Fun to have visitors.  We always felt that on the boat, and it’s just as fun when folks from out of the US come to visit us in Durango.  We’ve been quoted many times saying, “We get to see our ‘old familiar things’ thru fresh eyes, our visitors’ eyes”. This week’s visit by Chalong (just like it sounds ‘Cha-long’) from Trang, Thailand was almost as exciting for us as it was for her.

As many know, we have great friends in Trang, Thailand, among the Trang Cycling Club, and Chalong is the wife of TigerSong the defacto leader of all our Sunday and weekend excursions, each of the three years we’ve stayed in Trang.  TigerSong and his crew have toured us repeatedly around southern Thailand showing us sites, events and occasions that the average foreigner would never see or even notice.  We finally got to reciprocate when one of “their own” came to Durango.

Ever since learning the term “breaking the fun barrier”, I’ve used it with abandon, and once again we practiced what we preached.  Chalong only came for four days and the first day was aborted by United Airlines when her flight was delayed 18 hours due to equipment issues.  But she hit the ground like a champ when we thrust her into an open-house potluck (potlucks don’t happen in Thailand – if you can’t afford to feed everyone you invite, you just don’t invite many.  It must be a matter of ‘face’ because they do have big parties and the host provides and usually has a rented tent, tables and chairs).

Chalong is just finishing her studies for a Doctorate in English and she’d come to the states for a month of classes in San Francisco to prepare for her final exams.  We’d convinced her Durango would be a great diversion between classes and testing back in Bangkok.  The open-house was super as she got to see and talk to many folks about language, culture and her country.

The next day we drove the “million dollar highway” in search of snow, which she’s only seen in pictures.  Neither of the two passes had accessible snow left, so we motored right thru Silverton and up the Alpine Bypass to Eureka where she finally got her wish in an avalanche debris flow that had almost as many broken trees as snow.  Her smiles, laughter and joy were priceless.  As we approached historic Animas Forks town site she got lots more snow opportunities.

We picnicked in the ghost town parking lot and zipped back to Silverton where Stanna and Chalong boarded the Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad open car #20 and rode thru the Weminuche Wilderness toward Durango.

Next day was just as ambitious, because we visited Mesa Verde National Park touring both Balcony House and the Cliff Palace with another picnic lunch between tours.There was barely enough time to freshen up back in Durango, before we took in the Bar D Wrangler Chuckwagon dinner and Cowboy music show.

We took over 250 photos of her enjoying some of Durango’s highlights. Thanks Chalong, for reminding us what a wonderful place we live in.