Mileage: Zero!
I woke up pretty early and talked some with my mom. It was nice to catch-up some and hear about her trip to England with her friend Trisha. Around 7:30 Ricky came down and suggested we go out to breakfast. As we walked down Main St. he veered into the very same place, Carver Brewing, Karma and I went for beers the night before. Of course, the same waitress walked up to take our order and recognized me. I got a bagel with lox (my first on the trip!) and it was really fantastic. Me and Ricky lingered over coffee and he didn't get to work until close to ten. It was really nice to be able to spend time just sitting around and catching up with a close friend. It felt so familiar, which I think is one of the things I miss most about being at home - the routines, the people, and the places which weave their way into your everyday life until they become a part of who you are. It's only when they are gone that you realize you're missing landmarks that remind you who you are.
After breakfast, I walked up the Animas River towards the library the smell of spring floated through the air. At 6,500 ft Durango was in full bloom with blazing orange poppies, Crimson columbine, blue and purple Iris, and much more. Rafts and kayaks swept past on the water and the occasional shriek of a young rafter reached my ears. I entered a different world when I got to the library, from one of every natural sight, smell, and sound to the sterility and quiet of the modern, concrete building with computers and books all around. I took care of a few emails and caught up some with friends.
I also read letters from Laura and Ali (my housemate for two years), and it really made me miss home. Laura made a beautiful watercolor of a cactus for me, which I want to keep but am afraid it will get ruined so I'll probably send it home. About 1pm I headed back to town and had an awesome Tibetan/Nepalese lunch buffet with Ricky. I started with an enormous plate of salad and then followed it up with two heaping plates of rice, naan, catfish curry, vegetable tempura, lentil soup, and vegetable coconut curry. Every dish was thoughtfully spiced and incredibly delicious. I also might have been hungry. Again, it was great catching up and hearing about Ricky's thoughts and future plans over chai tea. I realized we both had been seriously thinking about a NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) course and have very similar values when it comes to teaching with the outdoors. It's funny how a place affects your conversation - in two years living together in Omaha, somehow we had never talked about something that was very close to both of our hearts.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in a coffee shop before we headed over to the hot springs after Ricky got off work. We soaked in the hottest pool they had for over an hour and chatted about Turkey, where he had lived for six months and where I had just visited during my time in the Middle East. We also talked about Egypt, our travels there, and how horrible the current situation is under military rule. We admired the beautiful flowers along the springs and finished with a sauna as the sun set.
For dinner we made a feast with tons of veggies and other ingredients from Natural Grocer. We had Spaghetti with Eggplant and Italian Seitan, salad, and a garlic baguette. To finish the night we Skyped with aome of our best friends back in Omaha, Todd and Chelsea, which was awesome. They were an hour late to our Skype date - I had guessed it was because they were at the Homie - I'm not sure that was right, but I'm pretty sure there was drinking involved. Todd proclaimed he was 'my biggest fan' and reads every blog. Again, I was reminded of home and tried to convince them to come out and walk with me.
The next morning I woke up to Tomagomaki - a thin Japanese egg roll-up that Ricky is especially good at making - with salad. I went back to library and finished blogs and transferred pictures. We had Thai for lunch (it was no Salween) and then went to coffee shop and had a mocha and took a nap. We finished the afternoon with some bouldering at Dalla mountain park where I demonstrated how completely out of climbing shape one can be despite walking 14 hours a day for two months. We still had a good time and I took pictures of Ricky doing some crazy ape shit. I had him take a picture of me that made me look badass.
We headed back and had leftovers and talked. We finished the night with some very underrated Three Twins Chocolate peanut buttercup ice cream and went to bed earlier than we had been so we could get early start in the morning. The next day we were headed to Silverton and back to the trail.
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