The Sickmiller Express

This has been one long month. One looooooong month. I can't wait for May. I don't have too many exciting things happening in May but I don't think it could get much worse. I'm so stressed and I don't consider myself a stressful person (as in full of stress not one who causes stress, either way though). A college friend is coming out to the area at the end of May so we'll get to do some camping and he might come up to Silverton for a night so I can't wait for that.

The train starts up next weekend and I'm excited for the town to fill up with people again. Locals think I'm a bit mad for wanting the rush of people and supposedly I'll change my mind by the end of the season. For now though, I'm excited.

ALSO for the finale of things I'm looking forward too. I just got an email confirmation from my parents. They have bought plane tickets and will be coming out in the beginning of June. CAN'T WAIT for that. YAY.

The last few days? Bought a bed, went and picked it up in Grand Junction (longest day ever), then got sick and missed three days of work. Decided it was time to head to warmer pastures and ended up at Chaco Culture National Park near Nageezi, NM. It was our first time visiting New Mexico and was well worth it.

The park was very isolated and we spent a good 8 miles bouncing along a dirt road to get to the gate. Before that dirt road there was a sign that said the campground: FULL. Uh oh. We didn't spend too much time worrying about it though because the sign was so far away from the actual entrance to the park that I wouldn't imagine anyone would go and change it during the day. We headed straight to the campground (it was technically outside the park limits), grabbed a sign in envelope, and started scouring the sites. While looking someone alerted us that they were leaving and we could park outside their spot and wait for them. Yay! It was one of the neatest campgrounds we've seen in a NP. Our site was awesome, the perfect place to sit around a fire and appreciate the park. We didn't do any real hiking because I was still feeling kind of lousy but since it is a culture park a lot of the features didn't require too much walking. Here are a few pics for your enjoyment! (Click to enlarge)

If you only want to look at a few make sure you choose 'Pueblo Bonito from the inside' and 'Fajada Butte'. Those are the best two for getting an idea of the park as a whole.

Not much going on this weekend. I've been looking forward to it after the last two weeks. We were VERY busy two weeks ago and this last week has just been generally a little stressful. My plans for the day? Do some sewing, play Mario and Sonic Olympics and then on to dinner and our Netflix movie.