Salida is an awesome little mountain town. We were there from Sunday, May 22 until early on Tuesday, May 30 parked outside Kathleen and Mike’s house.

Kathleen is a friend of mine from yoga teacher training, and it was so good to be neighbors with them for a bit. Or maybe I should say “neighbors with benefits,” since most neighbors don’t come in and use your shower, washing machine, and back yard. 😉 Thank you guys! They also showed us all the cool spots in Salida, of which there are many. Mike also knows the answer to just about anything you’d ever want to know about Salida (Bike trails? Check. History? Check. Local economy? Check. Good pizza? Check.).

Salida is a very outdoors-oriented town. Salida is situated on the Arkansas river and is home to the oldest whitewater festival in the country. It’s about 30 minutes from Monarch Mountain ski resort. On top of that, there is a vibrant community of cyclists (both around town and mountain biking). So, the culture of the town suited us well.

I got to do a lot of exploring while we were in town. I visited the local meat and cheese shop (Scanga), took several yoga classes (at The YogaTonic, where Kathleen is teaching twice a week starting today! Take her class if you’re ever in town!), and did lots of running on the extensive trail system.

In the afternoons, we often biked into town (nothing is more than a mile from anything else, really) and looked at little shops or ate yummy food. Nik normally would have been in the play park (a whitewater wave that you can walk up to with your boat and play around for as much time as you’d like) every morning and afternoon when he wasn’t working, but he was on call for work, so no dice. He did get on the water Sunday, though. 🙂

Everyone was so very friendly. I know a lot of that is just the small town vibe, but some small towns are just more welcoming of outsiders than others. Salida is very welcoming. When I went grocery shopping I did not take into account the extra time it would take to have longish (at least by grocery store standards) conversations with several complete strangers. Our last day in town Nik and I stopped to help some people plant a new tree. Mike and Kathleen’s neighbors at one point came up to us, and we thought they were going to be upset with us for parking an RV near their house. Instead, they wanted to know how much we pay for RV insurance because they were considering doing the same thing. It all felt very neighborly.

 

Salida is one of those towns we can see ourselves coming back to. It is gorgeous, super laid-back, and is surrounded by all kinds of outdoor sports we love. Not to mention the people are great. 🙂

 

Now we are in Victor, Idaho which is just barely over the border from Wyoming. It’s outside Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. We will be here until Sunday for my first half marathon of the Caldera triple challenge, Satuday’s Grand Teton Half. More on this leg later!