By Shelby
This was a pretty boring week to start, travel-wise. There was a winter storm in Colorado in the Rockies that closed all the roads we were planning on driving. Apparently, they drop explosives out of helicopters to cause avalanches to prevent them later on when cars are on the road. I had no idea that was a thing they do. Because the roads were closed, we decided to work a few extra days in New Mexico and wait it out.
We worked at a nice public library in Farmington the whole week. While working, we watched a tumbleweed blow by. We had to go take a picture of it after we had lunch.
For dinner Monday, we went to KFC and tried the infamous Double Down. It was a chicken sandwich, but the buns were fried chicken. It was good, but a bit much for me.
The Planet Fitness we stayed at wasn’t open 24 hours, but we had no issues staying in the parking lot. It was nice and quiet and no one bothered us. We made dinner Tuesday after work. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy, so we found a park with a covered pavilion. We made chili mac, since I wanted something that would warm me up. Whenever we had free time after work this week, we played some Minecraft. It was kind of nice to not need to drive anywhere. The road trip through Utah was pretty crazy.
We also found an apartment back in Rochester for when we return at the end of April. We had wanted to get a month-to-month lease with a private owner rather than a complex, since they tend to be cheaper. We didn’t get any positive responses from the people we contacted, however. We also decided we didn’t feel comfortable renting something like that without seeing it in person first. We decided on a 4 month lease with an apartment complex in Henrietta. We’re hoping to buy a house in the near future and don’t want to get stuck in a long lease. In the meantime, I’m researching potential mortgage lenders. If anyone has any recommendations, please let us know in the comments!
Saturday morning, we finally left Farmington and headed north into Colorado. It looked like the mountain roads were open. The roads did end up being covered in a sheet of ice. A truck driving in front of us almost didn’t make it up a hill. Our first destination was Mesa Verde National Park. This park is famous for its large cliff dwellings. Unfortunately, the cliff dwellings tours don’t run in the winter, but we could still see them from a distance.
We drove the scenic road through the park. The road was icy and narrow. The snow banks on the side of the road were as tall as the Prius. At the end of the road, we drove onto a scenic loop road with views of the cliff dwellings and structures. At the Sun Temple viewing area, we could see the Cliff Palace, the largest and most famous Cliff dwelling. It had more than 150 rooms. It looked impressive. We didn’t stay long because it was very cold and windy.
After that, we left the park and headed north to Mountain Village. Fortunately, the roads were much better than they were in the morning. When we got to Mountain Village, we took the free gondola up a mountain. There were great views of Telluride, the town below. There were ski slopes and skiers everywhere. It was very fancy and looked expensive. The mountains around the town were amazing. They were exactly how I pictured the Rockies, very tall with jagged, rocky peaks.
We took another free gondola down into Telluride. We walked around the town and checked out a gift shop before returning to the gondola and going back to the car. We originally were planning on getting a hotel in Telluride for the night, but the cheapest one available was over $2000 per night. We decided to drive on about an hour further to Ouray, where we were able to get a motel for about $100.
Ouray calls itself the Switzerland of America. It definitely looked like it. The small town was surrounded by snowy mountains, which looked like the Swiss Alps.
Sunday morning, we left Ouray and headed toward Pagosa Springs, our next stop. The road leaving Ouray is known as the million dollar highway because it cost a million dollars per mile to build. It was really scenic and really dangerous. There was a section that was along a mountainside with a sheer cliff drop on the other side with no railing. It was pretty scary looking. We were very glad the road was clear and dry.
We made a stop at Molas Pass at almost 11,000 feet to try to get the road camera to take a picture of us. We did end up getting a picture of the car, eventually. After that, we continued down through Durango to Pagosa Springs.
We got a great deal on a vacation rental in Pagosa Springs, which included a whole kitchen. We stopped at a grocery store before checking in. We wanted to make use of the stove and oven while we could. The Rocky Mountains have been great and they definitely put me in the mood for skiing. We’re thinking about going skiing next week sometime away from the super expensive ski resort areas. Next week, we’re planning on working from Pagosa Springs before going to Sand Dunes National Park.
Fun Facts from Week 48:
- The highest station the free Telluride gondola goes to is the San Sophia Station at 10,540 feet.
- Pagosa Springs, Colorado is home to the world’s deepest hot spring at 1002 feet deep.
