Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
Thanks for y'all's prayers. Other than about a cumulative hour and the last 24 hours, we actually had a great trip. While the burial wasn't *fun*, it was *nice* and everything went smoothly pretty much until we had to face coming home. 
DH came back on Wed (had to for work) and my mom and I came back today (ugh, 5:30 wake-up time) and none of us wanted to leave. Of course, with my mom it was even worse. With DH and me, it was our typical "we're on vacation and we're enjoying this and don't want to go home" bit. With her, it was "this is "home" to me and I really don't want to go back to an empty house in Houston" 
But, aside from that, things went very well.
Did the burial on Saturday after driving up from Albuquerque (closest major airport).
Sunday, pretty much everyone crashed. DH was the only one of us not to take a nap. He was so cute at Pagosa, though. Wanted to take it all in and see everything and not miss a minute. That was so nice after his disasterous last mountain trip.
Monday we went to see the Anasazi ruins at Chimney Rock, which were neat. They have a lunar alignment when the moon is at lunar standstill. Which starts again this year! We're planning to go back up within the next 30-ish months during one of the moonrise viewing opportunities, though that won't be until next year for us.
Then we also drove up Wolf Creek Pass (boy, I love mountain driving SO much better than Houston!!!) and DH got to see that again. And snow.
There was snow, but not *nearly* enough for this time of year. We went up to the continental divide overlook before turning around and "racing" (not literally, just no stops) down the mountain to get off Wolf Creek before they closed for the night (they're doing some kind of blasting up there so were closing the road every few nights).
Tuesday we went back down to Farmington by way of Vallacito Lake (I think I spelled that right...). That was one of the areas that burned horribly two years ago, all around the lake. Well, a chainsaw artist has carved these great wooden statues of firefighters and animals and stuff as a tribute, carved directly out of the trunks of some of the destroyed pines, and they've set up the "tour of carvings" around the lake. That was rather neat.
We also spent a little over an hour and a half shopping in Durango. And for anyone planning to visit in Durango -- don't make the same mistake we did. If you're even *5 minutes* late getting back to your car (parking meter), they'll get you.
No need to say why I know this. 
But, I guess that's good. Some revinue to maintain the place. It's not as cute as it used to be.
Wednesday, we got DH to the Farmington airport, then my mom and I headed up to Mesa Verde.
Lemme tell you, if you've never been to Mesa Verde, it is *fantastic*. It'd been about 12-15 years since I'd been there, so I'd forgotten a lot of it. Well worth the trip. Just one warning: make sure you're aware that the Petroglyph Point Trail is 2.8 miles before you hike down it. LOL! I knew that, thought my mom did, but all she saw was the indication that it was 1.5 miles *to* the petroglyphs, not that the petroglyphs were at the midpoint of the trail. And second observation: don't try hiking that trail at 5:30 at night if you plan to get back well before dark. LOL! We made it back, but just barely. We only had about 20 minutes to spare before it started getting dark.
Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde isn't much, by the way. The rooms are small, and really showing their age. You get no cell phone service (no surprise) but there's also no phone or TV in the room (we knew that, a lot of people didn't). They really need to be refurbed. On the plus side, it *was* nice staying in the park and not having to drive back out for an hour at night just to get to our room when we were coming back the next day.
On the opposite end of the scale, though -- the Metate Room, the restaurant at the Far View Lodge, rivals some of the best restaurants I've eaten in at Disneyworld and Disneyland. Food there was fantastic (and comparably priced). It's ranked in the top 10 restaurants of Colorado, and it deserves it! A little exotic (chile-rubbed elk tenderloin in chokecherry demiglase is what I had) but *fantastic*.
Thursday we were still in Mesa Verde, saw Cliff Palace and Balcony house (the two large cliff dwellings you have to take tours to see) as well as the mesa-top ruins. Didn't get out of the park until after sunset. But it was a very dramatic and nice sunset, and we saw about 10 deer crossing the road as well.
