whalefrisky

I owe Fodorites for the great trip with had to SW Colorado from 7/26 - 8/2.

7/26(Sat): my wife and I flew from LGA to ABQ. Rented a car and left for Telluride around 2pm. This was supposed to be 6 hrs drive but we didn't arrive until 12 midnight due to huge storm and mal-functioning navigation device. This would have been a long drive anyway so I would think twice before taking this route. We also should have taken Rt.550 all the way from ABQ to Telluride instead of going Rt.64-160-145 which aforementioned navigation device made us to do. But I must say RT 160 (which is an extension of 491) was worth while with beautiful desert/rock scenery. We checked in at Victorian Inn and went to bed immediately. The room was very basic but we were just too happy to have made it there.

7/27(Sun)
It felt like Autumn morning. Air was cool and clean. The town was in bright sunshine. We forgot about previous night's trouble and enjoyed the continental breakfast the Inn provided.We checked out early and drove a short distance to Bridal Veil Fall at one end of the town. We took a nice walk on trails along the creek. Then we took gondola and went over the mountain to Mountain Top Village. This was very upscale resort town with many new shops, restaurants and condos.Everything was new and glistening. We came back to Telluride. After the lunch, we took off for our next destination, Ouray. The drive via San Juan Skyway was unforgettable! I was in Chamonix last year but this was better than that.Ridgeway was beautiful.(we saw Double RL ranch). We arrived at Ouray around 3pm. The town was definitely lower key than Telluride. We walked around some, did some gift shopping, had lunch at O'brian's and checked in at Best Western Twin Peak. They had nice heated pool under the shadow of huge mountain and indoor hot spring which we enjoyed. A local gentleman I met at pool suggested that I should take Jeep Tour since we were in "Jeep Tour Capital of the World". I followed his advice and booked Half Day tour with Colorado West Jeep Tour. We ate then went to bed around 10.

7/28(Mon)
The Jeep Tour picked us up at 8am. We were going to Imogene Pass. You can take easier one to a Fall but this was supposed to be more "spectacular". Well, little did we know what we were getting into. Our guide, Walter said we would never forget this trip and he was right. I highly recommend this if you ever head out this way. The tour ended around 12:30pm. After lunch, we left for our next destination, Durango via Million Dollar Highway. We stopped at Silverton which looked like an old western town in cowboy movie. We arrive at Durango around 4pm and checked in at General Palmer Hotel. It was old historical hotel. Location was perfect. It was right in the middle of downtown so we could walk to every where. But if you want to stay at this hotel, make sure to get a room with window. Our room was windowless and it was not good. We asked for another room but they couldn't accommodate us.

- to be continued

dcd

Sounds like a trip I've been considering. Keep 'er coming! I've lots to learn about that part of Colorado.

charli

Whalefrisky, I was so happy to read the start of your review as we are due to head to Albuquerque next Tuesday and are doing some of the things you did including the BW Twin Peaks in Ouray. We will overnight in Albuquerque, drive to Chama to do the Cumbres & Toltec Rail trip, on to Durango for the Durango-Silverton rail trip, Ouray, and then on to Moab to do the Arches and Canyonlands Nat'l Parks, on to Bryce and flying home from Salt Lake City. Looking forward to your next segment. We are bringing maps as well as a GPS so hopefully we will have some idea if we are having a malfunction. We will have to look into that jeep tour. Thanks.

spirobulldog

Do continure. We stayed at the General Palmer in June.

DebitNM

charli,
Is there a particular reason why you are taking 2 train trips? IMHO, they are very similar and take up an entire day. The Chama trip takes you to a restaurant where there is only that one place to eat and it is expensive and a not very good buffet.

The Durango takes you to Silverton, which has a bit selection in places to eat and a few shops to see.

Honestly, I would not do both of these unless you absolutely love trains. The rides back are long and a bit teious and you see the same views again. Both trains offer the option of taking a bus one way and the train the other way. I recommend this as it will give you more time to see other things.

Are you not going to Mesa Verde?? IT is a must see - the cliff dwellings are amazing. Let me know if I can help with suggestions.
==========

whalefrisky - sorry I must have missed your posts, as I live in the area and try to help visitors find there way. The route you took was indeed the very long way to go. SR 550 from ABQ area to Durango, and then 160 west to 184 to 145 is the quickest way to Telluride.

