Day 11

Day 11 - July 1, 2010 - Thursday

0620 Ron opens the curtains which wakes me up. (He claims that he was closing the curtains because the sunlight woke him up. All I know is that curtains were moving and it woke me up!)

I'm awake so time for email/make plans for the day/hotel breakfast/packing.

0906 On the road. It is raining this morning. Our first stop, a drive through Colorado National Monument.

1000 Stop for pictures at Book Cliff

1005 Visitor's Center

1106 Ute Canyon

1130 Smashburger for lunch. Yum-O!

I get to drive since Ron is still acclimating to the climate (his allergies were bothering him) and the elevation (he has a headache). Delta had nice murals on the walls downtown and Montrose was bigger than I thought it would be.

1:50 p.m. Bighorn sheep sign. Usually we see deer signs. This is a new one!

1:52 p.m. Hooray we made it to Ouray! It reminds me of a European mountain town. Not sure why. But definitely looks like it would be a nice place to visit.

2:22 p.m. Red Mountain overlook. The mountain really is red - wow! Now that I have made it to the top, it is time for Ron the expert to drive us back down. Too scary for me! Actually, all I'm worried about is the brakes. Don't want to burn them up! Temperature at the top of the mountian, 68 degrees with a chilly breeze.

2:26 p.m. Red Mountain Pass, 11, 075 feet.

2:42 p.m. Silverton, CO. Will we make it to the gold mine in time for the tour at 3:00? The town has nice wide streets and cool old buildings.

2:54 p.m. Made it by the hair on our chinny-chin-chins.

4:09 p.m. Leaving the mine. It was cold in there (47 degrees) and wet! Our tour guide was Joe. Our favorite parts:
Felisa - going through the tunnel
Bella - panning for gold
Ryan - dropping his hat
Sheila - seeing all the equipment demos and the mining terminology
Ron - the drills

4:22 p.m. Wyman Hotel. Other cool place names we saw in Silverton - Cow Palace Cafe and Handlebars Saloon (with a picture of a handlebar moustache on the sign).

4:30 p.m. Just realized that I am probably sleepy because of the elevation. We've been pretty high up most of the day!

4:34 p.m. Molas Pass Summit, 10,899 feet

4:49 p.m. Stuck behind a tractor going down the pass. It could be worse - we could be stuck behind a tractor going UP the pass!

4:57 p.m. Purgatory Village and Durango Mountain Ski Resorts

5:15 p.m. Listening to NPR. Apparently onion sandwiches are the secret to Chester Reed's longevity. He retired from the postal service at 95 after 37 years of service.

5:18 p.m. Durango. 6,523 feet. I think this is our lowest elevation since we left the hotel! We eat at Steamworks Brewing Co for dinner. Not very good at all.

6:43 p.m. Animas River

8:04 p.m. Mesa Verde National Park. A long check-in process for our campsite, a long line for our tour tickets, and longer than I thought for our campsite selection.

Once our tent was set up, we went on a little hike.

9:45 p.m. Changed and into our sleeping bags. Everyone was asleep by 10.