Derbies In the Mountains
We had one more stop in Colorado - Mancos. This is probably a town you’ve never heard of, but its sort of in the middle of a couple of spots we wanted to visit (Mesa Verde, the towns along the million dollar highway, Durango, and some other stuff we sadly didn’t get to because we just couldn’t squeeze them in). On our drive over we noticed that trucks were pulling trailers with demolition derby cars on them - every 15 minutes or so one would seem to pass. While filling up our propane the person working there informed us that there was going to be a derby that night in the neighboring town. It was my brother’s birthday so it seemed like a sign - no better way to celebrate Luke than to go do something he would have loved. It seemed safe enough - all outside. And the fact that they had 14 and under events, kids driving and crashing cars, just made it irresistible. Even Amelia finally gave up the injustice of being dragged to a car race and had fun.
Our main business in Durango, besides a cool hike overlooking the mountain towns, ended up being taking care of this itch Aaron just had to scratch - he decided we needed our own paddleboards after seeing how much the kids enjoyed them. He found a great deal on some used ones from a sporting store and we now look WAY sportier than we actually are driving down the highway.
We stayed at Echo Basin Ranch and this place was awesome, it was a private full hookup place, but had more of a feel of a state or national park - tucked in the ponderosa pines, a couple of small ponds, and camper spots sprawled out here are there (not necessarily just in a grid). We got this great spot all the way in the back on top of a hill overlooking a ranch. We’d see cows and deer when we woke up in the morning. It was here that we also realized we had a stow-away: a mouse. We are certain he’d been with us for at least a week, we just weren’t paying attention to the signs. Of course catch and release was the only option for our animal-lovers. All it took was some left over kettle corn from the race and that little guy was captured. He was named Jeremy and released into the state park 2 miles away.
Mesa Verde National Park was a highlight of our time here. Sadly the tours were cancelled due to Covid (they actually swore the kids into the junior ranger program from the car!), but we could see the dwellings from afar with the help of my zoom lens. The kids loved visiting all the pueblos and seeing the progression of architecture over the centuries.
The rest of the trip was basically Aaron trying to take me out with an anxiety attack. He downloaded an off-road app on his phone, one that had “green” trails, you know, ones that are safe for “cars.” The one he picked started out as one of the most beautiful drives, towering aspens stripped of their leaves, then a turn into the shady side of the mountain would bring the ponderosa pines. Then unfortunately it brought a road we could barely pass safely, car nearly plummeting off a cliff (at least it seemed that way to me). The sun was setting and we had no idea how much longer it would continue, or if it would continue to get worse and we’d get stuck. We had to turn around. I had a big drink that night but enjoyed looking at the photos I snagged.
We finished our time on Colorado doing a very touristy Colorado thing - driving the Million Dollar Highway (in the car). This is a twisty-turny two lane road that towers above beautiful and terrifying cliffs. The word on the street is that they don’t put guard rails in because they don’t want to give “flatlanders” a false sense of security (although the real reason is there is just no room to add them). We visited the the old mining/mountain towns of Silverton (for pastries), Ouray (for lunch), and Telluride (for ice cream). Each was distinctly different but all equally charming. We even got to see the town hall where Aaron’s grandparents were married.
Some beautiful night skies and we were off in our 65’ of fun, next stop, Utah!
