COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – This week we left the RV behind for a short trip over the Continental Divide to see our friends Bill and Sharron Evans in Montrose and to explore the picturesque mountain towns of Telluride and Ouray and the splendor of Yankee Boy Basin.
On Monday we spent most of the day in Telluride, eating lunch in town and then riding the free gondola up to the skiing area of Mountain Village. Telluride is a town of 2,000 tucked up in the San Juan Mountains at 8,750 feet above sea level. People there live in charming Victorian homes that are incredibly expensive. We didn’t meet any famous people but we did meet a famous dog! On the gondola ride, we shared our pod with a local lady and her dog, and as we passed through a station at the top of the mountain, she told us that it was her dog pictured on a giant promotional photo on the wall. (Her dog is the one on the far right, if I remember correctly.)
On Tuesday, we drove through Ouray on our way to Yankee Boy Basin. The basin lies above the town in the shadow of Mt. Sneffels and is accessible only by 4WD. We drove up to about 11,200 feet above sea level and enjoyed a lunch by the stream flowing down the basin. While we were eating, Elizabeth exclaimed that she could see something looking up at her from the brush below and that it had teeth. It turned out to be a harmless yellow-bellied marmot, a common animal in the high country.
On Wednesday on the way back, we stopped for three hours in the mountain town of Salida along the Arkansas River. We swam in the Salida Hot Springs and Aquatic Center— “the largest indoor hot springs facility in the country”—and then enjoyed lunch downtown at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the river. The river was busy with kids splashing in the whitewater and rafters making their way downstream.
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We’re back in Colorado Springs today and we plan to stick around until mid-August. We’ll enjoy our family here and seeing a few more friends we knew from when we lived here three decades ago. Last week Elizabeth and I drove the truck up Rampart Range Road, a 23-mile unpaved road from Colorado Springs to Woodland Park. We stopped along the way for views of the north side of Pikes Peak. We’ve also hosted Michael and his family at the RV for a campfire and smores. And if you’re ever in the Springs, the La Baguette Bakery & Cafe on Pikes Peak Avenue offers free wi-fi, $1.50 brownies, and discounted specialty coffee drinks from 2-4 p.m.!
Daniel Griswold's Blog 
Thanks. great pics