Sept 5, Sunday We woke up this morning in our own little personal playground, and decided that we would drive to Silverton. Over 35 years ago vacationing out here, we did a day-trip train ride on the famous Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which was originally a mine train and has been running for 138 years. Colorado Highway 550 connects Ouray with Silverton offering breathtaking mountain, valley and gorge views as the road winds and clings to the mountain. It is a part of the San Juan Skyway, and this section is called the Million Dollar Highway. I thought it was named that for the million-dollar views, but it was actually because the road cost a million dollars a DAY when it was being built. The last mine in Silverton shut down in the 1990s and the town is now solely dependent on tourism. It is supremely positioned for this with all of the usual amenities that come to a high mountain town, and an added boost from a thriving off-roading industry in a variety of vehicles. The stores are nicely kept up and there are many little eateries with a choice of both indoor and outdoor seating. Only Main Street is paved, and we saw no traffic lights, and only one stop sign. When you get to an intersection, just pause and work it out with any other vehicles that might be there. Pedestrians always have the right-of-way. Shops were all dog friendly, although we carried Pippa so she wouldn’t get stepped on! I found a beautiful pair of silver bear earrings and resisted many more pieces of handcrafted Indian jewelry. For lunch we chose out-door seating; the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees. By afternoon the town was aflush with motorcyclists dressed in leathers, hikers decked out in extreme outdoor gear, deep-rooted local men in worn overalls, mud-splattered off-roaders, and tourists that looked run-of-the-mill . . . just like us. We heard a train arrive from Durango, and walked down to get pictures. We headed back down the million-dollar highway towards Ouray – studying every bit of that narrow, winding, cliff-hanging, road. It was the route that we would drive with the Airstream when leaving the area on Friday. It would be the first 6 miles that was the most challenging as Tom navigated the climb on the open side of the road to the top – no guard rails. From then on the road would be edgy, but not especially frightening. After supper we walked the Uncompahgre River Walk from our campsite to the Hot Springs, and walked all the way around the swimming hole. That is as close as we would get to it as – Tom’s infection from his surgery is not quite healed up.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |