Prior to last summer, I never knew this town existed. It was just by happenstance that our road trip out west was close enough to this little dot on the map. Our friends we travel with have family there, so an invite was sent for us to visit. Being able to avoid a night in the tents or a hotel, we gladly accepted.

Little did we know, this little dot on the map soon became one of our favorite parts of our trip. Located snuggly 2 hours southwest of Denver and an hour and a half north of Great Sand Dunes NP near the San Luis mountains (queue Gregory Alan Isakov) this was a great home base to be able to explore the area on our way further west. Salida sits at a cool 7000 feet elevation with surrounding peaks and passes pushing well over the 10k mark. It is part of a high mountain desert plain with plenty of wildlife and scenery to follow.

In the winter, this area is ski hill paradise. In summer, it is loaded with outdoor enthusiast looking to explore the trails, streams and rocks for adventure. Our stop also happened to coincide with the tail end of a whitewater festival where thousands descend upon the small town of 5000 to try their hand at taming the rushing river.

We ended up staying two nights here and enjoyed our time so much (insert best pizza place ever!), we made a point to change our route home to be able to swing through another night at the end of our trip.

When traveling, our end destination is the star and the reason for the trip, but my favorite parts have been the things we encounter along the way. By keeping an open mind and being ready to explore and go where the road or invites take you, you get to experience some pretty awesome things along the way you wouldn’t have.