Friday, we decided to drive up to Telluride since we really wanted to spend more time in the mountains and I didn't remember much of Telluride. I've only been there once or twice and I was again about 12 or 14 the last time I was there. Main thing I remembered was seeing Black Bear Road from town. Oh, and *going* down Black Bear. If you're not familiar with it, Black Bear is one of the most dangerous and roughest 4x4 roads in the San Juans, and one of the most famous. I've done my "tour of duty" riding it (dad drove). I doubt I'll ever chance that one again. But it is neat to see. And the power plant with Bridal Veil Falls was really cool. But anyway, I'd never been up to Telluride (when I could remember it) by way of the *paved* highway. LOL! We did 4x4 roads instead. So that was new to me.
We spent about 2 hours exploring town. Spent *way* too much money on fairly decent food -- talk about over-priced though.
Then we drove to the end of town and up to the base of Black Bear where we could get a very nice view of the tallest "free fall" waterfall in Colorado, Bridal Veil. Really, really cool. One heck of a waterfall.
We wanted to continue the San Juan Scenic Loop (I think that's its official title) through Ouray and Silverton and down to Durango (we started in Cortez), but we didn't have enough time. It would have taken another hour to get to Ouray, an hour to 1.5 hours to get from Ouray to Silverton, then another 1-1.5 to get to Durango and we didn't leave Telluride until nearly 7. As it was, we barely made it back to Cortez before dark, and had to drive the rest of the way to Farmington in the dark.
But, the REALLY neat thing about that drive was as we were coming down from Telluride, we saw about 20 *elk* in 3 separate spots! Wild elk is not something I've seen in recent years. Deer, yes, elk, no, so that was *really* nice.
I also forgot to mention that we stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, 10 miles north of Cortez. That was *well* worth the stop, and if you're interested in learning about the Anasazi / Ancestral Puebloan people (the people who left behind places like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon), it's *well* worth the stop. Very hands-on and very well done.
Let's see, back to our schedule. Didn't get in to my grandparents until nearly 11.
Saturday we got off to a late start and did nothing but drive back to Albuquerque, then swing up to Santa Fe to see one gallery my mom loves (the Dale Terbush gallery) and have dinner at the Blue Corn Cafe in the historic district. Then back to Albuquerque where we stopped to visit a great-aunt and uncle of mine (mom's aunt and uncle) then bed.
Today, up and at 'em at 5:30 so we could catch the plane and get home. I've pretty much been sleeping since.
DH came back on Wed (had to for work) and my mom and I came back today (ugh, 5:30 wake-up time) and none of us wanted to leave. Of course, with my mom it was even worse. With DH and me, it was our typical "we're on vacation and we're enjoying this and don't want to go home" bit. With her, it was "this is "home" to me and I really don't want to go back to an empty house in Houston" But, aside from that, things went very well.
Did the burial on Saturday after driving up from Albuquerque (closest major airport).
Sunday, pretty much everyone crashed. DH was the only one of us not to take a nap. He was so cute at Pagosa, though. Wanted to take it all in and see everything and not miss a minute. That was so nice after his disasterous last mountain trip.
Monday we went to see the Anasazi ruins at Chimney Rock, which were neat. They have a lunar alignment when the moon is at lunar standstill. Which starts again this year! We're planning to go back up within the next 30-ish months during one of the moonrise viewing opportunities, though that won't be until next year for us.
Then we also drove up Wolf Creek Pass (boy, I love mountain driving SO much better than Houston!!!) and DH got to see that again. And snow.
There was snow, but not *nearly* enough for this time of year. We went up to the continental divide overlook before turning around and "racing" (not literally, just no stops) down the mountain to get off Wolf Creek before they closed for the night (they're doing some kind of blasting up there so were closing the road every few nights).Tuesday we went back down to Farmington by way of Vallacito Lake (I think I spelled that right...). That was one of the areas that burned horribly two years ago, all around the lake. Well, a chainsaw artist has carved these great wooden statues of firefighters and animals and stuff as a tribute, carved directly out of the trunks of some of the destroyed pines, and they've set up the "tour of carvings" around the lake. That was rather neat.
We also spent a little over an hour and a half shopping in Durango. And for anyone planning to visit in Durango -- don't make the same mistake we did. If you're even *5 minutes* late getting back to your car (parking meter), they'll get you.
No need to say why I know this. But, I guess that's good. Some revinue to maintain the place. It's not as cute as it used to be. Wednesday, we got DH to the Farmington airport, then my mom and I headed up to Mesa Verde.
