June 21, 2024–Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, Colorado

This morning we made the 180 mile drive from Durango to Grand Junction, where we are camping for the night at Saddlehorn Campground in Colorado National Monument. The area is hard to explain, but it is high desert and on a winding rim road in a series of canyons. Quite stunning. Pictures to follow (full disclosure: it is pouring down rain here, so I used a couple of stock pictures for effect). Also, we got all of our relaxation gear out just long enough to take the picture of me relaxing. After five minutes, we looked at the radar and rushed to put everything up. Not all that relaxing, after all.

On our way up we drove through Silverton and on to Ouray via the Million Dollar Highway. Why is it called the Million Dollar Highway? Well, one of the legends is that the road was built using a million dollars worth of gold and silver, while another claims the nickname originates from an exhausted traveler who proclaimed: “I would not travel that road again for a million dollars!” Either way, the highway was completed in 1883, and it is notorious for its hair-raising twists and turns, narrow lanes, and steep drop-offs. The scenery is stunning.

We ate lunch in Ouray at another off the grid place:

I know this is a travel blog, but we have traveled in the west extensively over the years and so many places evoke memories of past trips. So, here is today’s trip down memory lane:

About 25 years ago we met my Mom and Dad in Ouray to camp for a few days. They pulled a travel trailer out here from Missouri and we flew into Denver and rented an SUV. We were supposed to tent camp, but when we arrived in Ouray it was pouring down rain. So we had to go to plan B, which was renting a crummy hotel room (Ouray is not known for its luxury hotels). The weather wasn’t that great for the entire trip, so we never did set up that tent.

When we woke on the third day of our trip, it was a gorgeous day: bright and sunny, and crystal clear—the kind of day you only get in the low humidity, brilliantly lit west. That morning all four of us set out on a trip to Silverton on the Million Dollar Highway. It’s about 25 miles long and we had only gone about 3 miles when Mom started hyperventilating. She was petrified on that road. Doug and I were at a loss, but Dad said to Doug, “Let’s take her back.” She was happy to go back, so we dropped her off (not on the side of the road—we took her back to their campsite) and Doug, Daddy and I drove on to Silverton. It wasn’t that we didn’t want Mom there (well, maybe a little because she was a pain about heights), but it was such a nice day. We took pictures of the gorgeous scenery, we shopped for a souvenir for Mom and we had lunch and excellent pie at a little place that claimed to have the “best pie in town” (I think it was the only pie in town). By the time we got back to Ouray it had started to snow. But that day up to Silverton and back stands out in my mind as one day that could not have been more perfect in any way.

By the way, the snow was pretty deep, so the next couple of days the four of us spent hours and hours playing hand after hand of Hearts on a little shaky round dining table in our crummy hotel room. Mom was ruthless at card games, so she kicked our butts repeatedly. Maybe she was paying us back for ditching her.