July 17th to July 22, 2008: BOYZ NIGHT OUT -- COLORADO. Arthur, Ron, Jim and I spent a wonderful few days in Southwestern Colorado. This was an area, Jim was already familiar with so he was able to point us to the highlights and hotspots. We stayed in Ouray, pronounced "U-ray," located in a box canyon of the San Juan Mountains. We spent our first full day at Mesa Verde National Park seeing several Anasazi Indian ruin sites and generally taking in the beautiful landscape. This mesa is prone to lightning strikes which have resulted in numerous forest fires in recent years. On Saturday we drove north to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This was another one of the National Park System's under utilized or otherwise unknown natural wonders. There were a few visitors like us, but it was far from crowded. It's a true gem of the National Parks. What was especially nice about this canyon was that you could drive down to the bottom, which we did, to get a different perspective. Day three took us back to Durango for an all day train trip to Silverton and back on the famous Durango & Silverton Norrow Gauge Railroad. Jim had gotten us the best seats on the train and I took several hundred pictures along the way. For some reason, it seems like we always end up meeting some nice girls out on a GNO trip -- Ron and Arthur spent time learning all about the dumb things people ask about the train from Amy - the Brakeman, then Arthur spent the return trip chatting with Emily from Tempe, AZ and Pattie from Lakewood, CO. He couldn't help commenting that the return trip went much faster and was much more enjoyable. We had a "free" day on Monday with no particular planned activities. So Jim showed us the best thing to see in Ouray which was the Box Canyon waterfall at the City park via a short hike. We spent several evenings at Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway seeing some of the natural wonders of the Hot Springs, sorry no pictures allowed. Cards rounded out the remainder of a great trip with great friends. The only "Downer" was we had gotten an unrepairable flat tire and had to buy a new tire ($150) in Durango at the only store open on a Sunday -- Wallmart. Then the rental car company "Advantage" wouldn't pay for the tire when we returned the car on Tuesday. Now how rotten was that? I hope they come to their senses as Arthur pursues this matter, with our assistance as need be.
Friday - Photos 1
Friday - Photos 2
Friday - Photos 3
Friday - Photos 4
Friday - Photos 5
Saturday - Photos 1
Saturday - Photos 2
Saturday - Photos 3
Saturday - Photos 4
Sunday - Photos 1
Sunday - Photos 2
Sunday - Photos 3
Sunday - Photos 4
Sunday - Photos 5
Sunday - Photos 6
Sunday - Photos 7
Sunday - Photos 8
Sunday - Photos 9
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Monday - Photos 1
Monday - Photos 2
Tuesday - Photos
Orvis Hot Springs Photos from website
Arthur's Photos 1
Arthur's Photos 2
Arthur's Photos 3
Arthur's Photos 4
Arthur's Photos 5
Colorado Vacation Pt 4 Durango-Silverton Railroad [4:21] from Hoop-CA, USA on Vimeo.