Road Trip 2013: Touring North America (Part 2)

We eventually had to take leave of Louisiana and drive to Austin, Texas, where more of Don’s family eagerly awaited our arrival. Don’s older sister lives in Austin with her husband and two beautiful children, and Don’s younger sister just moved down to the area as well. It was such a lovely change of pace to spend time in a home with two little kids. We were able to relax a little more than usual and also fall in love with Don’s 2-year-old niece and 1-year-old nephew. It’s not every day we get to spend time with young children, so we had a lot to learn and plenty to be entertained by. We spent the few days barbequing, running, exploring downtown Austin, and taking lots of pictures. Leaving Austin was probably our most difficult goodbye because we knew the kids would grow a ton before we saw them again, and Don’s sisters and brother-in-law are not just family, but also great friends. If only Austin were in the mountains and 20 degrees cooler, we would move there in an instant. Knowing we had less than a week left on our road trip, we left Austin and drove toward Durango, Colorado. We decided to stop in Taos, New Mexico for a night between our two destinations, going off of nothing more than a friend’s mention of the place. When we got to Taos we were blown away by the town’s charm and mountainside location. We knew immediately we needed to spend more time there, and enjoyed a full day exploring the ski resort, Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, and many of the town’s historic restaurants and shops. Although still too close to the desert for our liking, we felt like we had stumbled upon one of the country’s best-kept secrets. Taos is a bit like an unpretentious Breckenridge, and worthy of more than just a passing mention. We left Taos very eager to finally check out Durango, a town that we had heard a lot about and thought we might someday move to. However, by the time we got to Durango we were so tired of the desert and so eager to explore the mountains, that we drove right through town without looking back. That day our drive took us through some of our favorite scenery we have ever experienced. The San Juan Skyway weaves through massive mountains (many of which are over 14,000 feet tall) and it left us speechless for much of the ride. We decided to spend the next couple days in the small mountain town of Ouray, otherwise known as the “Switzerland of America.” Ouray completely satisfied our cravings for fresh air, high-altitude exploration, and snow-covered vistas. We spent a full day hiking around town and exploring its famous canyons and waterfalls. From Ouray we drove through Telluride on our way to our final stop of Moab, Utah. Telluride is beautiful, as we expected, but it is also a very wealthy town, and has a completely different feel than Ouray, its “sister” city. Telluride backs up to mountains and the main street is clean and picturesque. We walked around a bit, stopping into a few gear shops and sipping on over-priced coffee, before hopping back in the car and driving a quick 3 hours to Moab. At first, we weren’t overly impressed with Moab. We checked into a hostel in town and began our routine of driving around, gathering pamphlets, and meeting locals with the intention of getting to know the town as quickly as possible and coming up with a “plan of attack.” It wasn’t until we spent a full day hiking around, observing mountain bikers on the “Slickrock Trail”, and fully exploring Arches National Park that we began to understand the hype. Moab is one of the first places we will return to after we finish our travels, and we’ll make sure we have our mountain bikes in tow. Another fun aspect of our time in Moab was the Lazy Lizard Hostel where we stayed. It was Don’s first time staying in a hostel, and it gave us a great taste of things to come. We made a few friends from all over the world, and enjoyed breakfast with a couple of them before leaving town in the morning morning. Everywhere we were lucky enough to visit while on this trip was impressive and moving in its own way. This is an incredible country we live in, and we feel like we’ve only just begun to explore all it has to offer. Now we’ve got a week to get everything in order and then we’ll be off again! We’ll make sure to upload a new blog once we’ve been thoroughly overwhelmed by Buenos Aires and all that goes along with overseas travel. To hear more stories of adventure, and for more photos, please visit our personal blog at life-well-traveled.com!