Day 13: Telluride, Co to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Crawford, CO

'After a week of enjoying all that Telluride has to offer, on Saturday we woke up knowing we had to say goodbye...but not before one last trip into town.

We decided to take Scout with us on the gondola and spent the morning enjoying baked goods from Baked in Telluride and took one last walk down main street.  It was "Wild West Weekend," so there were horses and carriages up and down the street.  This gave the town an even more picturesque and ethereal feeling.  It felt as if we had traveled through time to a magical place nestled in the mountains somewhere.  It's interesting how when you are given a diagnosis like I was and you don't know if each time is the last time--everything takes on a more vibrant and vivid tone.  I guess we should all look at life that way--because who really knows if this time is the last time (diagnosis or not)--but it is something I've noticed since my world was changed so dramatically back in November.

After riding the gondola back up to the cabin, we put the last of our belongings in the scamp and reluctantly pulled out of the driveway to start our journey back east.
Even though we really didn't want to leave, we had to because we have tickets to a music festival soon (Duck Creek.. Yip!Yip!).  We didn't want to race home though, so we left with enough time to fit in a few more adventures on the way home.

Our way home takes us by one of Kevin's favorite National Parks, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, so we stopped in for a return visit.  I've learned how difficult it is to find a campsite on the weekend in Colorado without a reservation, so I reserved the final remaining spot in the campground loop a few days earlier.  It was a relief to be able to just pull in to a spot and not have to worry about whether or not there would be any spots available when we got there.

It was dinner time by the time we set up camp for the night, so we decided to just hang out at the campsite and relax.  Kevin put up the hammock for me, and i read while he cooked up some amazing brats.  The weather was gorgeous, but I felt bad for the dogs at this site because the ranger informed us that we could not even walk the dogs around the campground loop because the mule deer were breeding and were extremely protective!  We actually knew he wasn't joking around since we were charged by a mule deer the last time we visited!  Our rescuer? Grumpy and typically timid Reno!  He charged right back at that deer.  I guess it is best that they instituted that policy after all.

As the sun set and I began falling asleep in the hammock, we decided to climb into bed in the scamp for the night.  In the morning we had plans to drive the scenic South Rim of the canyon--a drive we started the last time we visited but did not finish.'