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Published: September 20th 2006
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Antler Archway
Every home should have one... Colorado
From Arches we drove to Telluride where we wanted to stay the night. On the way we saw an archway over someone’s front door made completely of deer antlers - a pretty dramatic look! We drove into Telluride to find out that the famous Bluegrass festival was starting the next day! This meant that all traffic was stopped on the way in, we were given a ‘day pass’ to get into the town but of course all the accommodation was booked. Telluride was a gorgeous little mountain town in a high alpine valley. It is definitely worth the visit.
So after looking at the map we decided to head NE to Ridgeway where we found a state park to stay in. It was the perfect place to stay we looked down to a lake and had dinner at a picnic table enjoying the view. We also had a resident chipmunk who cleaned up any food that was dropped and ate right out of Nick’s hand! After dinner we walked around the lake and then had a campfire and toasted marshmallows.
The next day it was off to explore more of Colorado. We had planned just to go
into Telluride and take the scenic route back out and down to Arizona but Nick loved the mountains so much that he re-worked the itinerary. We drove north to Glenwood Springs and left the trailer there while we drove in to Aspen (a beautiful ski resort for the rich and famous). On our way out I stopped at the office to check how cold it would get overnight. I also saw a small sign that offered a friendly reminder about the train that ran just across the river from where we were camped! Guttered! This train ran all night long, I couldn’t believe it I though we had the perfect spot right by the famous Colorado River. Unfortunately this sign about the train was strategically placed right by another sign stating NO REFUNDS! We decided we would just put in ear plugs and hope for the best.
We spent the afternoon / evening taking a little drive to Aspen. It is another gorgeous mountain town, missing (in my opinion) just one vital component - summer! We went into a fur coat shop and as I was admiring a jacket on sale (a mere US$6,000) a big black dog poked
Colorado Mountains
We stopped briefly at the Uncompahgre National Forest where we took this shot. his head up from under the jacket to say hello. This was the second dog I had seen in a store, obviously it is the norm for shop owners there to bring their pets to work. One of the shop owners said that the only snow-free month he had seen in the 5 years he had lived there was August. This made Nick smile and me grimace. We now have a deal going where by this sun-lover will only live in a snowy mountain village when he buys me a real fur coat!! ; ) One guy that we talked to at a State Park in Boulder (Utah) said that you couldn’t buy any real estate in Aspen for less than $5mill from what we saw we would guess that he was about right in his estimation! The hotels literally have the ski fields as their backyard it is quite amazing to see. We didn’t see any food that tickled our fancy in Aspen so we popped in to see good ol’ Aunty Wendy for some chili, hot baked potatoes and salad - something to warm us up as it was getting chilly already and it was only about 8pm.
Telluride Architecture
This gives you an idea of what the houses are like in Telluride - very cute! By the way Tom Cruise has a house here (but I bet it is bigger than this one!) We knew it would be a cold night (estimated low 10oC) so we piled on the blankets and kept warm jumpers by our bedside! The place also offered great white water rafting on the mighty Colorado (a variety of grades of difficulty) we would have given this a shot but decided one night next to the train tracks was enough!
The next day (Friday) we were off to Golden just outside Denver via Veil. The drive was amazing we went through a huge tunnel and around the steep canyon walls, we even had a little bit of rain (for only the second time since we had been in the US!) Veil was another lovely little town that even had a little bit of snow left on the slope. The temp got down to 8oC as we went over the pass! To give you an idea of just how high the mountains are, the tunnel we went through was a just 1000 feet lower than Mt Cook at 12 350 feet!
To be continued…
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Debbie
non-member comment
I love Colorado!
hey guys! glad to hear your travels are going well...great to see the photos of colorado (especially the ones of aspen! brings back memories of when Anna-Marie and I were there!). funny seeing it all without snow though, as when we were there everything was white!! take care, love debbie