle schoolers, but they ended up respecting the quiet hours and only stayed one night, so it was fine. Being able to spend time with the Gambles made it worth it!
Randy and I biked and walked around Buena Vista and the river before the Gambles arrived. We especially enjoyed biking around South Main, which is a new planned community with cool homes, and upscale shops and restaurants. The photo of the tiled furniture was taken in a park and is an example of the fun vibe we felt there.
The next day, Randy and I drove to St. Elmo while the Gambles were hiking a fourteener. St. Elmo is one of the best preserved ghost towns in Colorado and was interesting to walk around and learn about its history. I was surprised at how many cars were there, most with empty trailers. Evidently, it’s a popular place to go ATV’ing, with nearby trails geared to the side-by-sides, so lots of people were enjoying that. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at a waterfall we had admired on the way up and ate a picnic lunch.
That evening we ate together then all went to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs and enjoyed soaking in the hot water on the edge of the river and in a couple of pools. Afterwards, Brian (very easily) talked us into going into town for ice cream. We went to the very popular Louie’s Ice Cream Shoppe. Yum!!
The next morning, we did a guided whitewater inflatable kayaking trip down the Browns Canyon that was super fun! The rapids weren’t as hard as in Canyon City, but plenty challenging enough for kayaking. Having to maneuver around the rocks and rapids all on my own made it more adventurous. Randy and I somehow managed to not flip out of our kayaks, but Brian and Missy made the trip more exciting by each flipping out two or three times. I got stuck in the “toilet bowl” rapid and quickly figured out how it got its name! I spun around about six times before finally getting flushed away from the rapid. The guide, David, had made it back to help me, since he was sure I was about to flip, but I somehow made it out, laughing at the thrill ride.
Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at the Simple Eatery before heading back to the campground for the rest of the night and leaving the next day.
0 Comments