TERRI'S TRAVELS: Cross Country Skiing & Ouray, Colorado

My breakfast this morning: a slightly over-ripe banana that turned black after freezing in my car overnight. Yum!

I stayed with Dennis last night, but Chelsea had to go to work super early and asked me to go back over to her house to walk Lucy. How could I say no to spending more time with this cutie!?

And it's not like it's out of the way. Telluride is so small, you could walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes.

Now since I didn't get around to trying the cross-country skiing thing in Aspen, I knew I had to take the opportunity to try it here, where the nordic center was still open. Dennis and Chelsea both knew people working there, so I got half off the rental price and free range of the course, where I was the only person out that morning!

I'm a fairly athletic person, and usually pick things up pretty quickly, but man, this was hard, haha. I only fell a couple of times, but I just felt so awkward. And what a workout!

Thankfully, Dennis got off work early and came to save the day again. He's one of the few people patient enough to put up with me when I'm trying to learn something new. ;)

Once I'd had my fill of cross-country skiing and was sufficiently sweaty, Dennis and I decided to check out Ouray, a nearby town known for its ice climbing -- something else I really wanted to try on this trip but am too late in the season for.

We stopped at Del Gnar Taco in Placerville for lunch on the way, and then hit up the local thrift store. I can't drive by one without stopping to see what treasure I can find. ;)

And I found another K-State item. A hat this time. My dad had one just like it! And a camouflage KC hat!

I don't think Dennis enjoyed my thrift store stop as much as I did, haha. Poor guy didn't know what he was getting in to when he said he would accompany me to Ouray for the day. ;)

I even made him carry my thrift store finds back to the car for me: three old suitcases that I am going to take the handles off of for my nightstands that Christa painted to look like suitcases.

There were a couple of Hot Springs parks along the way, but we didn't stop. I was interested in the Ice Park and some under ground "vapor cave" Dennis told me about.

The ice park looked pretty awesome, although it was a little less cool when I found out it was man made. I mean still cool! Just a little less. ;)

It was sunny and warm in the sun, but oh so cold in the shade around all that ice. I can't imagine how cold it would be down in that canyon. So I'm re-thinking my desire to ice climb...

I put Dennis to the test again as we walked the entire town of Ouray and stopped in every single store that I wanted to stop in. I did buy him some dessert, so he didn't complain. I just love cute little small towns with fun shops to check out!

Finally it was time to check out this "vapor cave" underneath the Wiesbaden Motel.

Honestly, it was pretty creepy down there. It was dark and musty smelling and oh so hot. There's not air flow down there, just...vapor. I could barely breath when I first walked in. Your body adjusts to it eventually, but I didn't last long. It was too hot - the air and the water.

We ran outside for a quick refreshing dip in the heated pool, before briefly returning for one more go in the vapor cave. It was even more miserable the second time around, so we showered and left.

Really cool place to check out, but don't plan on spending all day down there. I think you would die, honestly!

Back in Telluride, Dennis and I cleaned up and went to a bar for some dinner. Veggie burger for me!

He had to work "security" at a concert at The Sheridan Opera House that night, so I tagged along. I was supposed to be couchsurfing with another guy near Placerville, but that kind of fell through, so Dennis let me crash for another night!