French Quarter Jazz, Jazz, Jazz

In our naivete when we booked the trip we were really disappointed that the jazz festival was not on while we were there BUT what we didn't know was that the French Quarter Jazz was on. Over 20 stages of fantastic musicians . Incredible free jazz for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

New Orleans here we come!

We were due to leave Gunnison at 4.00 but throughout the whole day there had been dire weather reports - mainly from Denver of high winds and snow. When we booked the trip in January it had not really occurred to us that we really could have snow in April (Even though we had been told that it snowed right through to July last year!)

So as we sat at the airport we were wondering if we would ever take off ............but we did and arrived in Denver just in time to race from one end of the airport to another only to find that our plane had been delayed for one hour due to bad weather. An hour and a half later i got a text message from United to say that the plane had been delayed for half an hour ........typical United efficiency.

While we grumbled we just did not know how lucky we were - a ton of snow had fallen in Gunnison and everyone who had decided to set out on Friday found themselves stranded! We got into New Orleans at 12.30 to find that our shuttle had been waiting an hour for us ...........we were not real popular as we got on and everyone turned around and stared.

Our guest house right in the French Quarter on Bourbon St was just fab! We dumped our stuff and headed off to explore the night life! Well I say night life but as far as we could see the party never stopped.
We got back at about 2.00am realising that this was going to be a hell of a weekend!!!

Mesa Verde

Set off in bright sunshine and guess what! It started to snow............could hardly see Mesa Verde or the ranger leading the walk...............at least we don't have snow at Barrenjoey!!!
Luckily being spring........the snow stopped and the sun came out.........snow melted and so we could head off down the wooden stairs.

Once the clouds had lifted the views were spectacular. The igenuity of the early Pueblams in creating a city embedded in the caves and cliff sides was awesome (decided to go native!!!) Incredible how they kept themselves warm and cool in this volatile climate. What an amazing experience!

4 seasons in one hour - Yellowtail B & B

Arrived in wonderful sunshine to our beautiful lakeside cottage which had been lovingly furnished by Peggy - fantastic antiques and gorgeous artworks. Everything you could possibly need.

During the night we awoke to the crashing of torrential rain on the roof, the deep rumble of thunder and bright flashes of lightning. The first rain since we have been here - oh no we thought how will we climb down the ladders into the Mesa Verde.

We needn't have worried. We awoke to about 6 inches of snow!

Roger the researcher!

Roger has started travelling to schools to start his research into effective strategies to engage middle school learners. I have tagged along to a couple of schools and it is really interesting to see the different school cultures. Schools have their own mascots in the case of Columbine it is the Rams (Gunnison =Mustangs).

Loved the way Centennial created a wall of fame for their students by making pottery tiles with the students handprints embedded............looked great.

Deep dark Black Canyon

The Black Canyon of Gunnison is a magnificent deep gorge with spectacular mountains - about 1hr from where we live. Everytime we have planned to go the snow had beaten us but finally we made it .........don't you love Roger's mountain look? We were testing out our new stove and tea making kit ready for summer camping! In the summer you can do boat trips right through the canyon.

Happy Easter Everyone

We're off to Mesa Verde for Easter. Snow is due so hoping we get over the mountains OK.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter (Click here for Easter card).

love Julie and Roger

Morning walk

Hartman Rocks is the new Shelly Beach! A bit different to my usual morning walk!

Spring today!! Winter tomorrow!

Whoo hoo! Spring is here!!!



And then it snowed! and snowed! and snowed!

All aboard the Silverton Durango railway!

Durango is famous for its amazing rail trip to Silverton. We arrived to see the train leaving but decided that with open carriages it was probably a trip for summer! Spectacular scenery though ---- can't wait for spring and summer!

Go Durango!!! Great street sculptures

Had a great weekend in Durango - real cowboy town! Spent our days window shopping, strolling along the rive and we just loved all the street art...........and comments!

Loved driving through San Juans!

Fantastic to have a weekend away in Colorado. It is so huge and so much to see - and so little time to see it all. We headed off to Durango - avoiding Red Mountain with its precipitous roads and spectacular scenery (Yet another summer trip!) via Lizard Pass. Everywhere is just so beautiful and driving through the San Juans, Ridgeway and Telluride left us with the feeling that really we could take weeks doing this rather than just a weekend.

Apple Orchard Inn was lovely and we sampled some great American hospitality - yet again.


Telluride was fantastic - rode up gondoliers. Couldn't believe how gorgeous it was.