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!

Our life these days...

So Marc and I have been working pretty hard lately! The restaurant was fairly busy for our first two nights. After that we slowed down a bit and we have been steadily training since then so we can be ready for our high season which starts in about two weeks.

We are still taking hikes whenever we have time to enjoy the beautiful sights. The trees are starting to get green here which makes it even more gorgeous!

I spend the majority of my work day in the kitchen. I'll have to say that I have quite enjoyed getting back into a restaurant. I'm having a ball training my cooks and getting to cook everyday.

Marc has been very busy taking care of the bar, the front of house, and managing the cabins. Here he is taking care of business.

Here we are after our first night.

These four guys are our first international students. Can you imagine traveling across the world to a small mountain town of 400 people? They will have a fabulous summer no doubt!

This picture makes Marc very happy. He is using his Jeep for what it is made for, pulling ATVs in the mountains! 

Check back again soon for some pictures of our day out on the ATVs!