Apple Orchard Inn

A couple of days ago Andrea was posting pictures from their family get away and lamenting that it had taken her two weeks to do so.  Yikes, I have never finished our Fourth of July get away…and I do not have a house full of littles to distract me!  It kind of guilted me into finishing…and giving my poor blog a little attention! 

So the last half of our trip was spent in Durango and the Apple Orchard Inn.  Getting there was a bit of an adventure.  It was supposed to be a beautiful ride through the mountains near Telluride.  I distinctly remember Wally turning around and taking another highway than the one we were on.  The good old GPS said we missed our turn.  After a couple of hours in the most desolate, deserted part of Colorado, I asked Wally if we were ever going to come to a town!  There was not another vehicle on the road.  We never saw a house or even a drive leading to a house, just some mailboxes.  We did not see any cows, just signs that said there was “Free Range Cattle.”   And there was certainly no snow though there were many signs declaring “No snow plowing between 7:00 pm and 5:00 am!”  I kept having scenes from all those old western shows of the poor people stumbling across the desert with their lips all blistered and  clothes all dusty!  Then, all of a sudden the road turned and we came up on the most beautiful hay and wheat fields!  We were flabbergasted!  And just as suddenly we rolled into Dove Creek.  Ever hear of it?  Me neither.  Somehow we were fifty miles west of Cortez!  We stopped for gas and a break and still made it to Durango by five o’ clock! 

We had reservations for two nights at the Apple Orchard Inn.  It has been on our B&B list for a few years and we finally made it. 

It was just what a B&B should be, quiet and relaxing. There was a lovely pond out back and cottages that could be rented.  We enjoyed sitting out there to have devotions in the morning.  Our room was in the house, the Roma Gold room. 

We spent a couple of lazy days just shopping in Durango, trying local restaurants and a lot of napping! 

We left on Sunday with plans of getting home in time for the Patriotic Bluegrass band at church with ice cream afterwards.  We were doing great  and should even be there a bit early…until we were eight miles from Fairplay.  Traffic came to a dead stop.  We had no idea why but it took us over an hour to move that eight miles.  I even got off the bike and walked a bit.  Then as we finally got into Fairplay we realized that the one traffic light in town caused all that back up!  Unbelievable!  Needless to say, we missed the Bluegrass and ice cream!