Life in Ouray

We loved being in Ouray, and spent six days there, the most we've stayed in one place in our motorhome.  It was exhilarating to be in that clear thin air and to look up at the beautiful green mountains surrounding us, some still with snow on top.  The downtown, just a few blocks from our campground, has a nice feel to it.  There are several restaurants, a bookstore, a grocery, a little hardware store.  Small town America, friendly people.  Ouray is a tourist destination, but the nearest ski area is Telluride, some miles away, so it's low key and unpretentious, and it made us happy.  We could almost imagine ourselves living there, except that it might be a little too isolated.

Ouray has a number of hiking trails.  Nancy and I took one to the impressive Box Canyon Falls.  The next day I decided I could do the Ouray Perimeter Trail, a four mile hike all the way around the outskirts of the town.  Nancy declined the oppportunity.  The trail began with a long run of railroad tie steps going up, up, up the mountain opposite the Visitors' Center.

A dirt trail then continued the upward tradition.  At over 8000 feet elevation, I got short of breath and even a little dizzy and had to stop often to catch my breath.

I kept on trucking and eventually reached a beautiful waterful on the side of the mountain.

The Perimeter Trail was a spectacular two and a half hour experience, and the young couple from Kansas City with whom I shared part of the hike were impressed that a man of my longevity had survived it.

Later, walking our dogs in the permanent resident section of our Ouray campground, we passed a red double-wide trailer, from which a woman emerged.

"That little dog of yours brought a tear to my eye," she said. "I've never seen one that's such a spitting image of the Shih Tzu we buried in our back yard. I loved him so much that we tried to find one just like him. Come on back here and let me show you."

I wasn't sure if she had a photo or a statue or had had her dog stuffed. It turned out to be a little live dog that had the exact coloration of Sophia - pure white and golden tan. But this one was hyperactive, straining against the leash to be pals with out dogs, and the woman admitted that she had bought him because he looked so much like her previous dog, and his personality didn't turn out to be what she had hoped for. There's a lesson in there for all of us.

Nancy and I drove about an hour to Telluride, a ski area in a magnificent setting that we had visited many years back, at a time when most of the sidewalks on the main drag were wooden boards.  Telluride has changed a lot, naturally, and the real estate prices had soared when it became a trendy destination.  But it was surprisingly recognizable, and we found the condominium we had stayed in all those years ago.  We did feel that the people in the shops were efficient but overall not as warm as those in Ouray and the rest of Colorado, probably an effect of tourism.

Back in Ouray, the winds picked up and almost seemed hurricane-like for a couple of days.  The weather service reported gusts of 60 mph.  Our motorhome was literally rocking at times.  Sophia was almost blown over as she took a dump.  (Sophia is a dog, for those not familiar with our family situation.)