Delightful Durango

In what is apparently becoming a yearly October General Conference tradition for our little family, we headed out for a weekend leaf-peeping getaway to the Southern part of our state, a place we hadn't yet explored: Durango.  We left Thursday (October 2nd) afternoon and headed toward Grand Junction, where we stopped at what is also becoming a yearly tradition: the sllllooowwwessst Papa Murphy's in existence, I'm pretty sure.  Our planned ten-minute stop to stretch our legs, get gas and grab a pizza turned into half an hour, but eventually we were on our way South through Delta, stopping in Ridgeway at the True Grit Cafe (as suggested by Nate) for dinner, and then on to Ouray.

Two hungry gals, happy to be out of the car and ready for
some grub.

After Ouray we passed through lots of beautiful leaves surrounding even more old mining remnants on one of the sketchiest roads I've ever been on.  Think narrow, windy and steep drop offs with no guardrails to be seen!  It was quite the thrill.  (Here's a bit more about the U.S. Highway 550 (aka Million Dollar Highway) - I was so glad Gregg was driving!)  We passed along the edge of Silverton and turned right toward Durango Mountain Resort.  We stayed a couple miles away from the ski area at a place called Cascade Village.  Our condo was roomy and fantastic and we had a lovely view of Engineer Mountain every morning on our walk.

Fresh snow on Engineer Mountain (just shy of 13,000 feet).

On Friday we took a little jaunt back along the scenic Highway 550 to Silverton.  There we found a playground for Cal to climb and swing and slide to her heart's content while Gregg drove a few miles further to check out the ski area.  We also had to do a drive by of the local in-town ski hill, Kendall Mountain. Then we walked down through the old town, feeling like at any many there might be a shootout in the middle of the street a la High Noon.  We even moseyed down Notorious Blair Street . . . and we kept on moseying.  ;)

Callie loves the "sweese".

She also loves to ensure her play space
is cleared of any debris (in this case
wood chips).

Silverton Mountain

Kendall Ski Hill

Goodbye Silverton!

Back on the road, we stopped at a couple scenic overlooks, hoping to get some shots of the awesome trees on this side of the passes, but unfortunately the overlooks weren't created in the most opportune places to see the trees.  Still some pretty views though, I guess.  ;)  (I did snap a couple photos while we were driving, through our dirty windshield - nothing postcard worthy there, but you get the idea.)  And then it was back to our condo for dinner and swimming (and watching a certain football team dominate in their game against their in-state rivals - Go Ags!).

Molas Lake (from the top of Molas Pass)

More views from the Molas Pass Overlook
(elevation 10,910 feet)

The Coal Banks Pass Overlook (elevation 10,640 feet)

Engineer Mountain from our car - we're almost "home".

On Saturday morning we ventured down the road a couple miles to have our morning walk through Durango Mountain Resort.  The rest of the day was spent watching conference and playing out by the pond and swimming in the pool and hot tub.

Cal gets her first lesson in snowmaking.

After an early morning walk and a family skype session on Sunday morning with Gregg's family, we headed out, this time through the actual town of Durango and on to Pagosa Springs.  Then up toward Wolf Creek Ski Area and down into South Fork, where we stopped at the local visitor's center for a picnic lunch.  One more stop in Buena Vista to stretch our legs and swing on the swings, and we were in the homeward stretch!  Lots of driving, lots of beautiful vistas and forests and blue skies, and lots of fun time with our little family.  Good weekend adventures!  I like this tradition.

This is where our condo was - I think it's the 4th chimney
over from the right (or thereabouts) on the bottom floor.

Perfection.