– Wednesday, 6/28/2017 –

This morning started out with a loose plan for everyone to head to the Echo Canyon Reservoir for some hiking, fishing and general exploration.  Since Echo Canyon Reservoir was only a few minutes from the cabin, we left relatively early and got plenty of time to explore.

Echo Canyon Reservoir gave us an interesting take on the scenery – beautiful water backed by ridiculously high mountains.  The guys got to fishing, not catching much, but fishing nonetheless.  Josh was pretty stoked about his catch of the day – HAHA!  I took some time to grab a geocache that was only a few steps from where we parked the truck. (The geocache was called Spot The Difference Elliott Family #1)  We got to see some ducks and ducklings and some type of armored lizard type critter.  It was a great morning!

Josh’s brother’s girlfriend proclaims herself a “foodie,” and, as such, she insisted that we visit a restaurant that was highly recommended on Yelp (and also apparently by a local who she had some type of conversation with).  So, we all headed to the recommended spot for dinner – Chavolo’s Taqueria.  There was some conversation about it being a nice place, overlooking the San Juan River, with a big deck outside.  Upon arrival, I was admittedly skeptical for a number of reasons.  It was tiny, in a strip mall and there weren’t many cars in the parking lot despite being dinner time.  (And there was definitely no deck.)  My suspicions were confirmed when our dinner was delivered – it left A LOT to be desired.  The general consensus among our group was that everyone’s meals were tasteless, almost like they forgot to use any type of spices or seasonings.  We later found out that Chavolo’s Taqueria is a chain restaurant, popular throughout the midwest.  Needless to say, we’ll try somewhere else next time.

On our way back to the cabin, we saw 4 mule deer buck along the road.  While the pictures I got make it look like they’re in a fenced in pen, they’re really not.  Well, kind of.  The fence is for the free-range cattle on the massive ranch and the deer are just out near the fence.  Pretty cool and definitely not something commonly seen in Marysville, Pennsylvania.

Josh and I took a 10ish mile drive on Blanco Basin Road (County Road 326), just few moments from the cabin.  Timing was EVERYTHING on our drive, as we started back the road just as the sun had started to sink.  Saw 32 mule deer, 7 of which were buck.  The sunset was absolutely beautiful tonight.  Something that no camera could ever, EVER capture.

Once we got back to the cabin, we did a little star gazing from the front porch.  There was not a cloud in the sky and it was a perfect night to check out the view.  We used the app that I had installed on my phone for star gazing at camp (SkyView Free) and were able to see Jupiter and Saturn, plus a bunch of other constellations.  It was a beautiful night, though it got pretty damn cold for the end of June!  Colorado life is pretty amazing.

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $61.41 ($61.41 on groceries at Walmart)