Winter Weekend

This Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend was spent up in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. We drove with a group to Pagosa Springs and stayed with another family in a condo there. Pagosa Springs is a cute little town along the San Juan River and is famous for its mineral hot springs. The whole region underwent major volcanic activity about 25 million years ago, but there are some residual "hot spots". When we drove into town, the wind was blowing in our direction, so there was the unmistakable sulfur smell in the air. The hot springs cost about $20 a person and we did not want to spend that kind of money to sit in the hot, smelly water out in the cold winter air. But the jacuzzi tub in the condo was odorless, bubbly, and free!

The rocks in Pagosa Springs are mainly sedimentary rocks from gravels, sandstones, and shales, and as you drive along US 160 (following the San Juan River) toward the Wolf Creek Pass and the ski resort, more and more basalts are seen. The higher we drove, more tuffs and welded tuffs were seen on the tops of the peaks where the snow wasn't covering them.

We skied at Wolf Creek Ski Resort on Sunday and it was a perfect day for it.  The sun was out, it was in the 30's, and there were only a few high, wispy clouds. The views from the top of the Bonanza and Treasure lifts were incredible and the snow was nicely groomed and not too fast. We stuck to the easy runs for most of the day since we were with the kidlets, but I got to go on a more advanced run late in the day after they had decided they'd had enough skiing.

At the end of the day, we all sat around and relaxed, taking turns in the jacuzzi tub since it only fit two adults comfortably. We had stew that had been cooking in the crock pot all day for dinner and then watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together with brownies for dessert. All in all, a great weekend.

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Neat