The Off-Season

So it has been quite a while since I have sat down to tackle the task of updating our blog. I grappled with the idea that it wasn't necessary anymore, but I love having it to look back on myself. Since it has been months since my last post, I will do my very best to sum things up nicely.

As you all know by now, we loved our first season working at Cascada. Don't get me wrong, it was quite possibly the hardest either of us has ever worked, and definitely the longest stretch, but it didn't really feel like work. We fell in love with the town, met some great friends, and we really enjoyed getting to know our student employees.

And so after it was all over we, a bit sadly, closed down for the season and started what we affectionately refer to as our off-season.  It's a tough job (literally), but somebody's got to do it!

Onur, Domo, Marc, and I- the end of season crew on our last night.

We started out the off-season with a trip south to see friends and family in Arizona, Globe to be precise. I'll tell you, Arizona in September is much hotter than Colorado in July! We had become acclimated to 75 degree days.

I don't know who was more excited to get back in the RV, Marc or the dogs!

We visited the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens while we were in New Mexico for the annual food show. 

 This was our first time driving a distance through Arizona. It's amazing how the landscape changes as you head south. The road through Salt River Canyon to Globe was quite a trek!

After vising family friends Karen and Jerry, we kidnapped Mama and Papa Stokes and took them to the Tonto National Forest to go camping.

 I had failed to equip the RV kitchen properly,
but my ever-prepared husband handled the situation, no problem.

 

 Our first campground was rather crowded and busy, so the next day we scooted down to Schoolhouse Campground which we had all to ourselves.

       

 I encouraged Marc to find some hobbies during our off time. Bird watching maybe?

I, myself, found great pleasure creating pistachio art.

 The view from the top of the RV was the best.

 

   After we bid farewell to the folks, we headed north towards Colorado. Here, along Highway 40, we discovered the best thing about traveling in an RV. If you have to wait for someone to come change your difficult to reach tire on the side of the road, at least you can sit down inside your rig and have lunch!

If you are going to shred a tire, do it all the way!

 We could get used to life on the road.

Back in Colorado we got ready for visitors from the north and took a day to ATV out to Wheeler Geologic Area with our fearless guide, Keith. 

Wheeler Geologic Area is a geological phenomenon tucked back in the Rio Grande National Forest. The only way to access this astonishing site is by a rutted 14 mile 4-wheel drive road (which we took) or a 7 mile hiking trail (which we tackled later that week as well). 

Once there, the reward is great. The landscape was created 30 million years ago during the volcanic eruption of the La Garita Caldera. The remaining, eroded surface is made up of some of the most remarkable formations we've ever seen. 

The other cool thing about this area is that it is open to explore (carefully) to your heart's content.

                                    This is definitely a must see for anyone visiting the area!

Not until sitting down to write out our adventures did I realize how much we have done since we left Colorado. I will have to split it up into multiple posts! What has not slipped our minds, however is how thankful we are for having found the best bosses in the world who allow us to live the life we have always dreamed about. 

More to come...

Gearing up for the busy season!

Hello everyone! We have started to get busy here in Creede. We are at the entrance to town and it is fun to watch all the tourists drive in. This place is a RVer's paradise and we've seen rigs that run the gamut from ultra-luxurious to homemade. With the Mountain View RV Park around the corner, Creede is a wonderful place to spend the summer as a RVer.

It seems as though most of south Texas and half of Oklahoma call Creede their summer home. I can't say I blame them! With temperatures averaging in the mid 70's during the day and cooling down to the 40's at night, it's no wonder they flee to Creede to escape the Texas heat.

Because we are a seasonal restaurant, we are doing everything in our power to make sure people know that we are open. Marc found an old sign on the property and we painted it to encourage people to stop...

 

Would you believe some people still come up to the door and ask if we are open? That's okay, as long as they are coming in!

So far we have seven international students with four more coming tomorrow. They are having fun learning their jobs and hanging out with each other. Bo, Anna, and Annie hitched a ride with Marc to Alamosa (the closest "big city") where they found these very patriotic shirts at Walmart. 

As for me, I spend most of my time cooking up a storm and training my cooks in the kitchen. We make things like Chocolate Bread Pudding Tamales and Shrimp Taquitos.

         

Today was our first day serving breakfast, so our days will be getting a bit longer, but the Huevos Rancheros sure are delicious!

We still have time to take the dogs for runs, which they love!

Now that's a happy mountain dog face!

Marc and I are having a great time meeting new people every day and hearing their stories. The other day we had the pleasure of meeting a lovely group of ladies who were on a 50th birthday RV trip. The birthday girl was the former Sugar Queen of Louisiana and they had decked out their rented RV to honor her. It was so creative, we had to get a picture of them in front of it.

They even tried to steal Marc and make him their driver! But then, after their meal, they offered me a traveling chef position.

It's meeting people like this, that truly appreciate good food and a good time that make this job so fun!

Well, that's all for now. We will be hosting Mama and Papa Stokes as well as our friends the Masons on Monday and we can't wait to show them our new mountain town. Until next time, we love you all, and despite the fun we are having, miss you all very, very much!!!

We love our job!

Marc and I believe strongly in trying out what you are selling. I mean, how can I sell Chocolate Bread Pudding Tamales unless I know that they are absolutely, amazingly delicious? And how can we rent out ATVs with any confidence if we haven't ourselves taken them out on the trails?

So when our boss very graciously said, yes, you may take the afternoon off and go riding, we jumped at the chance. 

It was all in the name of good business practices of course. We learned how to check out the ATVs to guests, what to look for when they returned, and how to have an awesome time!

We followed a road up above town until we came to the intersection of Rat Creek Trail and the Bachelor Loop. We quickly realized that we were some of the first riders that had been out on the trail this season. 

We traveled as far as we could on our first path, but four wheelers are really made for mud, water, and rocks. Snow, not as much... Good thing we had a fabulous guide to show us the way and help us get unstuck.

Marc is standing in front of what was once the site of Bachelor City. During the mining boom in 1892, this town was home to 1,200 people, a dozen saloons, four hotels, a school, a church, a city hall, and a town newspaper! That's almost three times the current population of Creede! The people of Bachelor City decided it was easier to walk downhill to work from their city at 10,500 feet then it would have been to walk uphill from the valley where Creede now sits.


Below is a picture of the Equity Mine, one of the most recent operational mines in Creede.

 Yep, there's still snow, and it could be there until July!

Even after changing our course and looping around the historic Bachelor Loop, our progress was eventually thwarted by snow. This was fine by me. After seeing the hill we would have had to climb on the ATVs, I was happy to hoof it the rest of the way.

We parked our ATVs way down there and hiked up to about 12,000 feet, huffing all the way.

The sky was a beautiful, bright blue, the perfect backdrop for some great shots.

I think I need to work on my toe touches. My legs aren't quite high enough. Next time!

Marc had been talking about sledding since we arrived in Creede. And he finally got to do it! Unfortunately we had to use our behinds in place of sleds.

After resting and enjoying the view from the top for a bit, we decided to head back, and this time really put the machines to use. We can't wait to go back out when we can actually make it all the way up to the Continental Divide.

We definitely came back muddy! 

I love this shot of Marc. I just can't quite tell if he is enjoying himself!

It was a great day, one that made us very grateful for our jobs and happy to be a part of one of the most gorgeous places to which we have traveled.

Here's to more days like this!