After a cosy night in our cabin, we drove down into Boulder to catch up with friends… once again we were having too much fun to remember to take any photos 🙁
We could easily see why the Trimmers decided to move there from Chicago…. we will definitely be back to visit again soon!
We drove through some amazing highlands in Colorado, with vast pasture surrounded by the picturesque peaks of the Rockies. The clouds came down as we went over the passes.
We had done our research and were headed southwest from Boulder. A night soggy night in the Curacanti National Recreation Area let us enjoy a short hike in the morning with some signs of autumn and views of the Blue Mesa Reservoir.
Such an amazing and unexpected location, but we were on a mission that day… and we didn’t yet realize how time-sensitive it was. We drove on to Montrose, CO and stopped in for some free WIFI in the parking lot of the McDonalds just to check our directions (our less-than-useless wifi hotspot had failed to provide us with up-to-the-moment navigation, and we had not yet given in to getting a GPS).
But just as we were about to to get on the road to the Million Dollar Highway, we discovered that it was closed!!! We couldn’t believe it… just because it was a weekday… they were doing road works. There was just one chance… if we could make it to Ouray in the next hour, we would be able to catch the lunchtime window (the road workers are literally eating their lunch at the side of the drop-off).
An exciting sprint south and we made it in perfect time… if not, we would have had to spend the day in Ouray (at least they have hot springs!) and wait until the end of the workday, to get through at 5pm… dusk and descending clouds be damned.
It was nothing short of amazing…
