CO

7 days - 1800 Miles.

Day 1 - Denver, Vail to Aspen

Day 2 - Aspen to Ouray

Day 3 - Ouray, Telluride

Day 4 - Ouray to Silverton

Day 5 - Silverton, Durango, Mesa Verde National Park to Monument Valley Arizona

Day 6 - Monument Valley Arizona to Pagosa Springs

Day 7 - Pagosa Springs to Leadville

Day 8 - Leadville, Breckenridge to Denver

For several years my family had a place in Breckenridge.  I never got there enough.  Most of my time was always spent in Summit County, and usually in the winter.  This week Susan and I took a good run at seeing as much as possible in 7 days.

Highlights, where to begin.  The entire trip was a highlight, and it was a beautiful time of year.  Trees were turning color at altitude, crowds were down, and the weather was perfect, mid 70's in the day, high 40's at night.  With this trip, we decided to see as much as possible, at the expense of being able to dwell in any one place to explore deeper.  I would have liked to do more hiking, biking, fishing, wheeling, etc, but we decided to use this trip as a reconnaissance, to find places we would like to come back to further explore.

I was deeply envious of all of the guys on bikes canyon carving the beautiful roads, on everything from 70's era Goldwings, to the BMW's, to the sportbikes and even to the big Harley guys scraping the rails around the tight corners, with a rider on back.  And to the travel rigs, with toys on the roof, maps all over the dashboard and a months worth of supplies in the back of their car.  I would really like to take some time and see this state properly, we blew through just so many areas that I could have spent weeks.

Highlights - If I had to pick a couple, coming over Black Bear Pass in a Pinzgauer, nose hanging off a sheer cliff as we negotiated a switchback, while looking down into the Telluride Valley, exploring the Tomboy Pass area.  The drive through Arizona and Utah desert - Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, Mexican hat, what a strange environment, watching entire weather systems roll through, as far as the eye can see from the vantage of a high plateau, the countless National Park gravel access roads, I wonder where that one goes..

It was an inspiring trip.