A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning.

Siftables! Check this out!

Poop Scoop Boogie

For all you animal lovers, here's a fun video! Dedicated to Raz-berries and Reese's pieces...

A different kind of mountain

After an uneventful flight home I'm now looking at a different kind of mountain - a mountain of laundry! Mud-caked shoes and jeans, hiking capris, plus all the hand-washing of dressy clothes from the retirement ceremony, means lots of loads to sort out and clean.

Dave and Reese missed me. I was home for about an hour before Dave and I took off for dinner, and the dog was most unhappy that I was walking out the door again. Upon our return, he followed me around all evening, and will not be happy to see me pull out the suitcase again for my MDE travels.

Ah, to sleep in my own bed again! I forgot how much I love the new pillowtop mattress! I slept in until 7:40 a.m. - until I realized it was only 5:40 in Colorado, where my biologic clock is set. So, did I really sleep in, or not? I guess it's all relative. But since I got a very refreshing sleep, I'm going to say, "YES! I actually slept in this summer!"

I was supposed to be cut from the MDE training this coming week, but now I'm back in the schedule again. It's gonna be a busy 4 weeks!

Don't Look Down!

The drive to from Durango to Ouray (pronounced yer-RAY) was another wonderland of gorgeous scenery. The road is named “The Million Dollar Highway” both for the amount of ore removed from the area and for the views of the valleys and peaks that follow the road as it hugs the mountains. It reminded me of the road between Franklin and Highlands, NC, where the road follows the Cullasaja River. Very winding, narrow, limited or no shoulder in many places, and NO GUARDRAILS - Hello! Where’s the Colorado DOT? We had 18 wheelers taking up more than their half of the middle on those tight turns, and some steep, downhill switchbacks that were absolutely, ridiculously, out-of-control scary. You could look straight down out the car window, several hundred foot drops, and Debbie is driving?? Yes, the Queen of the Autobahn is at the wheel! Ally is getting carsick, and I’m up front getting a bit woozy, trying to keep my eyes on the mountains and not on the shoulderless drop-offs. It was gorgeous, really, and we got a few adrenaline rushes that added to the fun.

Ouray is a mining town – some of the mines are still active – and has about 650 year-round residents, and one main street. It is nicknamed “Switzerland of America” because it is in a tiny valley with high peaks surrounding the town. It is on the western side of the continental divide. Beth enjoyed photographing the local wildflowers. Pictured here is our favorite, Columbine, the state flower of Colorado. After we arrived and checked into a cute little condo and had lunch, we spent the rest of the day walking the main street, checking out the local spots, and Debbie and the girls went swimming in the hot springs. We picked up pizza for dinner and hit the hay early, as we were taking a jeep tour of the area at 8:00 a.m.

Tim, our jeep driver with Colorado West Jeeps, was, thankfully, a good driver, because if we thought the Million Dollar Highway was scary, it was nothin’ compared with the class of danger and fear we experienced going up single-lane old mining roads, dodging large rocks (or not), the rear of the chassis slipping and sliding in the wet, loose gravel. The mining roads were right on the edge of the mountain, with steep, straight-down drop-offs, where the only things that would break our fall were huge boulders at the bottom of the gorge. And guess what? NO GUARDRAILS! We went east from Ouray up to Yankee Boy Basin, where we saw Beth’s favorite things – wildflowers and marmots. We stopped for photos along the way up; one stop was Twin Falls. You’ve all seen these falls before; they are the ones pictured on Coors beer cans. Another stop was Upper Twin Falls, but we renamed them “Kathy Falls Falls” as I took a good tumble on the rocks and banged up my shins pretty well. We commented that the bumpy road would put chiropractors out of business, as we all had gotten several spinal adjustments during the ride.

Beth spent the afternoon shopping for any type of souvenir with a marmot on it; Deb, the girls, and I went to the hot springs. The springs flow into an area that resembles 3 large swimming pools. The first pool was cooler than the others. One area in this pool was roped off for lap swimming, which Deb and I enjoyed; another area had twisty slides, similar to Wild Waters; there was an area for 13-years and older. The second pool was quite a bit warmer; it was perhaps 85 degrees, and it felt therapeutic just floating around. I checked out the hottest pool, too, which was about 106 degrees. Since the air was very cool and breezy, even this hottest pool felt toasty. The four of us played a game called “Colors” in the least warm pool; this involved the person who was “it” getting out of the pool and standing on the side in that cool breezy air, calling out colors. When someone’s secret color was called, she swam toward the designated “safe” zone, trying to be sneaky and not get tagged by the “it” person. It was a lot of fun playing with the kids, but let me tell you, trying to swim really fast at 8,000 feet had me sucking air real fast!

