Days 15-22: Still in Colorado

 

Okay, I haven’t had reliable internet for a few days, so I have to catch up a bit. Prepare for a longggg post!

After Boyd Lake, we went south and spent one night with Mike’s Coworker and friends Chris and Hannah who have a lovely mountainside home with stellar views and amazing hummingbirds. 

Then, we spent several days at Chatfield State park, south of Denver. We kayaked at the lake, which wasn't our favorite because the water was dirty, but we saw some great wildlife...pelicans, herons, frogs, a turtle, all sorts of ducks and birds...Ember had fun swimming for her ball as always. I tried Pepper on the kayak. She did not like it at all. 

We drove down to see some friends of Mike’s brewery in Lafayette, and the highlight of this stay was a concert at Red Rocks, a world famous outdoor amphitheater.  We went to see Killer Queen, a cover/tribute band from England. They were pretty good. The concert started about 30 minutes late due to a weather delay, which produced the most amazing rainbow.  Then, the band probably got through about ¾ of their set when another weather delay was called.  Since it was thundering and lightning, then pouring and they were predicting it wouldn’t come back to finish for a least an hour, and it was nearly 10pm already, we decided not to wait for the last of the show and to head back to camp. It was still a really fun experience, even if it ended abruptly. 

After leaving this area, we drove to Ridgway State Park, near Ouray.  The next day, we went on a tour of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. There are some amazing views and steep cliff faces in this park. We also found a hiking trail where the dogs were allowed for once so they got to go on a hike with us as well! After exploring this, we headed back to the state park to check out the lake and nearby area.  We did some swimming in the lake and had some dinner.

The next day, we hooked up and started our mountain drive. We stopped for a couple hours in Ouray, which is the cutest mountain town, known for hot springs and off-road Jeep tours, neither of which we could do with dogs and at 9am, but we wandered around main street and got some breakfast.  Then, we continued the drive over the mountain. There are some cool waterfalls and old mining camps to view along the way.  The steepness of the road had me nervous and hiding my eyes, which Mike says he doesn’t understand since I wasn’t the one driving or towing the trailer, but there were some heights!  It’s gorgeous too.  The pass is called Red Mountain pass, and there was some stunning color!  This road between Ouray and Silverton is also known as the Million Dollar Highway due to the amount of riches that came from these mountains during the silver mining rush era.

We stopped for lunch in the mining town of Silverton, known for a narrow-gauge railroad that goes between Durango and Silverton. It still runs as a tourist attraction, but again, dogs (and camper,) so we didn’t take it. The views from town are amazing though, and there are some fun old buildings. These mountains are just gorgeous!

We continued driving after lunch until the town of Durango, where we camped for the night. Before dinner, we took an hour to explore downtown Durango, popping in a few shops and having a cocktail at Durango Spirits Company. It’s another fun town, this one bigger and more down in the valley at the base of the mountains. 

The next morning, we visited Honeyville, a place that makes honey products, including their own distillery as well as whipped honeys, jams, sauces, etc…sounds cheesy, but we bought some great local produces. And we also visited a farm stand for some great produce (hello…palisade peaches, Olathe sweet corn, and Green River melons—if it has a place name before the food, you know it’s good, and in this case things I’ve missed since living in CO before!) We then set out to Mesa Verde, aiming to arrive around noon so we could check in at the campground immediately upon arrival. As soon as able, we checked in at the campground to unhook the camper, put the dogs in a kennel for the afternoon, and set off to explore Mesa Verde. We viewed several of the big cliff dwellings including Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House from overlooks and viewpoints driving through the parks. We actually had tickets to do a tour down into Balcony House, which was a treat but also a challenge. To get into and through Balcony House, you have to start with a 32 foot climb up a ladder, squeeze through a narrow tunnel, and then at other parts, you have to go up several more ladders and in one spot crawl on your hands and knees through a tunnel that’s 12 feet long and 18 inches wide.  It’s not for the faint of heart but was pretty cool to see inside a cliff dwelling!  We had a good afternoon exploring, but it was also hot, with the dashboard showing 100 degrees at some points!

We’ve been to 4 of 5 states and 5 of 6 National Parks now. Next, it’s on to Arches and Utah to round out those stats! And, we will be home one week from today!