Day 4, continued. More photos from the hike. See all those stairs? See the treacherous rocks we climbed? Ugh, I’m still tired.
After the hike, we quickly got ready and hit the road for our long drive home. By Day 4, we were pretty tired and ready to be home so we didn’t stop much. Puppy was restless, but we just kept going and going.
Beyond the photos of our hike, we don’t have many photos to show from Day 4. But that part of our trip was spectacular too. The scenery was really different from what we’d been looking at for the past several days, and there was something refreshing about seeing a different “side” of these majestic Rockies. To experience this beauty, I suppose you’ll all just have to come visit. :)
Day 4. Monday, June 27.
After arriving in Ouray on Day 3, we walked around town, exploring little shops and enjoying coffee and dinner. It’s an adorable little town (though perhaps a bit unaccustomed to openly lesbian travelers), but we didn’t take many photos.
Of course, I suspect Ouray is the kind of place where you really need to see it to believe it. I mean, it’s surrounded by mountains on all four sides. It looks like the town grew from the mountains or fell from the sky. It’s pretty incredible.
We didn’t have much time to play before hitting the road on Day 4, but we woke early and took a quick hike to Box Canyon Falls.
The hike was a two-parter. The first part, we walked down, down, down into the canyon to see the bottom of the waterfall. It was a gorgeous, albeit wet, walk.
The second part, we walked up. And up. And up. Your chubby friends, Addison and Jess, don’t hike much so we found this part of the hike a bit difficult. It started with more than 90 stairs and then climbing over rocks.
At the top, we saw an amazing view of the entire town of Ouray. And way down below, we could see the river into which the waterfall flowed.
Yes, more Day 3. Photos from a scenic overlook at nearly 11,000 feet.
Day 3, continued. We leave Vallecito Lake and start our trek to Ouray, where we’ll spend the last night of our trip.
To get to Ouray, we travel the famous Million Dollar Highway. Nearly each time we see a scenic overlook, we take the opportunity to look (the photos here were taken at our first two stops). And we don’t regret a single stop. Every view going up and down Red Mountain is amazing.
The drive is terrifying at times. Winding up and down the mountain, often without guard rails, is incredibly frightening. Addison and I take turns driving (don’t tell our rental car company) so that we can both experience the sights.
This is the part of the trip I was most looking forward to—this is the drive I wanted to show my wife. It didn’t disappoint her.
But, we’ll both come to realize that the Monday drive home is just as stunning (though quite different) as the drive over Red Mountain.
Addison has now seen what I’ve been telling her for months: Colorado is a breathtakingly beautiful state.
We’ve just recovered (we actually returned a few days ago) from our four day road trip from Denver to Durango to Ouray and back to Denver, and as I look at the photos we took, I’m struck by a sad reality: photos never do justice to what you witness with your eyes.
And yet, Addison and I still took photos. Hundreds over them over four days. Because we get so excited about sharing our experiences with family and friends who read this blog. In fact, it’s because of all of you that Addison forced us to stop at nearly every scenic overlook throughout our travels. She wanted to share the sights and the beauty with you.
So that’s why you saw photos throughout our travels (taken with and posted by our phones) and why the next several will show you some of the photos from our actual camera. :) We hope you enjoy them.
But before we get started with the photos, let me orient you to where we traveled. We started in Denver and followed the red route to Durango, taking a small detour to Great Sand Dunes National Park.
On day 2, we did no traveling at all as we were working the Four Corners Pride Festival (the actual reason / excuse for this little road trip excursion).
On day 3, we followed the blue route, driving two hours on the Million Dollar Highway (so named because it cost a million dollars a mile to construct) to Ouray, a town just northeast of Durango.
On day 4, we left Ouray and traveled back to Denver, taking an alternate route than the one we took on day 1, traveling north and then east and passing through popular ski areas such as Vail.
All in all, it was an amazing trip, as you’ll see by the photos. And one I’d gladly do again if family and friends would like to travel west to see us. :)
