We woke to a snow-covered field and Mountain view this morning. I finally moseyed out of bed and down to the living room next to the wood stove. I’d planned ahead and took the remote for the stove with me to bed. As soon a I woke, I turned it on. The room temp on the remote showed high 50s yet we were still too warm with all the heavy covers on. So we’ll be taking one of the blankets off tonight.
I was going to make a cup of coffee but Amanda said she’d make it. That meant we’d be getting lattes, she doesn’t do regular coffee. I finished yesterday’s post uploading the photos and publishing it. Amanda still mad about the missing puzzle piece started a new one. A lake reflection of a mountain here in Colorado. A much larger one than the Teton puzzle.
I walked outside to feel the cold weather. With my now orange juice instead of coffee I didn’t stay as long as yesterday. The mid-twenties temperature didn’t help either! The view was quite different than yesterday morning.
As I mentioned, the house is warmed by a pellet wood fire stove. It was recommended we turn it off at night. Good thing we do because the upstairs master loft open to the living room gets hot with it on. The baseboard heaters aren’t near as warm as the Wyoming cabin, and it’s rather cold here. They ask that the wood stove be turned off while we leave too. I wasn’t looking forward to returning with colder weather and fire going.
We’d planned to leave in time to hit Telluride around lunchtime. We didn’t even leave till after lunchtime for the hour-long drive! I would be the one hangry today. Once we left, we needed to pick Amanda up another knee brace. Unfortunately, the one we picked up yesterday was too small, fitting her good knee but not the other that would be swollen. Her orthopedic doctor has been holding off on surgery, giving her shots. Almost a year out from when she fell on mission last year, it seems she’ll likely need the surgery. She’s been hobbling around for days now, even without a lot of walking. It was a good hair day for the both of us, what Amanda calls a lion’s mane for me, so a selfie was not missed!
To make it to Telluride it’s only 15 miles if you’re a bird. If you are driving it would be nearly 3 times that and take over an hour. We were stuck behind a truck never getting over 30 for a good portion taking us nearly an hour and a half. The temperature would drop quickly, by 15 degrees, within a few miles as we climbed out of Ridgway. The road would be clear of snow but was steaming in the cold morning air as the sun was obviously warming it and nearby rock cliffs up.
We made a turn off the main road to head south to Telluride I pulled over with the big truck and multiple tour vans ahead of us to let the traffic behind over the first chance I got. This way I could hang back and we could sightsee. I ended up catching up with them but stayed 10 to 15 cars back, not like there were many passing spots on this winding road.
We made a b-line for lunch, we knew where we were going already. Also what we were going to eat; a fried green tomato burger for both of us. They were great but the service was lacking. For a town solely reliant on tourism, the mountains are everything for them, they seem to not like tourists much!
There were signs in the cafe we ate saying rent to locals be a hero, rent to locals long term, and so on. We would get the cold shoulder from those on the street and in some shops. We would stand out like sore thumbs, though. Dressed a little nice for the area surprisingly, everyone was in hiking or snow gear. Many dressed far warmer than I would have thought too. It was in the twenties but a pleasant temperature without wind. They may have been because some we saw weren’t locals.
The shops were what you’d expect of the area. Many gear shops for hiking and skiing. A few dress shops and a few high-end clothing stores. One shop we went in had thousand-dollar dresses. Another wool and sheepskin shop had a nice coat I really liked that was $4,000. You could tell there was money in this tiny mountain town!
The last bit of town would be snowy with ice on the roads. In town, the middle of the streets had piled snow. The roads in town were slushy with some frozen ice. Amanda is not surefooted, she questions every step worried she’ll fall. She’s not the outdoorsy type!
Many were waking everywhere right down the middle of the roads once we were just outside of the downtown area. We made our way to the end of town where the dirt 4×4 trails began. It was a gorgeous scenery at the end of town putting Ouray to shame with its view. Really feeling like what I imagine Switzerland looks like.
We’d splurged on some sweets from the cafe we ate lunch. Getting what looked like monkey bread but turned out to be bread pudding, some of the best we’d had, a cupcake, and a couple of lattes with house-made almond/cashew milk. A nice snack for the drive back. We looped around to the Mountain Village a ski resort area at 10,000 feet. There is a closed-in glass gondola that goes up and down the mountain. However, it would be closed while we’re are here; it looked as though all of Mountain Village was closed as well.
On the way back the snow-covered mountains just stopped holding snow. It was as if they hadn’t even had snow on them earlier in the day. At the lower, 7,000 feet, altitude everything had melted away. When arriving at the cabin it felt like home with deer awaiting our arrival.
The sun was just about passing the mountain too when we arrived. We took it easy for a while then I started dinner. With a big lunch and snacks, we had a light dinner, mushroom asada tacos. Nothing else just street-sized tacos. A mushroom mixture with a little mirepoix for flavor. We had some queso left from snacks the other day. I’d also picked up some green chilies, why not I thought, when in Rome!
I ate about six tacos and six more of the small corn tortillas. Don’t judge; how many chips did you eat the last time you had chips and salsa? One of the perks of how we eat is we get to eat a lot, which is good because I’m still a fat boy at heart! We played a game of Farkel again; I wanted a chance to redeem my loss from last night. Sadly it didn’t go my way.
We hopped in bed early to finish Dances with Wolves, followed by Everest which we didn’t even come close to finishing. We’ve seen it a ton of times. It’s become a tradition that when we see or experience anything cold, we watch it! The top of one of the mountains today reminded us of a scene from the movie.
Tomorrow we take the San Juan Skyway Loop. We’ll go south, skirting Telluride again, on to Durango, then north through the million-dollar highway going through Silverton and Ouray back to the cabin. At about 230 miles, it’s considered one of the most scenic drives in America. The forecast shows it to be clear with no snow. We’re hoping it turns out better than our Gunnison trip!