Love on horseback

Well, we knew we had a ton of driving to get in today. It's roughly an 8-hour drive to get from Durango back to the Denver area. So Tom did some research and learned that Colorado is home to a huge collection of sand dunes - who knew?! - that were roughly on the way back. As we drove toward the dunes and started considering what else we might want to do, the subject of horseback riding came up, and (as no one turned green at the idea) we started making some calls. Turned out we could catch a sunset ride on our way toward Colorado Springs, so that became the plan.

(Tom has a different version of the above events).


The sand dunes were very delicious.

See picture.

Moving right along to the interesting part, a rustic cowhand captivated or attempted to captivate the heart of fair Angela.



As the the story goes, Angela, as the expert rider of the group, was assigned to Dawn, a horse with a mind of her own and a swift hoof. Linda was assigned to Phoenix, a hungry horse. A slow, unmotivated animal was relegated to Tom.

Off the intrepid party moseyed, winding up the side of the mountain, fording the Chalk River, and galloping up the trailhead. Along the route, Keith (name changed to protect identities), the aforementioned cowhand, who was serving as the party's guide, sidled up to Angela and mentioned, while demonstrating his manly horsemanship, that he, in fact, was no longer married. Angela maintained a noncommittal pose. At the conclusion of the ride, Tom asked for a restaurant recommendation, and Keith offered up Quincy's Steakhouse as a suggestion.


Monday night, it turns out, is filet mignon night at Quincy's, a dining establishment especially suited for the indecisive, as the menu choices consist of steak ounceages and potato toppings, period. The man knows how to do steak, and do it well.

Full from their dinner, the party drove back to the comfort suites at Comfort Suites of Colorado Springs.

5 points to the gentle reader who correctly guesses the point at which this blog's dictation was delegated (hijacked).