Salida, CO

Traveling. Mountains. Gigantic rocks. Walmart. Downtown. Shopping. Amíca’s. Naps.

Extreme weather.

Yesterday after departing from Wakeeney, KS, we entered the mountain time zone and the lovely state of Colorado. Along the way to Colorado Springs we endured many different weather conditions. From dust storms, to sunshine, to snow, it was quite the adventure. But this mix of weather was no match for our LeAnn, who drove us through these with ease.

Upon arriving in CO Springs we toured the Garden of the Gods. We got out once to take this entertaining selfie, and stayed in the car rest of the time. We were not expecting this cold, snowy weather!

As we got closer to Poncha Springs and Salida, our drive became one through the mountains. We weaved in and out along the mountainside with the Arkansas river on our right. We stopped at a small little park area to stretch, use the restroom and take in the beautiful scenery.

We spent the rest of the day unloading and settling into the cabin. After our two days of driving we were pretty exhausted.

Wednesday, our first full day in Colorado was spent exploring downtown Salida. Our original intent was to hike some trails along the mountains, and we had been given some maps from the visitors center. Unfortunately I’m a terrible navigator and after searching for the starting point of the trails for almost half an hour, we decided to spend our time shopping.

The scenery in Salida is simply beautiful. Mountains, mountains, and more mountains. All covered in snow.

While exploring Salida, we adventured into many different consignment and thrift shops, with treasures around each corner. In fact some of our exciting finds weren’t even inside a store. We found this cool guy on the sidewalk and had to snap a pic!

We enjoyed a phenomenal lunch at Amícas with calzones, paninis, and pizza. The service was spectacular and the food was definitely satisfying.

Before heading back to the cabin for the rest of the day, we had to snap a pic for Pitt State’s twitter #WhereYouAtWednesday. It’s wonderful here in Colorado.