Go West, Young Man!

Every summer, we try to leave Dallas for cooler climates for a bit of a break. This year, we decided to go to Utah as we'd never been. Once we booked everything, we realized it's not cooler there.  But, more on that later.

Our first night we stayed in Albuquerque, NM. Parts of that city are not very nice. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant where the owner kept the door locked during business hours. We thought she was closed but she invited us in and we had one of the best Thai dinners that we'd ever had.

Leaving New Mexico via highway 550. It was just one beautiful scene after another. But there's not much out there. We passed through a couple of small towns that if you blinked, you missed them.

I thought it was funny that the two signs were together.

As soon as we crossed into Colorado at Durango, the scenery immediately became greener.  

Highway 550 takes you up into the mountains. At this point we were at 10,000 feet! Our ears were popping. 

We're still not on the Million Dollar Highway but these were the amazing views. We chose this route on the recommendation of our friend, Paul Bullington. He told John about the Million Dollar Highway. John did the research. I updated the travel plans. I'm so glad we did.

Then we pulled into Silverton, CO. It's an old mining town that is nestled in what seems like a valley in the middle of the San Juan Mountains. Even so, the elevation is 9,300 feet. It was established in 1874 when gold and silver deposits were found. 

The San Juan County courthouse. The year round population of this town is 700. During the winter, the roads can be closed (and there's only the one road in and out...The Million Dollar Highway). Sometimes food has to be air dropped into town in the winter! It looks lovely now but I wouldn't want to live here permanently.

This is the Shady Lady Saloon where we had lunch. It was a brothel during the mining times and is located on the infamous Blair Street where all the other vice related businesses were located. At one point the house was run by a madam named Denver Kate. The brothel closed in 1947. Now it's a summer home and a restaurant.

Main Street Silverton. The mines closed in the 1990's and the town is now geared toward tourism. John made the comment that it felt like one of those "movie towns" where the buildings were cut outs and I would agree with that. There were the two main streets and then some random buildings up in the hills.

Leaving Silverton, we started up the Million Dollar Highway. That's a waterfall up at the top of that mountain. The highway runs through the San Juan Mountains and basically starts in Silverton and ends a little before Montrose, Colorado.

They don't know for sure where the name came from. It could be that it cost so much to build or the amount of gold fill left in the roadway or just because of these "million dollar" views. They are spectacular. 

In addition, they are twisty. There were tons of these hairpin turns and, in some places, there are no guardrails.

This trestle is the from the Idorado mining company. It was used to move ore from the mine to the concentration mill that was on the hill below. When the mill was dismantled, it was used to remove rock from the mine. The mine closed in 1978. 

The arms on the barrier are used to close the road when it becomes too dangerous to drive. I'm not sure what the little house is for. I can only imagine how beautiful this all is when it's covered in snow. 

As you come out of the mountains, you land in this small town of Ouray. In retrospect, I wish we'd stayed here overnight. It was basically one main street but it didn't have that "fake" feel that Silverton did. This is the Wright Opera House built in 1888. It was an attempt to add a little class to this mining town. The Opera House took a while to catch on but it did.

The town of Ouray was a mining camp established in 1876. It sits at an elevation of 7,800 feet and was named for the Chief of the Ute Indians. Most of the buildings are from the 1800's or early 1900's. They had a several cool old hotels to choose from. The rooms averaged about $250 but what a cool experience to stay here. If we ever pass through this way again, and I hope we will, I want to stay here. That drive was a really cool and unexpected part of our trip. 

One thing I've discovered as we left Colorado and drove into Utah is that unless you are in a city, there are no people! It's all mountains and desert. If you like wide open spaces, this is the place for you. There are only 3.3 million people in the whole state of Utah. There are 8.1 million people in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.

In Moab, it was kind of the same as the other two towns. Everything was on one street. On surrounding streets were a smattering of homes. Our room had a balcony with an amazing view of the town and the surrounding mountains. Also, the weather was fantastic! We read that it would be really hot but we had great weather the entire time we were in Moab.

Moab was a mining town as well. In the 1910's and '20's, uranium and potash were discovered here. In the 1950's, Moab was the "Uranium capital of the world". By 1980, all the mines closed and the town became know for tourism. 

One of the main sights is Arches National Park. We got so lucky. There were not many people there. We had a reservation at 10 am and got there early in case the line to get in was long. It was not. We thought we'd spend a "couple of hours" here. We did not. We spent the whole day and didn't even get to see everything. 

