We were up leisurely but still had alarms set. It would be a full day in the car but not a 12-hour Yellowstone day drive. So we needed to be out in the morning, just not too early.
As Amanda made coffee, I started the car to warm up. I met our host as I was outside, and we chatted for a while. I went back inside to get Amanda, and as we left, our host met me at the door. Another bottle of Prosecco in hand, saying he didn’t like the one he initially gave us. The new one was his regular, and much better, he said!
As we met cars, many would have 6″ or more snow on top, likely coming from the Telluride area, which had received more snow at higher altitude. We would see many blue jays on this trip as well.
The drive would start with mountains far away, getting closer as we got towards Telluride and Mountain Village. This area is my favorite so far, but to stay here, you’d have a crick looking up because you’re so close to them! I really enjoy the view from our Ridgway cabin with a distant view.
Leaving the Mountain Village area was beautiful. The mountains and snow would grow, for after a while, we would begin to see cross-country skiers.
We stopped in the small town of Rico to use the restroom; coffee was working its diuretic magic! The bathroom had a funny sign asking you to be a customer if you used the facilities. I bought a few extra snacks because of said sign!
The area would flatten out between mountains enough to be suitable for cattle. We started to see small ranches with a good many head. One ranch had a few cowboys pushing cow-calf pairs up in the snow-covered pasture.
It would open up more and more. The mountains would become far off then get as we turned back towards Durango; we could come up alongside them again.
The snacks would bring on the hunger, or it could have been some of the junk we’ve eaten outside our normal eating. We don’t usually eat refined carbs or sugar, and now when we do, it’s noticeable.
As we would be closer to Durango, the mountain views would improve. The views were pretty, but the people were ugly, in attitude at least! We were looking for some veggie sushi and went to a local grocery store; it was a rough place. I was telling Amanda what a crap hole the store was, and she said yep, it was all over the bathroom floor, literally. No sriracha at that store would lead us to another just a ways down. No luck there either, but the store wasn’t much better than the last. I’ll try not to judge the town by the one store, but two hints about the rest of town, I’d say.
We were looking for a good spot to eat lunch as we left town. Finally, we came up to a pullover that just so happened to be next to a hot spring. We pulled up right next to the spring for a nice view while we are.
It would seem that outdoor recreation never stops in Colorado. We would see tons more skiers, hunters, and a snowmobile after leaving Durango.
We stopped in Silverton at the visitors center to get some info on the town. They didn’t seem to know much about what was open in town. The drive through town would prove nothing to be open. The city would remind me of what I’d seen on shows of small Alaskan towns. Dirt streets covered in snowy slush flanked by rickety stores on either side. I wish things would have been open.
The road from Silverton to Ouray, dubbed the million-dollar highway, would prove to be a fantastic stretch. Some spots have 10 mph switchbacks. These sharp turns making 90-degree hairpin turns would be so sharp the turn signs for both directions would, at one angle, show the arrows going both ways!
The road would drop right off the edge. It was straight down too. The white line ended, and so did the road, not an inch to spare. Not even enough room to hold the snow that had been plowed, much less a guard rail.
It would reach a point where the edge of the road on the mountainside would be solid rock cliffs. The snow had begun to melt, causing large icicles to form.
Finally, we found a spot to stop and take a picture of Amanda with her and the final remaining cookie.
The last stop before reaching Ouray would be a falls. The water would fall from under a bridge attached to the side of the mountain. There was a platform that spawned out over the cliff. It was quite an eerie feeling being out over the ledge on catwalk grate you could see through to stand on. I had to coax Amanda out on it to take pictures!
This may not be the most scenic drive ever, but it’s the most scenic drive I’ve ever been on. It was gorgeous and worthy of the name Switzerland of America. I can only imagine the view of the real Switzerland. That may have to be a trip in our near future to compare! It reminds me of a picture of the Italian Alps in Amanda’s hospital room while recovering from her heart transplant. I remember writing about that picture and how a trip there would be a grand celebration of the transplant. Now with a trip like that in the works, it seems surreal how far we’ve come.
We went to Ridgway for a cheat meal dinner. True Grit cafe would be the choice recommended by a few. Getting its name from the movie, which is mentioned previously. It just so happened that the movie was filmed in this area. I wasn’t that far off in the location after all! Amanda would have a salad to start and mac and cheese with sauteed broccoli. I started with a green chili, then a wagyu chicken fried steak with black beans and broccoli. Both were ok, but nothing spectacular. We keep getting sad meals for our cheat days; it’s becoming not worth it. Amanda said cheating is for losers, as she stays more compliant than I.
The host asked in the morning if we’d want a fire tonight. He had to cover everything up when the snow moved in. We were ready for a night by the fire, so he was nice enough to have everything out and ready when we returned. Paper with kindling and logs ready to go, all I had to do was light it. I fixed us both one of the warm apple cider concoctions I came up with the other day, and we sat by the fire till it was almost burnt out.
With the recent True Grit information, I picked the movie to watch tonight! The site of the last shootout I mentioned before is close by and on our list for tomorrow, along with Gunnison, but I think the road is still shut down. If that proves true, we’ll hit the Black Canyon of Gunnison, just outside Montrose.