2011 Ouray, CO - Day 1 & 2 Travel Days

My first real trip to Colorado.  I've been twice before.  Both times to see OU football games, one on a bus to the Air Force game in Colorado Springs and one by plane to Boulder for the Colorado game.  Neither of these really count in my mind as trips to Colorado because I didn't really see what it had to offer.  It did lay a good foundation for my love of Colorado however - I had thoughts of picking up and moving there after graduation, but I found a job in OKC so I stayed.  I have been wanting to take a trip to Colorado for years and finally got something organized - I spent the whole summer excited about finally seeing the true Colorado.
We left on a Friday afternoon after work and after a stressful couple of weeks of work I could not wait to get away from the world.  I wasn't sure where we were going (okay I knew we were going to Colorado, but the route we were taking) so the whole trip was going to be an adventure - after Amarillo it would be an entirely new world to me.
If you have never driven through western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle I will spare you the pain - it is boring.  The best view is from the massive Texas rest stop that overlooks a canyon area - I thought that was beautiful, no views like that in Oklahoma.  Besides that there is a giant cross and a leaning water tower and lots of windmills.    After Amarillo we turned NW and headed towards New Mexico - not much different then the rest of the trip so far but we did see a thunderstorm - first one in months!  8 hours later we pulled into Raton, NM - and at 9pm Raton has rolled up its streets! (a surprise from a group that comes from a college town where everything is open till midnight or later!).  We finally settled on Arbys and headed off to bed.

Day 2 we slept in a little and had breakfast at a nice little diner cafe next to the hotel.  Heath had eaten breakfast here for years on all his trips to Colorado so it was tradition. After our first bear encounter  Pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs and more filled us up and we prepared for the remainder of the 8 hour trip.  17 miles into the day we entered Colorado.  After stopping for our picture with the welcome sign we continued our journey.  We immediately turned onto a scenic byway which took us by some cool rock formations, lakes, and small vacation towns.  First thing I thought was "this is so beautiful!" The mountains were covered in evergreens and there was something great about not being able to see for miles.  Unfortunately the mountains faded away as we headed into the desert regions of Colorado (ummmmm never knew that!).  I sat back with my Nook for a few hours and read waiting for more of these majestic mountains.
The next set of mountains did not disappoint.  Our next set of mountains started with the Continental Divide which is the spot where all the water on the east side runs to the Mississippi River and all the water on the west side runs to the Pacific Ocean.  More surprise for me, never thought of this since in my world all the water runs to the Mississippi.  We continued through the mountains, stopping at scenic turnouts, watching mountain waterfalls and streams, and being generally awed by the beauty.
After a quick stop at Walmart in Durango to stock up on camp ground supplies and McDonalds for some french fries we headed out on the last leg of our journey.  The trip to Silverton and onto Ouray was the most eye opening on the whole day (in several ways).  To start with I have rarely been out of Oklahoma and when I do leave I tend to stay on flat terrain - so the idea of skirting along the side of a mountain with no shoulder is completely foreign.  I was sitting in the front seat and just sure we were going off the side at some point.  Outside of that, I was just amazed at the beauty of the mountains.  We stopped at one of the passes between Durango and Silverton and the colors of the wild flowers was amazing.  on the road the streams and waterfalls took my breath away.  Then there was the Million Dollar Highway which just looked like it was jutting out from the side of a mountain.

Finally we came down the side of a mountain into the valley where Ouray was settled.  A cute little picturesque town known as the "Switzerland of America".

We drove through the town to the north side where our KOA campground was located.  We checked in and settled into our cute little cabin we would call home for the next week.  The view was amazing and the air was cool and clean.