Rain & Cherries & Wine...Oh My

Camping is a very popular activity in Colorado. And everyone wants to camp at our spectacular State Parks. Reservations fill up 6 months in advance. So last winter I arranged 5 days at Crawford State Park in southwest Colorado, It's about 4.5 hours from home and we had to pull Rhoda up and over the 10,662 foot high Vail Pass and the 8,770 foot high McClure Pass. Shortly after leaving McClure, it began to rain...torentially. Every car that approached us furiously blinked their lights. Rounding a corner we saw what they were warning us about - a hillside had just given way. Rocks and mud covered our side of the road. Grateful for the warning, we slowly maneuvered Rhoda around the mess. The rain tapered off ,revealing the beautiful West Elk mountain range.

We made it to Crawford just as the sun came out.

We awoke to a bluebird Colorado day. The town next to Crawford is Paonia, famous for its orchards and vineyards. So we gave the dogs a good walk and headed to Paonia. Our first stop was The Root and Vine Market, which just happened to be inside the Qutori Winery. Not wanting to disappoint the lovely and hospitable Debbie, I sat at bar for a wine tasting. I think I heard the angels sing when I took my first sip of Qutori's 2023 Reserve White Pinot Noir West Elks. That wine was utterly perfect and it took all of my self control to buy just 3 bottles.

Another couple came into the winery and began talking about the Paonia Cherry Days festival coming up on Thursday. Cherries? Cherry Festival? What??? I LOVE cherries! Amazingly, Orchard Valley Farms was right across the street and we could go into the orchard and pick our own cherries right off the tree! Within minutes we were standing in the midst of hundreds of trees laden with plump, juicy cherries. Jamie and I nearly ate ourselves sick with the most delicious bing and ranier cherries we've ever tasted. We managed to fill two bags with 6 pounds to bring home.

Cherry Heaven!

Are you jealous? They taste even better than they look!.

Then we drove over to the Paonia Town Park for the weekly farmers market . As if this day wasn't already amazing enough, we found Terry, a yarn spinner and indie yarn dyer.. I couldn't resist buying a couple skeins of her gorgeous yarn. She and one of her customers invited me to a knitting club meeting tomorrow.

How to finish this glorious day? With a delicous dinner grilled by my dear husband and a campfire. I was too. busy eating cherries to even think about S'mores. Good night and sweet dreams from Crawford, CO.