Lemme tell you, if you've never been to Mesa Verde, it is *fantastic*. It'd been about 12-15 years since I'd been there, so I'd forgotten a lot of it. Well worth the trip. Just one warning: make sure you're aware that the Petroglyph Point Trail is 2.8 miles before you hike down it. LOL! I knew that, thought my mom did, but all she saw was the indication that it was 1.5 miles *to* the petroglyphs, not that the petroglyphs were at the midpoint of the trail. And second observation: don't try hiking that trail at 5:30 at night if you plan to get back well before dark. LOL! We made it back, but just barely. We only had about 20 minutes to spare before it started getting dark.
Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde isn't much, by the way. The rooms are small, and really showing their age. You get no cell phone service (no surprise) but there's also no phone or TV in the room (we knew that, a lot of people didn't). They really need to be refurbed. On the plus side, it *was* nice staying in the park and not having to drive back out for an hour at night just to get to our room when we were coming back the next day.
On the opposite end of the scale, though -- the Metate Room, the restaurant at the Far View Lodge, rivals some of the best restaurants I've eaten in at Disneyworld and Disneyland. Food there was fantastic (and comparably priced). It's ranked in the top 10 restaurants of Colorado, and it deserves it! A little exotic (chile-rubbed elk tenderloin in chokecherry demiglase is what I had) but *fantastic*.
Thursday we were still in Mesa Verde, saw Cliff Palace and Balcony house (the two large cliff dwellings you have to take tours to see) as well as the mesa-top ruins. Didn't get out of the park until after sunset. But it was a very dramatic and nice sunset, and we saw about 10 deer crossing the road as well.
Friday, we decided to drive up to Telluride since we really wanted to spend more time in the mountains and I didn't remember much of Telluride. I've only been there once or twice and I was again about 12 or 14 the last time I was there. Main thing I remembered was seeing Black Bear Road from town. Oh, and *going* down Black Bear. If you're not familiar with it, Black Bear is one of the most dangerous and roughest 4x4 roads in the San Juans, and one of the most famous. I've done my "tour of duty" riding it (dad drove). I doubt I'll ever chance that one again. But it is neat to see. And the power plant with Bridal Veil Falls was really cool. But anyway, I'd never been up to Telluride (when I could remember it) by way of the *paved* highway. LOL! We did 4x4 roads instead. So that was new to me.
We spent about 2 hours exploring town. Spent *way* too much money on fairly decent food -- talk about over-priced though.
Then we drove to the end of town and up to the base of Black Bear where we could get a very nice view of the tallest "free fall" waterfall in Colorado, Bridal Veil. Really, really cool. One heck of a waterfall.
We wanted to continue the San Juan Scenic Loop (I think that's its official title) through Ouray and Silverton and down to Durango (we started in Cortez), but we didn't have enough time. It would have taken another hour to get to Ouray, an hour to 1.5 hours to get from Ouray to Silverton, then another 1-1.5 to get to Durango and we didn't leave Telluride until nearly 7. As it was, we barely made it back to Cortez before dark, and had to drive the rest of the way to Farmington in the dark.
But, the REALLY neat thing about that drive was as we were coming down from Telluride, we saw about 20 *elk* in 3 separate spots! Wild elk is not something I've seen in recent years. Deer, yes, elk, no, so that was *really* nice.
I also forgot to mention that we stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, 10 miles north of Cortez. That was *well* worth the stop, and if you're interested in learning about the Anasazi / Ancestral Puebloan people (the people who left behind places like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon), it's *well* worth the stop. Very hands-on and very well done.
Let's see, back to our schedule. Didn't get in to my grandparents until nearly 11.
Saturday we got off to a late start and did nothing but drive back to Albuquerque, then swing up to Santa Fe to see one gallery my mom loves (the Dale Terbush gallery) and have dinner at the Blue Corn Cafe in the historic district. Then back to Albuquerque where we stopped to visit a great-aunt and uncle of mine (mom's aunt and uncle) then bed.
Today, up and at 'em at 5:30 so we could catch the plane and get home. I've pretty much been sleeping since.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like your dad is where he wants to be. The second segmant of your trip sounds very nice, so scenic. Good you and mom got out of that trail you were hiking on. 
Get some rest. 
