Ridgway, CO

Sunday, September 19

Not all travel days are exciting. Somedays, we need to recalibrate — shower, do laundry, clean the RV, dump and fill up on water. Especially needed after camping without services over the weekend.

Today, we left Amphitheater Campground in Ouray and back-tracked 15 minutes to the town of Ridgway, nicknamed the “Gateway to the San Juan Mountains.” Andi and I were surprised to find, but Ridgway is a quaint small town. On Sunday morning when we arrived, there were lots of families gathered in the city park, kids playing on the playground, neighbors chatting as they pushed their kids on the swings and several restaurant patios filled with people having brunch.

We parked the RV on the Main Street and walked a couple blocks to a restaurant called Kate’s for breakfast. Unfortunately for us, there was a long line of people waiting to be seated, so we crossed the street and tried a newly opened restaurant called Provisions instead. This menu was right up Andi and I’s alley - yum! I ordered two poached eggs over arugula salad and Andi and Aden both ordered the breakfast plate with a combination of eggs, potatoes, bacon and sourdough toast. Tory had just eaten yogurt in the RV, so she shared a small plate of food with the boys. The four of us sat outside at a little bistro table to eat & enjoyed a sunny, warm morning together.

After breakfast, we walked back tot he city park where Aden and Tory played for a bit. Then we all sat inside our RV and vegged while we waited for our 1:00pm check-in time at the RV Park. Andi is not a big fan of KOA campgrounds because they’re over-priced and crowded, but we opted to stay at one tonight because we needed to take showers, do laundry, etc. and there aren’t a ton of camping options with services in this area of Colorado. We could have gone back to the Ridgway State Park, but we’d already stayed there and we hate going back to the same place twice.

We finally made our way over to the KOA around 2:00pm to check-in and were disappointed to find that our campsite was right next to a motorhome with three giant barking dogs. The worst! Andi told the park manager that Tory was afraid of dogs and asked to be moved. Yes- Tory is afraid of dogs, but it’s also super annoying to listen to other peoples dogs bark every 10 minutes while you’re parked next to them. The manager agreed, and moved us to another spot across the RV Park. Much better.

We had full hook-ups at this KOA, so we all showered, did laundry and hung out the rest of the evening in our RV. Andi and I considered taking the family to Orvis Hot Springs not far from the KOA, but the place is clothing optional and we weren’t sure it would be appropriate for little eyes. In the end, we decided to just hang out at home.

Andi grilled a pork tenderloin for dinner with beets and tator tots & we sat outside at the picnic table together to eat. At least this area of the KOA wasn’t as packed in as the other section.

Tomorrow, we’re making our way to Telluride, CO. We’re excited because Andi was able to score us a reservation at the town park campground in the heart of the city. We’ve always wanted to spend some time there, so we’re excited to see it.