After visiting Mesa Verde National Park we decided on a whim to drive to Durango, Colorado and check it out. When Marc first moved westward he was deciding between moving to Salt Lake City or Durango, things certainly would have been quite different if he had chosen Durango that's for sure. When we arrived in Durango it was early afternoon so I went for a road ride while he continued to recover from the previous days race. Once I got back we headed into town to snoop around main street. It's a great little mountain town with lots of locally owned shops. We stopped to grab a bit to eat and thanks to Urbanspoon we ended up at a BBQ place on the edge of town.
My dear friend Mr. Chad Hedrick would have been so proud. This little joint was run by locals from HOUSTON and was super good! So long to my typical mixed baby green salad....hello BBQ pork sandwich and brisket. This place was totally legit and I am sure it would get the approval of Hedrick!
We stayed the night in a little locally run motel in town. It was pretty cute, had old school 50's decor and were puppy friendly. (Always important when traveling with the greatest dog ever!) I have to admit the one thing that cracked me up was that the bathroom was almost the same as my brothers when growing up. Pink and light blue tile...all to similar!
The next morning we grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to Silverton, CO a true sleep mountain town! At first I was planning to ride to Silverton as it is only about 50 miles away, but then I found out it had almost 6000 feet of climbing involved. A little much for having just started riding again...not to mention the weather at this point in time was not looking great. I opted for riding along with Norman and Yeti and I'm sure glad I did as it started to rain and eventually snow at the top of the pass.
Here are a few pics from around Silverton. The big thing here is that you can take the train from Durango to Silverton and then back. The town has a population of just over 500 and is about 3 blocks long. Regardless there are lots of unique shops here!
Below are some of the buildings that are main street and some of the local attractions.
We saw this "taxi" parked outside one of the local restaurants in town.
Silverton is known for having a ski resort in town. Well not really a ski resort, there is only one lift, it is all back country access, and is expert terrain only. Needless to say this is right up Normans alley and we of course went to check it out. Now he is planning a trip there for next winter.
I had to laugh at this..it was parked out in front of the ski lift. I wonder if they use it to get skiers from town to the lift.
After Silverton we drove to Ouray, Colorado. A bit of a challenge given the fact we were driving a two laned mountain pass road, it was now snowing, and it had not been plowed. We took it slow the whole way and eventually we made it to this BEAUTIFUL mountain town. I think I might have fallen in love with this place. If we ever hit the lottery. I would probably open up my Inn and Brew Pub here. Ouray is referred to as the Little Switzerland of America. It settled right at the base of huge mountain peaks. We really enjoyed walking through all of the local shops here and grabbed a bit to eat at the corner pub.
Driving into town
We even found the roaming gnomes here! How cool is that!
A few more pictures from around town.
Norman at the brew pub where we grabbed a bite to eat!
As always on our way home we stopped and stocked up on beer. I of course wanted to buy this one !
All in all we had a great little family get away together to some new places that I am certainly looking forward to visiting again sometime really soon!
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