Rocky Mountain High – Colorado

Colorado – What can be said about this beautiful state that hasn’t already been said in song or verse.  Amazing views that seem to go on forever, mountains that touch the clouds.  From Trinidad through Colorado Springs, down to Montrose, up to Telluride, and over to Ouray, my entire stay was breath taking.  I stayed with a good friend from Oklahoma and we had a great time.  We had dinner in Ridgway at the True Grit Café.  It was the setting for some of the scenes in the original movie with John Wayne.  Some of the buildings from the movie are still around town.  That first weekend we took a ride up to Telluride and Mountain Village.  Wow… I can only imagine what that area looks like in the winter.  We rode the free gondola from Mountain Village up to the peak and then over to Telluride, where we walked around the farmers market.  It was pretty different from the ones back home.  Besides the fruits and vegetables, there were Bison burgers and steaks, fresh baked breads of all sorts, and then there were the artists selling their masterpieces.  Back over to Mountain Village, picked up the truck and drove over to the other side of Telluride for a late lunch at Brown Dog Pizza.  It was here that they lost my credit card and spent the better part of 30 mins. looking for it.  My card was located, and we were soon headed back down the mountain.  Whewwww….  I spent the rest of the week, hanging out and sightseeing.  A couple days before I left we went to Ouray.  Awesome little town tucked away in a box canyon.  There were Jeep rental companies located throughout the town, for the off road adventurous type.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to partake in that excitement.  The people of Colorado really are an outdoors sort.  Everything from hiking, and mountain climbing, camping and mountain biking, dirt biking, rafting, and kayaking are just a few of the activities I witnessed.  I was really shocked at how people seemed to build their houses right on a sheer cliff.  Then there are the mines all over the place.  I’m not sure who they paid to climb up there and build the sluiceways and mine shacks that seemed to hang on the side of the mountain.  Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be enough for me.  The valleys in Colorado are just as beautiful as the mountains.  As I traveled west, I couldn’t get over how remarkable the flatlands are.  Stands of trees dotted the horizons, and wild flowers of all sorts lined the roadways.  Every once in a while, I would see an elk or a coyote out in a field.  John Denver really did say it best….. Rocky Mountain High, Colorado.   You really do feel a sense of inner quiet when you are in Colorado….. Will definitely be going back to visit again…