Mesa Verde, CO

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The first couple of pictures you will see are of me following Tommy across the pass. It was not fun, but we made it!

Today we went into Mesa Verde National Park. Yes, I got another stamp for my passport. Its getting pretty full. The park entrance is 13 miles from the visitors center and it took 40 minutes to drive there. The park itself is 20,000 acres in total. The roads are twisty and full of switchbacks. The scenery is beautiful but not what we expected. We both thought the rocks were going to be red, as in Moab. They are not. They are sandy  in color. Still pretty though.

We hiked a while and visited several cliff dwellings. The pictures we took,  at first,  look like clay models. But they are not. They really are inside a cliff and were made over 1000 years ago. Some of the 'villages' as they are called, you cannot walk through. All of them are made of sand stone, which is fragile. Some of the villages you enter into and truly explore them. In one village we climbed down a 8 rung ladder to an underground ceremonial section. It was very weird, but cool.

We also visited the museum while there and ate at the restaurant they have. (I packed a lunch, but when we pulled into the picnic area and set everything up - I forgot to put the sandwiches in the cooler. We had everything but the food!) Hence, we at the extremely over priced, over cooked, and total tourist trap of a restaurant.

We came home relatively early so we can cook a good steak for dinner and sit outside and watch the Dolphin/Jets game. The temperature here is 74 degrees and just lovely. We are still quite high in altitude - 7400 feet.

Tomorrow we hit the road again. It will be a long ride. 288 miles to Flagstaff. We want to spend a while there before heading to Albuquerque because we want to actually house shop there. The place we both would love to live in forever is out of the question, so Flagstaff is another option we're hoping pans out for us. (The place we want to live in is Telluride, but a 1 bedroom condo is almost 800K.)

Okay, time to start dinner and watch the game, thanks for reading and have a good week coming up!

Silverton, CO

Saturday, September  25, 2010

We are still in Ouray, CO. Its a great little community nestled in a valley and the people who live here are very proud of it. They all consider it 'the most beautiful place in the world'. They are not shy, in the least bit, to tell you all about its history. It is very pretty and it is very close nit.

Yesterday, after breakfast we headed toward Silverton. It is only 30 miles but going through the pass it take a little more than an hour and a half. The pass is indescribably beautiful. (I know the mountains probably all look the same to you but - every single turn we made was just - stunning!) We felt as if we were in the middle of a Bob Ross painting. Every tree was 'happy', and it was 'our own little world'. hehehehehehe.

Once in Silverton, which is yet another little town nestled in the mountains, we toured the Main street. Well, the original Main Street, first. It was really interesting to see that they never paved the road and it remains as it was over 100 years ago. It is very wide and most of all the original buildings are still standing. They have gutted alot of them and brought them up to today's standards with indoor plumbing and electric and heat, but the shells are original.

After we did the original Main Street, we walked 2 blocks to the 'tourist trap Main Street'. The have bars/saloons, souvenir stores, or restaurants. That's about it. Oh, and they made this special store - just for me!!! (can you tell which one it is?) NOT!!! We didn't even go inside! We spend 4 hours in this town and had a great day. Tommy even bought new hiking boots, and I got a beautiful Opal pendant encased in silver, of course!

There is a train that transports people from Durango to Silverton, 3 times a day, and back. Its almost like Key West when the Cruise Ship pulls in! The streets become flooded with tourists. Cameras going off everywhere. We often wonder how many people take us home with them in their photos! The train is actually very neat. It is run on coal/steam and we talked with a couple who took it. They said it was wonderful and the scenery was outstanding. We will find out today because we plan on moving to Durango for a couple of days.

On the road trip back to Ouray, Tommy saw a dirt road which lead up to the top of a mountain. He kicked in 4 wheel drive and off we went. We ended up at an old mine that was completely caved in. There was a small waterfall so we cracked open a Corona and stayed a while. Enjoying the view.

We got back on 550, the pass, and once again we saw a side road. That one led us to an old abandoned mining place also. There were 3 houses that were dilapidated but we entered into them anyway.  They seem to be abandoned a while back.

Once we got back on the pass to come back to camp, we were delayed a while, about 30 minutes. They were blasting rock from the sides of the mountain and getting ready for the winter avalanches. It didn't bother us waiting there because we watched them work and it was engrossing to us. Along the way, they have cement walls/baby tunnels, for known spots of avalanches.

There are alot of scenery pictures in this blog because it is so incredible! I hope you do not become bored with them.

Once home at camp, we took care of the animals and headed back into town. We walked the 3 or 4 blocks from where we are staying. The temperature dropped dramatically and it was all up hill to get there. We headed to an old movie theatre where C.W. McCall narrated a 45 minute film on the San Juan Mountain Range. He, you remember him - he is the guy who sang the 'rubber duck' song....'breaker breaker 1-9, I think we got us a convoy!' Yeah, that guy. Well, he is 81 now and he lives here and is probably the most proudest citizen they have.  The film was mediocre, but what was exciting is that he was there. We went to the 8:30 show, and I guess all the geriatrics were all ready in bed because we had our own private showing. The entire movie theater  was ours. Mr. McCall, real name William Fries, was as nice as can be and would talk for hours if you let him. He was willing to take pictures and give autographs, but we declined, mainly because we walked into town empty handed.

Today, well, about an hour ago - I was supposed to be ready - to hit the road to Durango. Alot of the scenery pictures I am posting are so you can see the pass and just how very narrow and steep it is. Very, very scary. They close it for months in the winter. If you are in a valley and they close it - you are stuck there until the snow melts. You need to make friends quickly!

Anyway, we are NOT hooking up the truck to the RV to drive over there today. I will follow Tommy behind. We will go very slow and I'm sure Ill pee my pants more than once. (Just kidding, I have those adult diapers). HAHAHAHAHA!

Well, wish us luck getting there, and thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!