When we finally had enough of Mesa Verde, we drove down to Columbine Canyon campground which lies about halfway between Questa and Red River, New Mexico. The drive from Mesa Verde through Durango, CO and Pagosa Springs, CO, and on to Chama, NM was nice and easy. The tough part was from Tierra Amarilla, NM over a mountain range to Tres Piedras, NM where you dropped into the Taos valley. The road was fine, but we were doing it in the dark and there were a lot of critters out and about. I probably saw in excess of 10 mule deer, 6 or 8 elk, a fox and several mice along the side of the road. Thankfully, none of them decided to become my new hood ornament.
This was the part of the trip that everyone had been waiting for. It was absolutely the best possible way to end a truly fabulous vacation. We met Andrew Crooker with El Paseo Llama Adventures in the parking lot of our campground around 9:45 this morning. He already had the llamas unloaded and saddled up. In the pictures here, you see Avery astride her trusty steed, Rudy, and Erin atop the playful Vato. (I love how he posed for the picture, too!)
These were the sweetest animals in the world. Neither Erin or Avery were strapped in. They simply sat atop them with their feet loosely in stirrups. Holly had Vato on a lead and I had Rudy. Meanwhile, Andrew had three more llamas tied together that carried our lunch in saddlebags. I rarely had to pull on the lead...only occasionally to keep Rudy from stopping to munch on whatever he could get his lips on.
More in the next post...
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