Later that evening Tim picked us up again in the jeep and drove us along a dirt road – not even gravel this time – to the Mountain Outlaw steak dinner way back in the woods on the top of a cliff overlooking the Uncompahgre River. The area where we ate had extended lengths of PVC pipe with valves. Tim explained that this was the water supply for the Ouray Ice Park. Beginning in December, “Bob” goes along a mile stretch of PVC line at the top of the gorge every day at dusk and turns on the valves, providing a shower of water down the side of the gorge. This freezes and becomes the Ouray Ice Park in the winter. We were the only ones at the dinner and feasted on a custom cooked dinner of Rib Eye, baked beans, corn on the cob, fried potatoes, and salad. Paul, our cook, provided a nice campfire and we roasted marshmallows before heading back to town.

D&SNGRR, Fizzies and wine

Aaaahhh! The Best Western in Durango with soft beds, air conditioning, continental breakfast and wi-fi! I believe civilization is now measured by the number of bars on my cell phone and on Main Street.

Sunday, July 6 found us up early, headed for the train depot to catch the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a steam locomotive that passes through some of the prettiest country we've seen yet. And since we've taken about 200 photos of scenery, that's saying a lot! Time to check out the memory card on the camera to be sure we still have room!

The train followed the Animas River. Beth made me google this, and the original name was "Rio de Animas Perdidas," River of Lost Souls. We saw the river change from a rather tame, wide, slow-flowing mass in town, to fast-moving with Class IV rapids, to the relative trickle near the headwaters near Silverton as the train moved north. Along the way we saw the area where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid made their famous cliff jump. Turns out Hollywood did some of their magic, and the jump isn't all that bad. Many of the local teenagers make that jump on hot summer days.

Silverton was a silver mining town with lots of historic markers on the buildings. We couldn't resist a group picture in the town jail, nor the souvenir shop where I found a thimble. The train turned around, so on the way back we saw the sights on the other side of the railroad. By the time we got back to Durango we were all tired and hungry, so we headed out to find a place to eat. We chose Ken and Sue's, and while Beth and I were waiting for a table, Deb and the girls explored Main Street. They found Fuzziwigs, a candy shop that had Fizzies! I hadn't had Fizzies since they were discontinued because of the cyclomate scare. Talk about a blast from the past! So Deb bought me a pack, and I put them in my water at the restaurant, where I ordered pistachio-nut crusted grouper and a glass of wine. Fizzies and wine! Some combination, eh? Dinner was magnificent, as were those great beds back at the Best Western. We crashed hard that night, knowing we had a long drive to Ouray in the morning.

Mesa Verde, Day 2

Today we explored the cliff dwelling named Spruce Tree House, which Beth was pleased to learn did not involve any ladders. On the way back up the trail, we found a side trail that led to petraglyphs, which are pictures carved in the sandstone rock. Deb, the girls, and I decided to hike the 2 mile loop, while Beth opted to spend time in the park museum. So off we went.

The trail wasn't too bad... until it began to go up. And up. And up. And I thought five ladders at this elevation was hard! At one point we had to climb over a boulder, and I thought I was totally done in. But the views from the mesas were phenomenal, and the petraglyphs were very interesting. Our biggest mistake was not taking water with us. By the time we got back to the museum to meet up with Beth, I was really dehydrated.

We ate lunch and took a tram ride of a second mesa, with Deb and the girls doing one more dwelling called Long House. Beth and I rode the tram back to the station and spent time reading. When the Beatty's returned we headed to the Far View Terrace for ice cream and souvenirs. We saw some of David Nighteagle's handmade flutes for sale. Don't worry, Dave, I didn't buy one...

As we drove to Durango to spend the night, we all decided Mesa Verde was really cool, and well worth the bugs, heat, ladders and dehydration.