Our Road Trip to Colorado - Day 4

  

Hello and welcome back!  Today I am sharing Day 4 of Our Road Trip to Colorado.  If you missed the previous posts, you can find them on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

We woke up to snow!!!  OMG!!!  I was over the moon!!!  Not to mention that it was 35 degrees!

Oh yeah!  Oh yeah!  I was doing my happy dance.

The hubs and I could see the snow falling out of the top window in our bedroom.  It was so exciting.  I had the window open soaking it all in.

I felt incredibly blessed to have the beauty of freshly fallen snow all around.  I'm sure God's ears were like okay...I get it.  :)

Brad was the one that suggested I get my photos before it melted.  It was a good thing I did as it was all gone in a few hours.

And here are my snow boots.  Yes, that's right.  The ones my family made fun of me by telling me on our way up it wasn't going to snow.  Boo ya!!!

How do you like my Mickey Mouse pj pants?  They are soft and fuzzy with pretty silver metallic Mickeys.

I was beside myself.  My cohorts were inside where it was nice and toasty.

Brad's truck is ALWAYS clean.  I believe this is the dirtiest it has ever gotten.

A look back at the street.  Doesn't everything look good covered in snow?

And in a matter of a few hours the snow was just about all gone.

We were scheduled to ride horses on a trail, hike down the side of the mountain and go to a cave.

Do you see the sign "Old Fashioned Sleigh Rides"?  OMG!  We are definitely doing that when we go back in the winter/early spring.

I, on the other hand, chickened out.  I wasn't afraid of the horses.  I was afraid I might reinjure my left shoulder.  I had dislocated it three weeks earlier and it was still bothering me.  The thought of having to hoist myself up and down the horse several times didn't sound like fun to me so I backed out much to the Hub's dismay.  I knew I had to follow my gut.

They were gone for a couple of hours.  I watched What/If on Netflix and took in the gorgeous scenery and beautiful weather.  The first thing the hubs said when he got back was he was really glad I didn't go.  He said the trails were pretty steep.  I guess he knows how graceful I am (or not!).

#netflix

#whatif

We had an dinner at the Derailed Pour House.  I had the Southwest egg rolls and they were delicious!  We had a great time.  From there we went through all of the shops on Main Avenue.  We stopped off at the Historic Strater Hotel and listened to live music in the bar.

#derailedpourhouse

#southwesteggrolls

#straterhotel

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed Day 4 of our road trip.  On Day 5 we will be going back to Silverton and taking the train back to Durango.

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Take care,

xoxoxo

Debbie

Our Road Trip to Colorado - Day Three

Hello and welcome back to the recap of our road trip to Colorado.  If you missed the first two you can find them here and here.

#roadtrip

#durango

#colorado

Sorry for taking so long to post Day 3.  Its been so long since I added videos to my posts I had to refamiliarize myself how to do it.  :)

Let me forewarn you...there are lots and lots of photos ahead of lots of snow and beautiful mountains.  So if its not your thing...jump ship now!!!

Alongside the road in Durango is the Pinkerton Hot Springs.  The water is really warm and feels so good.

#pinkertonhotsprings

#550

We drove up Highway 550 to Silverton, Colorado.  Highway 550 is also known as the Million Dollar Highway.  The highway runs all the way from New Mexico to Colorado.  It is one of the most spectacular drives in the USA.  The Million Dollar Highway section connects Ouray and Silverton and is lined with many small adventure towns and ghost mining villages.

#milliondollarhighway

The design of the road offers stunning panoramic views of the surrounding Colorado landscape of the San Juan Mountains.  The surrounding wilderness is home to many creatures including black bears, deer, elk and mountain goats.

#sanjuanmountains

The journey takes you winding and weaving through the mountains, clinging to tight curves with breath-taking views.

I am not a fan of riding on the side of mountains with no guard rails.  Seriously.  I have a fear of heights.  :)  Brad had forewarned me over and over of what to expect during our drive to Silverton.  Thanks to his prepping me I was okay with the drive.  Having said that, there were times when I could not look down.  I had to distract myself and look away.  

The snow was so smooth and clean.  Beautiful!!!  Truly God's country.

Silverton is 48.2 miles from Durango.  It takes a little over an hour to get there.

Here's a video I made along the drive to Silverton.

Here my friend, is the sweet little town of Silverton, CO.  The population is about 600...give or take a few.

Silverton is a former silver mining camp, most or all of which is now included in a federally designated National Historic Landmark District, the Silverton Historic District.   The town has a total area of 9,318 feet above seal level and is one of the highest towns in the United States.

#silverton

It started snowing as soon as we arrived.

#rockpirates

There was one other couple that rode with us along with our guide.  They typically give you a GPS to navigate yourself but there had been over 300 avalanches and they didn't want to take any chances.

Here are a few photos of the damage from an avalanche.

There were many roads that were blocked from avalanches.

If you look to the left, you can see a bridge that was taken out by an avalanche.

Here are the foot prints of someone checking on their cabin.

Here's a video of our guide (I forget his name) talking to us about the closures.

In the next video you get a sense of how strong the wind was blowing.  It was so cold!!!



Here is a video of the damage from one of the avalanches.





It snowed really hard on us at least three times with several hail storms.  At one point, our guide heard the snow thunder (who knew there was such a thing?) and said we'd better get moving.  I thought we'd go back but oh no...we were in for lots more fun!!!



I would have loved to take more videos but it was way too cold to have your hands out of your gloves for any amount of time.  Next time I will either have a Go Pro camera or gloves you can slip your fingers out of.





Keep in mind my hands were freezing when I made these videos so there may be some moving around.



We rode for 4 1/2 hours and we were freezing when we were done.

Brad was our driver.  He loved going fast through the water puddles.  We were so dirty when we got off.  I don't think this pic of me shows you just how dirty I was.  I couldn't see out of my goggles.



A few pics on our way back to Durango.





There were places along the highway to pull off and take photos.



We had an amazing time and are looking forward to going back.  I'd love to see it in the fall and the spring and again in the winter!!!

We went back to our home away from home and got ready for dinner.  We ate at Cuckoo's Chicken House in Durango.  They have the best wings.

#cuckooschickenhouse
#durango
#colorado

Hope you enjoyed Day 3.  I'll be posting Day 4 soon!

Take care,

xoxoxo

Debbie