Guys. If you haven’t been to this state, YOU MUST GO. I had been back in 2007 when my family took a vacation and we went to Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. This time I went to Ouray, which is in southwestern Colorado, about 100 miles from the CO/NM border. One of my dearest friends who I’ve known since we were 4 moved there, so I went to visit her and her family. It was so great; it’s like no time had passed at all. Don’t you love having a friend (and friend’s family) like that?!
I set out at 7am, and got to her house a little after 4pm. Missy, our pit mix, is a champ in the car, and during the whole trip she was like a new dog, playing with the other dogs in harmony and making herself right at home. Anyway, if you ever want to drive a road that will work on your nerves, drive the Million Dollar Highway from Silverton to Ouray. I knew there were mountain passes, but MAN. Gorgeous drive but you could not pay me enough money to get on the back of a bike.
Every morning it was cool and lovely, and I got two of my runs in there. The elevation was around 7800 feet, so a bit higher than El Paso, but I had no problems. Between my Friday run and Saturday long run, I did 15 miles in Colorado, which was definitely not enough.
One day we went to Telluride, which if you’re not familiar with it, is where all the rich peeps live. Haha. We took the gondola from Mountain View into town and had lunch and walked around. That same evening we had dinner at Ouray Brewery, which was delicious. We spent a couple evenings relaxing in the hot tub on the patio under the stars. Seriously, it was a lovely vacation…
…but there were even more nervewracking mountain passes. We went on a Jeep tour up to the summit of Red Mountain. The pass along the highway is at 11,000 feet, but we still had 2,000 feet to climb on a single track rocky off-road trail. Whew, talk about nerves!! I was definitely the scaredy cat of the tour, but coming down wasn’t bad at all. The views were magnificent from the top, with 360 degree views of 13- and 14-ers everywhere you looked.
We hiked and went out for breakfast yesterday and then I headed home. I had to stop and get new front brakes and rotors… and of course, who else did I call when I heard an awful sound but my dad? He thought it could have been something worse, so I’m thankful it didn’t set me back more than a couple hours. I made it home before midnight.
mercies per mile 