Vacation Journal

We didn’t go to Mount Evans.  We watched the news on Wednesday night and learned that they were still having major problems with traffic on I-70 near Idaho Springs.  During the heavy rains last week, they had a major landslide that completely covered the west-bound lanes.  They only have one lane in each direction right now and things back up.  They periodically have to stop traffic while they blast some of the boulders that are on the road.  Apparently two or three of the boulders that fell are the size of a house.  Anyway, we called and changed our motel reservations to next Thursday night.

We did go for a four-wheel drive on Thursday afternoon – San Juan County Road 14.  I’ll send a picture.  The road climbed up to a ridge top at 12,000 feet and followed the ridge for a mile or so.  We had great views in all directions.  We’ve decided to come back here a couple times with picnic lunches.

We also took a sunset drive along the Million Dollar Highway to watch the sun set on Red Mountain.  There are three Red Mountains near the pass between Ouray and Silverton.  They are called Red Mountain #1, #2, and #3.  We actually were watching #2 and #3.  They are, in fact, red and they are very bright red at sunset.

Friday we drove down to Durango, which is a 100 minute drive from Ouray.  We were going to pick up a photograph we purchased at the Ridgway Crafts Fair last weekend.  We met the artist at noon in the Denny’s parking lot.  We wanted a size (8x16) of a certain photo that he didn’t have in stock at the Fair, so he ordered one for us and matted it.  It shows golden aspen and Campbell Peak near Telluride.

We originally planned to visit a quilt shop, shop at Wal-Mart, and go to a movie.  While Charolette was at the quilt shop, she learned of a quilt show going on that day over near Cortez.  She also learned that a “shop hop” was in progress, so she signed up to get the prizes at this store.  We changed our plans and drove over to a quilt store in Dolores and then visited the quilt show.  The quilt store in Dolores was owned by someone named Robertson.  Charolette noticed that their shop hop gift was a pattern by a lady named Robertson who owned a quilt shop in Overbrook, Kansas called Osage Quilt Factory.  Charolette has been there before.  She asked if the two Robertsons were related.  It turns out to be the same lady.  She retired from Kansas and moved to Dolores, Colorado.

We drove back to the RV on a road we had never been on before just to check it out.  As with all roads in Western Colorado, it was scenic.  We stopped in Ridgway to eat at the True Grit Café.  Ridgway is the location where a lot of the movie True Grit was filmed.  It’s 10 miles north of Ouray.  We had a nice day with pleasant weather.  We got back to the RV about 7:30.  I had to refill two of the hummingbird feeders because they cleaned them out in one day.