Mimmsical Creations

Well, we made a rather quick (LONG) trip to southern Colorado on Monday and Tuesday. We had reservations in Durango at a Bed and Breakfast, so Monday was basically driving straight to Durango.

We ran into SO much road construction and heavy traffic. And it seems that no one wants to go the speed limit - SLOW I mean. We both got rather impatient numerous times going 15 miles or more under the limit! Yikes! We were enjoying the scenery, but we also had a destination we wanted to get to!

I have to say, the road from Ouray, CO to Durango, CO is one of the scariest I've ever been on. It is called the Million Dollar Highway because it was so expensive to build. The edge is sheer dropoffs, with NO guard rails. I love the mountains, but I have a rather severe reaction to mountain roads! Panic. Sheer, utter panic. My hands hurt very bad from holding on so tight! I don't remember it being this bad when I was younger, but it was very bad on that particular stretch of road. It is 74 miles, but takes about 2 hours because of the curvy, slow road. It is spectacular, and worth it... if you're not me! I made it through though, and I was happy we saw everything we did. ... And we drove it again the next day... I think I'm crazy. I did much better the next day as I knew more what I was getting into!

The Bed and Breakfast was a very lovely location - the accomodations were very nice. We drove directly into town after checking in and had a wonderful Italian dinner in Durango. YUM! We always seem to find the best restaurants just on chance! It was very hot (over 100 degrees) everywhere. I'm very glad that Mike's car is airconditioned!

Back at the B&B for the night - we ran into frustration and disappointment. We were facing the river, and would have been able to hear it running all night with our windows open. However, the grounds keeper decided to run not one, but two "gunshot" sprinklers ALL night long!! I kept thinking they would go off at some point, and they never did. It kept me awake. I wish I had gone hunting for the turn off, but that probably wouldn't have been smart. I commented to the manager on our way out the next day and she was quite huffy that I did. Needless to say, we won't stay at this particular place again, which is a bummer since it was so nice!

Tuesday we drove back up the crazy highway and went to Box Canyon Falls in Ouray. What an amazing sight this is!! So cold - the spray really gets you! I was terrified walking down the bridge above the river to the falls. I conquered that fear and I'm glad I did! I never thought I was such a horrible chicken! (this is a movie I took with my digital camera - sound quality isn't great - but you can see the water action!)



After seeing the falls, we headed for Montrose and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Whoa!! This is truly an amazing park! We drove all along the south rim and stopped at many of the walk out points. The views are stunning. The canyon is about 2700 feet deep, so it was very "dizzy-fying" but just so amazingly beautiful!! We took much longer than we thought we would to drive through - time well spent.

We also drove down to the bottom of the canyon - on a road marked 16% grade - sheesh! It was a bit nerve-wracking as the car kept trying to speed up - even in first gear! Again - worth the shot nerves! So amazingly beautiful!

I have SO many pictures. Here is a collage of some of the high points. If you want to see them all you can check out my flickr! It was a quick, long drive, but we had a great time! I'm sunburned, and was glad for the day off yesterday! We didn't do anything to "celebrate" but just lounged around home!