What a better way to spend 4th of July then driving one of the most beautiful scenic roads in Colorado? We headed out of Cortez around 8am for a beautiful drive on the Grand Mesa - Scenic and Historic Byway. If you ever get the opportunity to drive this, I would encourage you to do so. In fact, we are talking about going back in the fall when the leaves change colors and drive it again! The Byway takes you from Cortez up through Dolores and several other small cities and then leads you to Telluride. There are tons of camping spots along this road and amazing views. Once we got to Telluride the weather was a little cool still and there was just a hint of snow still on the mountains. We decided to brave the Sky Tram and see how Asa and Lexi would do. I am so glad we did - they loved it! Especially Asa which kinda surprised me. At points he even waved to other people as they were passing us by. Lexi was a little hesitant at first, but warmed up once she saw how much fun Asa was having. After the Sky Tram we came back down the mountain and strolled the main street of Telluride. They had just finished their 4th of July parade (we missed it - on the Sky Tram). The streets were full of people, kids, and dogs and everyone was having a great time. We had a mini-picnic and then hit the road again. Perhaps, July 4th was not the best day to do this drive because for the most part the highway was shut down in all of the cities for their parades, so there was a lot of detours. Ouray was beautiful but there were so many people that we decided not to stop and get out and headed to Silverton. Silverton was pretty much the same, road closed - detours and a lot of people. We drove around a while and again decided not to stop. Plus the kids were napping and we didn't want to wake them up anyway. After more beautiful scenery we came to Durango. Of course we had to stop here! This is where the train is! The trains were out still so we walked the main street and window shopped. They were having a BBQ Contest and people from as far as Florida had driven to take part. It smelled sooooo good! All the smokers and hickory and BBQ sauce - yummy! We settled on the vendor that had the most amount of trophies and awards displayed at their booth. Yes they were from Florida. Needless to say - we were not impressed and this convinced us even more that John needs to start his own BBQ business and show these people how REAL BBQ is made. After the BBQ we headed back to the train depot and got to watch the train come in. Asa had the biggest smile on his face. He thought it was pretty neat and I am so glad he got to see a real live train. Then we headed to the train museum and both kids got to explore a real engine and sit in the engineer seat. After Durango we headed back to Cortez and played on the playground at the campsite until it was time to watch the fireworks. The kids were really excited - until the first firework went off and then they started to cry. They both wanted to go back to the tee pee (or as Asa called it the "camping fire"). So, we left and John and I pretty much walked backwards so that we could see the fireworks and the kids didn't have to. Sunday morning we got up early and headed for home. Decided this time to drive though Gallup to I40 and then hit I17 at Flagstaff and took a side-trip through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. Got home about 4pm. Overall it was an awesome trip and I am so looking forward to our next one! Enjoy the slide-show!
http://www.slide.com/r/41Zfc2sX5T_DJBhnPRFub8LfKK6vTR-1?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment