Colorado Road Trip - Day 6

Day 6 - Thursday, October 11, 2012

Homeward Bound...

We spent the night in Alamosa, CO, and were down at breakfast for our last morning together, and an  early start for heading home. 

Heading east out of Alamosa, we watched the sun come up over mountains. It was so pretty highlighting the mountains and spreading the morning light.

The landscape soon turned to the rugged mountain low lands.

Daddy kept an eye on the country side while being our DJ, manning the CD player with fiddle music.  

We rode along listening to music and watching the scenery...

and taking pictures!

We made it to Trinidad, CO, and stopped for a morning break.

Everyone stretched their legs and got a favorite snack!

Heading south, passing through New Mexico.

Losing an hour, we passed back into the Central Time Zone.

Crossing into Texas...we're practically home, right?!

We stopped again in Dumas for an afternoon lunch. 

We ate, relaxed, and enjoyed our last break time together on this Colorado trip. Our total milage...
2,010.9 miles round trip

So glad we were able to make the trip!

Colorado Road Trip - Day 5

Day 5 - Wednesday, October 10, 2012

As the sun was just coming over the mountain in Ouray, we were up and ready for the day’s travel.  This was taken outside of our motel.  The sun had not yet made it to the town. 

As we were driving down the main street of Ouray, there was no traffic, but there was one deer crossing the road. This deer, however, had an injured back leg, and it was limping along. We all felt so bad for it. The day before, Daddy and Lucille had seen several walking down the main street!. We headed north out of Ouray, first filling up the car…$3.99 per gal.! Traveling on we were headed around the mountains to Telluride, CO.

We soon came to a wonderful view of the mountains we were going to travel around.

We stopped for a photo shoot.

A slowdown came when we met some road construction. 

We observed the improvement of the mountain road and...

were amazed as we watched how they dug into the side of the mountain to widen the road.

Such a pretty ride going toward Telluride, CO.

 

The history of Telluride is that of a mining town back in the 1800's.  Today, it is a lovely tourist vacation town.  Notice the center of the street.  It is an area for parking.

As we drove through the town, we kept our eyes open for a photo opportunity.  We found one in a small park area so stopped for a group shot.

Continuing on, my sister spotted a real pretty cluster of aspen trees that were easy to stand in front of.  So, we made a quick stop and postioned Daddy and Lucille for a picture.

There were lovely trees along the ski slopes.  From what we saw, it looked like Telluride would be a fun place to visit again and especially during the ski season!

Going back along the same road from Ouray, we came to an observation area. 

This is a close look at the summary, describing the beautiful road through these mountains.

My sister took advantage of the stop to capture the beauty of the area.

We didn't have an opportunity to see many mountain streams up close, but this was an especially pretty stream below the scenic stop.

Moving on around the mountain range back to Ouray, here is another picture of the mountain range.  With the aspens scattered over the hillside it added to the beauty. 

One interesting sign we began to notice was this sign...info. for trucks traveling too fast!

 

The ramp off to the right is where a run away truck can turn off and come to a stop.

This ramp was located on the Wolf Creek Pass, and my sister just happened to snap a picture.  I didn't know what it was at the time.

We traveled on south of Ouray back on the Million Dollar Highway.

The color in the trees continued to amaze us as we drove on.

We just loved the mixture of yellow and the dark green.

The beauty continued as we headed south to Durango.

When we were going the opposite direction the view seemed different, and at times prettier. 

We were so happy we chose this time of the year, and felt lucky that the trees were presenting a wonderful view of the changing season. 

My sister had to document the areas that were suffering from a pine beetle.   

Not everything was perfect.  It was sad to see the dead areas in contrast to the beautiful healthy areas.  We drove hard and made it back to Alamosa, CO, for the night.  Ending Day 5.

Colorado Road Trip - Day 4

Day 4 -Tuesday, October 9, 2012

We left Alamosa, CO, heading west toward Durango, CO. When we got to South Fork, CO, we drove around observing how the town had changed. Back in the 1960’s, Daddy bought a lot in the town of South Fork. There were several friends at the church we attended who also bought lots, and several even built log cabins there. Daddy didn't build and later sold his lot. We wanted to see if we could find the lot and see if a cabin had been built. However, we could not locate the exact location of the lot, and traveled on. But it was nice seeing the area again.

 

Along the way, driving out of the valley, the mountains began to rise.

We stopped for pictures at a campground called Lonesome Dove Campground. It was a very pretty area on the road east of Wolf Creek Pass.

As was hoped, the colorful aspens began to show their yellow color.

 

The color was so good in Cimarron, we had hoped we would see even more in Colorado.

As we went higher, approaching the Wolf Creek Pass, we passed through several tunnels taking us through the mountain.

The tunnels have really improved the mountain roads adding a better way to get around the steep mountains.

We got to the Wolf Creek Pass and decided to drive up to the lookout point. It was about 3 more miles up the mountain. I had been up to this lookout point before but my dad had not and was extremely hesitant since it was up a steep dirt road that had lots of switchbacks. But, we made it fine.
  

It provided a nice view of the lower valley and the Wolf Creek ski area.

This area did show signs of the drought that was over the Colorado area. Drought and pine beetles....

As we drove down we were not disappointed with the spectacular colors.

The yellow color spread all over the mountains and valleys was very beautiful.

The golden sight was bright and stunning as we passed.

There was a photo overlook halfway down Wolf Creek Pass and we stopped to enjoyed the sight.

The golden aspens looked like yellow pollen sprinkled all over the country side.

 

This beautiful valley is at the base of the Wolf Creek Pass.

Traveling on west, we passed this archaeological area called Chimney Rock, located west of Pagosa Springs on the road to Durango.

We lunched in Durango and then headed north on the Million Dollar Highway.

Before we reached Silverton we reached the Molas Pass.

A photo stop allowed a short break and a beautiful view.

Another tunnel we drove through had a very different shape. It was really an overpass for an active avalanche chute on the Million Dollar Highway, south of Ouray.

The Million Dollar Highway was built with many hair-pin turns and switchbacks that snaked the way between Ouray and Durango.  Tom has always been the one to do the driving when we've been in Colorado so this was my first time. I must say, I did fine but you don't get to see much of the scenery when you are the one doing all that driving! My sister commented that many times she couldn't look and kept her eyes away from the road's edge! Daddy and Lucille seemed to do OK. He really enjoyed the drive since, for once, he wasn't doing the driving and could look around and really appreciate the sights.

At last we arrived in Ouray, CO, the "Switzerland of America".

Originally established by miners chasing silver and gold in the surrounding mountains, the town at one time boasted more horses and mules than people. Prospectors arrived in the area in 1875. At the height of mining, Ouray had more than 30 active mines.

The town—after changing its name and that of the county it was in several times—was incorporated on October 2, 1876, named after Chief Ouray of the Utes, a Native American tribe. By 1877, Ouray had grown to over 1,000 in population and was named county seat of the newly formed Ouray County on March 8, 1877. (Just a little bonus information for you!)

The afternoon we were there, right down the middle of the main street rode a cowboy leading two other horses! After we found our motel, my sister and I walked down the main street looking at shops and seeing the town.

As we were walking, we spotted a familiar black SUV! Daddy and Lucille had decided they were staying in that night and wanted to find some cheese, crackers, and milk for their evening snack.

They found a small grocery and we saw them walking in to make their purchase.

My sister and I continued shopping, got a bite to eat, and settled in for the evening.