This is Balanced Rock. You could hike up closer (and we did) but it wasn't strenuous. There was a paved path to follow. It looks like a good wind would blow this thing over. It was amazing.

This is the North Window Arch. This was a little bit more of a hike but still not too bad. You could see everything from the parking area. 

In the same area is Turret Arch. It required the same amount of effort as the North Window Arch but definitely worth it.

Across the parking lot is Double Arch. Also a small trek to get there but so worth it. The arches are basically carved by wind, sand and water over time. 

This is Skyline Arch. I was able to take this photo without any hiking at all.  Some of the arches have collapsed after many years but it's nature doing its thing and creating all this beautiful scenery.

Another option if you're in Moab is Dead Horse Point State Park. It's not nearly as crowded as Arches National Park but it's definitely worth a visit.

This is Dead Horse Point so named because cowboys would corral all the wild horses up here. Then they'd pick the ones they wanted and leave the rest. The horses would die of thirst while looking down on the Colorado River below. That is the worst story I've ever heard! Those poor horses were just minding their own business. 

Hiking along the trail I happened to look over and see this. The trails here are as strenuous as you want them to be. The hikes that we did were very easy - just walking, really. But if you wanted, you could follow tougher trails.

Contemplating life and nature. This was a beautiful spot in the park. Almost no people.

Every evening, we would sit out on the balcony and check out the sunset. It was beautiful every time.

And finally, Canyonlands National Park. There are three entrances. We went into the Islands in the Sky entrance, which is much more accessible by car and the hikes are much easier. There are other entrances that are for heartier folks.

This is the Shafer Canyon Overlook. That line is actually a road. People can hike that if they are so inclined. We were not inclined. It was very beautiful.

This is the Upheaval Dome. This was the most strenuous hike that we did. When we got to the top, I needed a minute or two. The trail sign said it was only .3 miles. The trail sign was wrong. But it was beautiful up there and worth the effort. Also, no guardrails so if you lean too far, you're going over the side.

I think this was one of the coolest views in the park. It's the Green River Overlook at an elevation of 6000 feet. 

Our last stop in the Canyonlands is the Buck Canyon Overlook. Also an amazing view. In the early 19th century, this was all grazing land. Free range cows! Seriously. There was also mining going on here but now, the National Park System is in control and they are keeping it safe for all of us.

Our last sunset in Moab from the balcony of our hotel room.

Our next scheduled stop was Salt Lake City. When we got to our hotel, there were lots of people milling and lounging around outside. Turns out we were right next to a homeless shelter and an abandoned train depot. We went out that night for dinner and there was such a concentrated population of homeless people that we really didn't feel safe. So much so, that we left the next day without seeing anything. John did some reading when we got home and found out that it really is a serious problem there. 

So for the first time in our travels, we were far from home with no plans and no place to stay. We decided to go home but we couldn't make it there in one day so we headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado. I was able to book a room on line. Meanwhile, the drive was amazing! This is the Echo Reservoir in Utah before we crossed into Wyoming. It was gorgeous!

Later in the day, we crossed into Wyoming, a state that we'd never been to. We realized after we'd already paid for a hotel in Ft. Collins that we could have stayed in Wyoming! Next time.

Wyoming is another place where there are wide open spaces. There are only approximately 600,000 people in the whole state.

We kept seeing these fences along the highway in Wyoming. They are to keep the snowdrifts from covering the interstate! I don't think I'll be coming here in the winter. Still, it was a stunning drive.

In Ft. Collins, an issue we had on a road trip earlier in the year came back to haunt us. We'd had a flat tire in Alabama when we went to see Brendan in Georgia. A guy patched it for us but didn't do a great job and it was slowly leaking air. We found a Discount Tire store and got a new tire. While it was an unplanned expense, it sure beat sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with a flat. Here were in the waiting room for our tire to be replaced.

From Ft. Collins, we drove to Colorado Springs to spend a fun-filled evening with friends. I was so engrossed in playing with the kids that I forgot to take photos! We left Colorado Springs and drove home that night. On the way we ran into these crazy cloud formations. It was raining somewhere in Texas!

It was disappointing that we didn't get to see Salt Lake City but honesty, it just didn't see safe. The rest of the trip was a fabulous adventure. Moab was amazing. We had a blast hanging out with our friends and we enjoyed seeing various places in America. But even with all the excitement of an adventure, there's no place like home!