I’m a retired nurse-midwife living in Montrose, Colorado, at the edge of the Colorado Plateau. For thirty years I helped bring people into the world. Now I spend my time exploring it — with three small dogs, a full tank of gas, and a lot of miles of red rock and sagebrush ahead of me.

This blog started as letters to my grandchildren, Maia and Isaac. It still is, in a way — every post opens Dear Maia, Isaac and Virtual Travelers — because I hope that someday, when they’re ready, they’ll come back and read about the places their grandma went and the things she saw. Until then, I’m glad you’re here reading along.

We travel Western Colorado and the American Southwest — canyon country, high desert, mountain towns, and the back roads most people drive past. Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Dead Horse Point — this is our territory and we know it well. Follow the Three Amigas on Instagram at [your Instagram handle here].

The pup crew are all special needs rescues, and every one of them has earned their place on the road:

Kachina was feral until age two, when she was rescued and learned — slowly, on her own terms — that humans could be trusted. She’s named for a southwestern daylily, like her sister. You can find the daylily side of our world at Colorado Kid Daylilies.

Koko — short for Kokopelli, also a southwestern daylily from that same Colorado Kid Daylilies world — was rescued from a hoarding situation in Texas, one of ninety dogs. She arrived labeled hospice. Nobody told her that. With good veterinary care and a lot of love she has absolutely flourished, and she would like you to know she has opinions about everything.

Cimarron Esti came to me at age twelve after her person passed away. She was born in Estes Park — my own childhood hometown, which felt like more than coincidence — and her former name was Simone. She needed a name that fit where she was going, so she became Cimarron, named for the mountains. She arrived with big anxiety, the way sighthounds carry their feelings in their whole bodies, and a lot had changed in her world very fast. She has settled. She belongs here now.

All three of them ride along. All three of them are why the miles matter. Visit their Instagram page The Traveling Pup Crew!

When I’m not on the road, I’m home in Montrose making things by hand — hand-cast cement planters, gnomes, and art rooted in the same landscape I love to travel. That work lives at Art from the Hartt and in the Art from the Hartt Etsy shop if you’re curious.

Welcome to the journey.