2008 Vacation: Day 4

I awoke to the sounds of chirping birds and the smell of brewing coffee. It was nice and cool. I later learn that it’s 54 degrees Fahrenheit this morning! A cool 20 degrees less than they're waking up to at home! I looked at the clock to see that it was only 6:30 a.m.! I was way too comfy in my slumber to do much more than groan and pull the covers over my head. I’m not sure what it is about me, but it seems that my husband can sense a change in my breathing pattern just enough to alert him that I’m awake.

He came in, sat on the bed, and says, “So, what are the plans today?” I tell him that I had made ticket reservations with Outlaw Tours for us to take a van ride to Silverton, CO where we would transfer over to jeeps for a tour of “ghost towns”. About 3 hours later, they would drop us off in Silverton for lunch and souvenir shopping. Then we would board the Silverton Durango Narrow Gauge train for our return trip to Durango. DH patiently listens to my description of activities and then asks, “Do we drive ourselves on this jeep tour or is someone else driving?” I told him that he didn’t need to worry, someone else would do all the driving. See, I had planned it this way to take the stress off of him. However, I didn’t count on him not liking that plan. He proceeds to inform me that he’d like to do all the driving. I just shrugged and said okay. Before I go further, let me just say that Outlaw Tours has a policy of charging full price for no shows as well as a 50% of full price cancellation fees for reservations cancelled less than 10 days prior to the trip date. However, I forgot about that little piece of information thinking that if we didn’t show up they’d just give the spot to someone else. I was horrified later to learn that by skipping out on Outlaw Tours we just GAVE them $375. Arrrghggh!

So, we proceed to wake and dress the kiddos and by 7:30 a.m. we were sitting in the local Denny’s. The girls enjoyed “Alien Pancakes”, The Teen had a “French Toast Platter”, DH enjoyed some sort of Mexican omelet while I enjoyed a country fried steak with 2 eggs, hash browns, toast, and orange juice.

We left & got in the truck where DH turns to me and says, “Okay, where’s Silverton?” Before heading in that direction, I wanted to knock out a virtual geocache, so we took off for that coordinate and found the actual site of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids’ Great Train Robbery. Parts of that great movie were also filmed here. As I stood there, I could almost imagine the excitement as a passenger on that train.

I took my photo & got back into the truck. DH turns to me and say, “That’s it? I drove all the way out here for you to take a picture?” I said, “Uum, yeah!?” He snarls at me and asks if I had programmed Maggie for Silverton, to which I answered in the affirmative. I plugged it in and off we went up into the mountains.

As we drove up Hwy. 550, the landscape begins to change dramatically. From brownish sandstone rocks with sage bushes and cacti to slate colored rocks with fragrant spruce trees. Climbing higher, the wildflowers I’d been hearing about were beginning to welcome us.

The following photo is a shot I took at Coal Bank Pass on the Million Dollar Highway en route to Silverton, CO.

The temperatures begin dropping and I wished I’d remembered to pack a jacket or sweater. Upon reaching Silverton, we stopped at the visitor’s center for some brochures. We phone a couple of Jeep rental places before find one that would rent to us for only $100 for the afternoon.

Since we had to wait until 12:30 p.m. to get our jeep, we decided to kill a little time with a geocache or two. Apparently, that idea didn’t sit to well with Maggie OR DH. I tried to find one but Maggie had me walking around in circles! Frustrated, I gave up and returned to the truck. DH was also quite frustrated with my geo obsession.

We then chose to just drive around a little bit before returning to Silverton for lunch. We walked around a bit before landing in the “Best of the West” Bar and Grill. (part of Handlebar’s Food & Saloon, a little down the street from Handlebar’s). This was a homely little place with creaking wood floors, mismatched tables & chairs, trophy elk and buffalo on the walls, and a ladies restroom decorated with pink paint, floral walls, and male revue posters plastered on the ceiling. That being said, the “Best of the West” served up the best mesquite smoke BBQ pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had the pleasure of sinking my teeth into! Even when my stomach was screaming “Stop Eating!” I could not resist another bite!

The menu also offered other fare such as regular beef hamburgers and brisket sandwiches, most intriguing was the Buffalo Burger made with free range, grass fed buffalo meat. I was tempted to give it a try but was warned the meat is so lean that to cook it well done would result in a very dry burger. I chickened out at that and as mentioned earlier, chose the pulled pork.

Upon finishing our meal, we trekked down the street to the San Juan Jeep Tour Rental for a 4 x 4. We were given a lovely canary yellow jeep in which to view the backroads and ghost towns of America’s Alps.

We opted to make Animas Forks our first destination. As DH drove, I snapped photos left and right of wildflowers, snow capped mountains, and flowing streams.

Upon reaching Animas Forks, I was definitely wishing for a jacket! The temperature was dropping more and more. I began snapping more pictures only to have the battery on my digital camera go dead. I had brought my cell phone along out of habit and am glad I did as I was able to put another 40 photos on it.

I attempted one more geocache in that area but gave up when my heart felt like it would explode due to my running up vertical slopes trying to find the correct coordinates. Finally returning to the jeep, panting like a dog due to the thin air, I read again the geo hints. I suddenly felt like an idiot and learned a lesson. Always read the hints one last time before looking for a geocache that isn’t even there!

DH and the girls were waiting for me in the Jeep. I climbed in and we drove even higher. I believe we got to 12,000 or 13,000 feet elevation. Quite a climb considering we started this adventure at only 15 feet above sea level. The higher we climbed the colder it got. My hands and fingers began going numb. I remembered that I had packed the girls fleece blankies and was thankful that God had guided my hand to put them in the bag.

We continued to drive on when the rains came. At between 12,000 and 13,000 feet elevation, that rain was plain COLD! Cold is the only way I can describe it. It was take your breath away COLD.

It was coming to the close of the day, our deadline. We decided to head back to Silverton. Why doest the return trip seem so much shorter? On our way back to Silverton, I spied the little hotel that my family had stayed in 25 years ago on our vacation to the area. I also spied the First Congregational Church that my mom went into and signed the guest book. I tried to do the same but the doors were locked. So I went back to the truck with even more photos on my phone.

We were so very tired and ready to get back to the travel trailer but first I’d promised the girls a treat. We found the Silverton Fudge & Candy store. We went in and discovered they also serve ice cream! We all ordered some and I ordered some of their special Mint Chocolate fudge to go. Yummy!!

Time to go back to the campground for hot showers and soft beds! Driving back downhill didn't seem to bother me as much as the drive uphill. Maybe because I this time I was on the side looking up the cliffs instead of down into the valley's!