Day 11 - Telluride, Ouray & Montrose

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WOW, after all that excitement and fun the last two days we were completely exhausted and slept in until 10:00 this morning. I don't think a tornado could have woke us up. Once we finally got out of bed we ate a little breakfast and Tim began bagging up the laundry for me. Our first stop today was going to be at the local laundry mat. We had been on the road for ten long days now and it was time to wash some clothes. I gathered the detergent, the downy and my bag of quarters and off we went. Tim dropped me off at the front door, helped me unload and then made his way on over to the nearest gas station to fill-up the gas tank and get some ice. While I was loading the washers and trying to figure out these weird machines he was off to the RV park to dump the poo and fill the water tank up. He said they only charged him $5.00 so I guess that was a pretty good deal. Once I had all the washers loaded and running, I walked next door to the Rite Aid drug store to help pass the time. I shopped around a little bit, bought a few things and then made my way back over to load the dryers. While I was swapping the laundry from the washers to the dryers, I made three little friends. They were all sisters ages 2, 4 and 6 and they were the cutest little blonde haired blue eyes girls you have ever seen. They wanted to earn some money for the bubble gum machine so I let them help me toss the clothes in the dryers and I gave them each a quarter. They ran straight to the chicklet gum machine and loaded their precious little hands full of tiny square pieces of gum. I watched as they shared with each other trading for their favorite colors and making sure they all had the same amount of pieces. They were so freakin' adorable I just wanted to load them up and take them home with me. The smallest of the three, Dakota, was dragging her baby doll around grasping hold of her like it was her best friend. CUTE CUTE CUTE........makes me wish mine were that small again..........well, not really but it was a fleeing thought. We ate animal crackers out of the snack machine and played Ms. Pac-Man as we waited for the clothes to dry. They were so excited to help me unload the dryers and fold the clothes on the folding table anxiously hoping for another quarter. Once we were finished, I gave the girls another quarter and off to the bubble gum machine they went. I called Tim and told him I was finished and he could head on over and pick me up. He finally arrived and we loaded up the clean laundry, hugged the girls goodbye and off we went. Our ultimate destination was Telluride but we had to make a couple of stops on the way. Our first stop was for lunch in Silverton, which is where we had been the day before on the train ride. We found a little BBQ place in downtown called Thee Pitts. It had been featured on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives so we thought it would be neat to check it out. The BBQ itself was really good but the ribs were awful. I had to send them back and swap them for a pork plate. We soon finished up lunch and then made our way over to the Million Dollar Highway which runs from Silverton to a small town called Ouray. Just as the book says, it is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been seen. The scenery was truly amazing. We stopped at a gorgeous waterfall that had a rainbow shining right through it as well as we got to see tons of wildlife. Ouray is a small little town just like others we had seen before but we stopped in for a little while and walked around the antique stores and shops to see what treasures we could find. We wanted to stop at the hot springs pool and take a little dip but when we got there it was completely full. Plus, there were lots of kids running around screaming and stuff so Tim was like "heck no let's get outta here" ! We hopped back on the highway and headed on over to Telluride. On the way to Telluride we saw a strange little animal sitting on top of a fence post. I took some pictures and we found out later that it was called a marmot, it looks just like a baby beaver or a woodchuck. It never fails that we see the strangest animals and wildlife and that's one of the things Tim loves so much about going across country. He's always got his eyes open for the next big find. We eventually made it to Telluride and was pleasantly surprised. It is a very nice town and it's full of very nice people. One kind gentleman gave us directions up to Bridal Veil Falls so we headed that way. It is a breathtaking waterfall at the end of town near an abandoned gold mine. We got out and enjoyed the view as Tim fed the little chipmunks peanuts. This is not the first time he's fed chipmunks, he loves feeding and playing with any type of animal that will let him get close enough. We headed on back into to town to search for a parking place that would accomodate Big Bertha. On the way over to Telluride we had seen a sign that said you could take a gondola ride up to the top of Telluride so somehow I let Tim talk me into it and off we were. We found a parking spot right off the bat and we walked right over to the entrance, which was good because it didn't give me much time to change my mind. I must say it was very nice and clean and that made me feel a little better. Before I knew it, Tim and the worker dude threw me into one of the cars and up up and away we went. Tim knew I would chicken out so he just whisked me away before I had time to even know what hit me. The next thing I remember was being about 11,000 feet up in the air and looking down to see the town of Telluride. It was CRAZY.....my heart was beating so fast but before I could fall apart, we were at the top and jumping out onto the platform. We walked around on top of the mountain, took a few pictures and then it was time to head on back down. I soon realized that there were only a couple of ways to get back down so I analyzed my options and was all too happy to hop back onto that gondola ride. YAY.......it's over, we're back on solid ground and I'm alive !! It all happened really fast but I have to admit it was very exhilerating and I actually enjoyed it once I relaxed. I feel like I've just turned into this wild and crazy girl who will try just about anything. First, the train, then the ATV's, then the horses followed by white water rafting and now a gondola ride.............wonder what's next ??? It was getting on into the evening now and we wanted to make it to Montrose before it got too late so we made our way back to the motorhome and headed on out of town. Just a couple of miles down the road Tim spots a few elk grazing in an open field so of course we had to pull over and get some pictures. He parks us on the side of the road and while he grabs the binoculars I grab the camera. Before we knew it, there were tons of cars pulled over and even more elk enjoying the grassy field. One, two, twenty, thirty.........as Tim was counting the elk just kept coming out of the brush and woods. He stopped counting at 84 elk. It was an amazing site to see.....the entire field was full of beautiful elk soaking up the sunset and having a little dinner. We must have stayed there 30 minutes or more just watching as the baby elk played with each other while the daddy elk guarded the herd. We have seen one or two elk before but never have we seen anything like this........Tim was in heaven !! Well that was the perfect ending to a wonderful day but we had to get back on the road and over to Montrose before it got too late. After driving in and out and up and down and around all these crazy mountains, we finally made it to the Wal-Mart in Montrose and I was sooooo happy. I think I was still tired from the two previous days activities because I took a little nap on the long drive over. Well we've settled into yet another parking lot for what I hoped would be a good nights sleep. I think tomorrow is going to consist of a lot of driving and sightseeing, hopefully a nice calm and quiet day. We'll see......night !

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