2011 Ouray, CO - Day 3 Shopping Ouray

Our morning started walking up to cool temperatures and mountain air.  The cabin was a cozy little place to sleep but we definitely weren't use to the cool temps.  After stumbling in the dark to find sleeping bags in the middle of the night to warm our feet (as well as throwing things a Heath so he would stop snoring and a quick visit to the camp restrooms) we went back to sleep and woke up "refreshed" - or atleast with the knowledge we were on vacation and there was not a work week looming over us.  We started the day out right with a full breakfast from the KOA campground cafe - Heath and Sandy had pancakes, bacon, eggs - normal breakfast food; and I had yogurt and granola (yes I know - you are supposed to eat real food on vacation, my body needed something simple after all the fast food!)

Our first full day in Ouray.  What better then to spend it shopping!? (none of us could really qualify as hard core shoppers so the fact that we spent the morning browsing shops seems only a little odd.)  Like most tourist minded towns there were tons of little souvenir shops as well as collectibles, book store, and other various products - including a "gourmet" kitchen store.  We wandered around for a few hours looking at possibilities for gifts, shirts, and other various must haves (like ghost chili hot sauce...).  Like all shopping trips, at some point you need food to sustain the extreme effort.  We started a little backwards with huge scoops of ice cream from the ice cream parlor and then in our sugar induced coma we wisely sought out bread at the german restaurant in the form of a giant pretzel.

After more then enough shopping for all of us we decided to go to a couple of the waterfalls located within the town.  The first was the Lower Cascade Falls (the upper portion will come to haunt us later in the week).  This was a beautiful waterfall that can be seen from the north end of the shopping district and was a simple walk to get to.  After waiting for some annoying OSU Cowboy fans (and why did they feel the need to crash our party?) to finish their very long turn at the waterfall we went over and felt the cold water and snapped a few pictures.  Not knowing what was to come later in the week I was in awe with the beauty of the fall and how cool it looked cascading over the rocks above.



Next we moved onto the Box Canyon Falls.  I had read a review online that this was a pay attraction but was well worth the cost. Taking the advice we paid our $4 and headed in.  Box Canyon is a very cool gem of a waterfall.  As you start the walk toward the fall all you hear is the trickle of the stream below, but as you move farther into the rock canyon the roar of the waterfall envelopes you.  You never get a clear glimpse of the fall, it is completely hidden within the canyon, but you can hear it and feel the spray.  We hiked up a 1/2 mile to a bridge that overlooked the fall (long way down!) and the stream that feed it - once again you never actual saw the fall.


After leaving Box Canyon, we headed a few miles south on the Million Dollar highway  to a small waterfall off the side of the road.  Later in the week we would see the stream feeding this waterfall, but for this time we only saw a water fall that appeared to spring out of the side of the road (and go a long way down!)  A few more pictures and we headed back to our campsite.

On the recommendation of a friend, we decided to visit a restaurant called Buen Tiempo.  Amazing mexican food.  Everything had a different flair then we were use to with our authentic mexican and tex-mex we have in Oklahoma.  I tried tamales, Sandy had carne asada tacos, and Heath had a mammoth burrito.  We also shared taquitos and sopapillas.  We trudged home stuffed and ready for a good night sleep.  I throughly enjoyed my first full day in Colorado and all the beauty I had seen so far.