Tuesday June 16; 

    Happy anniversary, Robin and Denise!!  It is a cool 55 degrees this morning and I had to bundle up to take my morning walk.  We have seen many, many, bicyclists and motorcyclists this trip.  I don't know how they get up these mountain grades, they are so steep.  We are going to Cortez Colorado today.  We have to go south through Ridgeway, near Telluride again, but will stop at Ophir Peak.  The drive out of Ridgway and over Dallas Divide is quite an awesome experience.  The pass is not all that high but all the way up you get to see the Sneffle Mountain range and it's gorgeous with the green fields, aspen trees and lots of snow on the mountain tops.  After Ophir pass we drove over Lizard's Head Pass, elevation 10,222 feet.  We stopped for lunch at a pullout and just had to wade in the creek and pick up pretty rocks.  The water was like ice, so we just stuck our hands in it and didn't wade.  The ride down from Lizard Head pass is not too steep and we had plenty of time to do some serious rubber necking.  It was fun to watch the country side change from mountainous pine and aspen to a more high dessert terrain.  There was road work going on along the way and we saw one worker pretending his stop sign was a guitar.  Cute!!  We arrived in the Sleeping Ute RV Park which is part of the Ute Casino near Towaoc (south of Cortez).  Great place to stay!  They have more cable TV channels than we have ever seen before.  We got the RV setup and went to Mesa Verde for our first visit.  The road up to the top of Mesa Verde is very twisty, steep and has a few pullouts that provide a really spectacular view of the countryside.  It is quite easy to see landmarks in New Mexico.  We ate our lunch at Spruce Tree House and I bought a tee shirt.  Dave and Deanna bought shirts, too.  We found lots of prickly pear cactus in bloom and shot pictures of them.  We stopped at several places to see the pueblos and I got to use my new binoculars.  WOW!!!  It really helps me see better.  As we were driving back to town, I spotted two mule deer above the road.  Deanna got pictures of them. Then we saw a herd of wild horses and three more deer!  On the way back to camp, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for sundaes.  Yum, good!!!

Highway 550 near Ridgway

Ophir Pass

Down to Cortez

Sleeping Ute Mountain

Ridgway to Cortez

Near Ridgway

Ophir Pass

A happy mom!

Up Dallas Divide

Ophir Pass turnout

Winding down to Delores

Wild horses

June 17

    We stopped by the Cortez Visitor's Center and will head on out to Mesa Verde.  After arriving at Mesa Verde and climbing all those twisty turny roads we took a turnout that went to Park Point Fire Lookout Station where we learned how the fire spotters work.  What a great view of the countryside from up there!  It's at 8,427 feet and you can see lots of scenery in the distance.  We took one photo with Shiprock rock located in New Mexico over our shoulders.  The haze was a little dense so it was not very visible in our pictures.  Dee was driving the truck and got a little "shocker" going through the tunnel just before the Park Point lookout.  Seems the automatic lights on the truck didn't come on right away as we entered the tunnel and she was driving "in the dark" for a bit.  A real nail biter for her but she handled the situation great!!  At noon, we bought tickets for the Long House tour, then drove to the picnic area for lunch. We met our Park Ranger Guide, boarded the tram that took us to a point where we would walk down to Long House.  It is not a long walk but the asphalt path descends pretty quickly to near the bottom of the canyon.  Long House is really interesting and it always causes you to wonder about how it must have been for these people who lived here long ago.  It must have been a rugged and difficult life.  After taking the tour and many photographs, we rode the tram to several other areas and went back to the starting point.  After that we drove around in the truck to view other scenic places, saw more wild horses and deer.  I spotted an airplane flying low and pointed it out to Dave and Deanna. Dave said it was a Bomber, and must have been going through some training maneuvers, as it was flying really low.  I think Deanna got a picture of it.

Park Point Fire Lookout

"The" tunnel

Shiprock NM in the background

Carved footsteps

June 18

    We're going to ride the narrow gage train from Durango to Silverton this morning so we took highway 160 from Cortez to Durango.  Man!  What great mountain scenery!  We were so glad that we didn't take the "other" scenic ride in our car from Ouray to Durango because this was such a fun ride.  No super steep or overly winding roads and the highway was very spacious and smooth.  The mountain scenery was typical Colorado.  Lots of green meadows, tall straight aspen and lots of pine trees.  After we got parked (extra charge of course) next to the McDonalds we followed the sidewalk up to the station and saw our train sitting on the track.  Deanna went inside and picked up our tickets and we all shopped the gift store and went out front for a look at the old station.  Quite an experience.  Dave said the only thing missing was the old time smell of the train stations.  He said the old stations had a unique odor that this one definitely did not have.  We picked up a little brochure about what to expect on the ride.  Our train left at 9:00 AM. What beautiful scenery!  It was cool, so we dressed for it and saw many beautiful waterfalls, rafters, people hiking, a small glider plane, another glider in a field, and many, many, prairie dogs.  The climb up to Silverton was lots of fun with the coal burning engine chugging hard at times and having to stop for water on the way.  It was just like you remember from the cowboy movies of yesteryear.  They stop on the track and let down this giant teakettle spout and "filler up".  You definitely get not only the look but the feel and smell of the coal burning train and even occasionally with a cinder or two in the corner of your eye.  When we got off the train we discovered that our clothes had collected a few of those cinders as well.  We had lunch at a fun little burger place in Silverton, did some shopping then rode a bus back to Durango.  The driver gave us a tour on the way back with some historical information about the area as well.  The highway back to Durango (the million dollar highway) is twisty, has steep grades up and down but what a spectacular view of the mountains.  There are several old mines on the mountain sides as well.  It was a great bus ride back.  What a marvelous trip!

In line for tickets

Blowing off steam

Just outside Silverton

Silverton

A small ski area on the way to Durango

The train station

Our favorite burger joint at Silverton

Silverton

The drive to Durago

The ride back to Durango

June 19

    We got ready to travel on to Flagstaff, AZ. The weather is clear this morning and about 70 degrees. I finally got a picture of Shiprock off in the distance.  It was a little hazy, but I think it will be okay. We passed the Four Corners Monument, then entered Arizona. There is some wonderful mountain and desert scenery, also saw an electric-powered train going by with 3 engines. Must have a really heavy load. After arriving in Flagstaff, we set up camp at J and H RV Park and had supper. Later, Deanna and I did the laundry. We met a nice Christian lady and her husband and had a good visit with them while waiting on our laundry to get dry.

Near flagstaff

Elephants Feet rock near Tonalea AZ

Now there is a familiar face!