The Trip Home (Day One).

Well, today was our last day in Estes Park for this trip. We had to be out of the cabin and checked out by 10:00 AM. As usual, I was up early. I took the dogs out for a short walk and for a potty break. Then, the rest of the morning was spent eating breakfast and getting things packed up to go. Again, Lisa was SO efficient! I’d barely have one thing ready when she was ready with other bags packed! All of us managed to be packed and ready to go by 9:15 AM. We all caravanned down to the Y camp and checked out. We said our goodbyes to the others, and then Lisa and I took Reese and AJ to the dog park for some play time before heading out on the road. The boys had a great time swimming and chasing balls at the park. I think they were pretty worn out by the time we got them into the car.

There’s not too much to tell about this day of travel. We did stop in Castle Rock so that Lisa could check out the outlet mall stores there. She only went into one, though. I was walking the dogs around the parking lot getting them a bit more exercise.

Then, near the end of the day, we were passing through New Mexico, getting close to Clayton when we saw signs for the Capulin Volcano National Monument. Well, this really excited Lisa and she wanted to stop. Since it was only a couple of miles off the highway, I thought it sounded like fun. So, we went! It was cool! We have lots of pictures, but again, Lisa has them on the digital camera, so I’ll have to supplement them later on the blog.

After Capulin, we made to Dalhart, Texas by 9:00 PM. We stayed at a pretty awful motel, the Budget Inn. It was rather smelly and seemed dirty, but at least it was only half as expensive as the Days Inn & Suites in Dumas was! Still, $75.00 a night for that place wasn’t exactly a bargain. They did have an internet connection, so I got caught up on my emails. After walking the dogs, we had pizza for dinner and watched a really bad movie — Reign of Fire (Matthew McConaughy and Christian Bale) — and then went to bed.