Camping trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado!

I grew up camping with my family in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Unfortunately, high school sports, college, moves across the country, and just plain busyness hit and our camping trips to Colorado were no more. I was very excited when last summer it worked out for Manny and I to take a trip with my parents to the Rocky Mountains. I hadn't been there in over 10 years and was excited to show Manny one of my favorite places. I've found myself becoming a lot more nostalgic in my late twenties and have really been missing all our camping trips and the beautiful outdoors. So what does a claustrophobic southern California resident do? I follow all those beautiful Colorado towns on Instagram and dream of living there. In fact, I now realize I have a whole state to explore! 

A few months ago while in the pharmacy at work, I grabbed a Sunset magazine and came across a section about campgrounds in the West.  One that caught my eye was located in southwestern Colorado and had inexpensive cabins for rent. I looked it up and was excited to see it was in one of those cute towns I follow on Instagram- Pagosa Springs, Colorado! So the hubby and I made plans to drive out with our dogs over Labor Day Weekend and explore the San Juan Mountains. It worked out for my sister (another Colorado lover) and her family to camp with us along with my aunt who has also been wanting to explore the state!

We packed up our car and drove 13 hours across southern California into northern Arizona through the four corners (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico) into Colorado. I'd love to say it was a beautiful drive but truth be told California and Arizona are not so pretty (with the exception of the Flagstaff, AZ area) so it wasn't until about 11ish hours into our drive that things started to get pretty.  The drive through Durango into Pagosa Springs was beautiful and it got prettier as we drove to our campground north of town.

We camped amongst the beautiful Ponderosa Pine trees in the San Juan Mountains

 We hiked to Piedra Falls...

 We explored parts of the San Juan Mountains and the Piedra River Trail

Blake took charge of "Wowa" all weekend. He took her on walks, told her no when she barked, and showed her the cows 

We spent an afternoon at the Williams Creek Reservoir

And we just enjoyed God's beautiful creation and our time together experiencing one of our favorite childhood past-times. We were all thankful for that relaxing weekend and look forward to returning to the beautiful San Juan Mountains!