Glad you didn't try to do Imogene on your own -- it is really best going with someone who knows what they are doing as the mountain passes are narrow, steep with sharp dropoffs and only 1 lane that can cause havoc if you don't know what you are doing.

You made good choices in The Victorian Inn and The General Palmer. Sorry about the no window, I would have told you to ask. The Strater is also really nice, along the same line as The Palmer.

Deb

BayouGal

Great TR, whalefrisky! Keep it coming - we're planning a trip there. Sorry to hear about the bad routing - we've had similar things happen on trips before. Just gives us something to laugh about now, and like you said, it was worthwhile.

charli, what is the length of your trip next week? We're trying to get an idea of how many days we'll need in the area. Thanks! I hope you'll post a TR.

Deb, after I study every SW Colorado thread, I'm going to be shooting questions your way! ;-)

charli

DebitNM - Yes, we just love train rides, especially my husband. He may possibly have an altitude issue so we figure we will just sit and take it easy on those days. It takes a heck of a lot to bore us when traveling.

I shall move Mesa Verde up on the to do list. We have 3 nights in Durango and 1 in Ouray and I need to do some research on it. Thanks.

BayouGal - we have planned 2 weeks for this trip. We are past the rushing from place to place, so we have a few overnights, and 2 and 3 night stays mixed in to break it up. I will post a review after we return Sept. 2. Thanks for your interest.

whalefrisky

7/29(Tue)
Another fine day with bright sunshine and low humidity.There were 2 choices for us, Music Festival at Pagosa Springs and Vallecito Lake. Since the concert was at night, we went to Vallecito Lake, about 45 min. drive. The lake was huge, sparkling and quiet.We rented a motor boat for 2 hours and drove around the lake. I swam some in middle of the lake. This was most relaxing hours of our trip and I really enjoyed the break. Afterward, we drove around lake some, had lunch at nearby country store that served Mexican food. We came back to Durango in the afternoon, shopped some stores and had dinner at an Italian Restaurant which was OK. Wife went to the bed and I went to a movie theater that was right around the corner from our hotel.

7/30 (Wed)
We headed out to Mesa Verde. (Our itinerary was basically following the advices we got from this board)
It was only 30 min. drive to get to the main gate. After paying $15 entrance fee,which was valid for 1 week and drove 15-20 miles of winding road to the visitor's center. There was a huge impressive looking rock formation at the main gate then it was mesa (means Table or Flat top mountain) after mesa.
We got there around 11am but we could only signed for 1 o'clock Cliff Palace tour. We drove to the Chapin Mesa Museum which was wonderfully educational about the park and had lunch at Cafe next to the museum before we drove to Cliff Palace to meet our guide.
The Cliff Palace tour took about 1.5 hours. Our ranger guide was great and she had answer to every question we were asking.I got moved by just looking at the ruin and thinking about people who had lived here hundreds years ago. After tour, we went back to visitor's center and checked in at Far View Lodge. If you are coming to MV here, make sure to stay at this lodge and insist on the room on the edges. All rooms face the valley but ones in back row did not have full view. We had dinner at Far View Terrace and went up to roof top cafe at lodge to watch the valley changing colors at sunset and disappearing into the night.It was breathtaking! We also saw huge smoke rising from wildfire that was about 15 - 20 miles away. The park gets 2 -3 small and big fires every day and fortunately the fire we saw was a small one and it was gone when we woke up next day. At night, we watched millions of stars and the Milky Way. They were so close you could touch them! This alone made our coming here worth while.

7/31 (Thur)
I woke up early and went hiking on Petroglyph Point Trail. It was 2.4 mile long along the cliff wall and took 2.5 hours. The Petroglyph was not big, probably about 20ft long but I spent about 30 min. there just looking at every details. After hiking, we went to Cortez, had lunch there, went to Anasazi Heritage Center in Doroles and came back to the lodge in the evening.
On our way to dinner, we saw 4 mustangs grazing near the visitors center. They were beautiful horses and we sat there and watched them as the park was getting dark.

8/1(Fri)
I didn't want to take another long drive to ABQ but I really wanted to see the Ship Rock. My GSP seemed functioning OK so we decided to do that. We got to the Ship Rock around lunch time. What a inspiring sight it was ! It was right in the middle of dry flat desert standing all alone like a ghost rising from ocean. A Ghost Ship Rock would have been a better name, I thought. I was glad that I came to see it. After that, we basically drove straight to ABQ and checked in at La Quinta near the airport. We are not that much into food but we decided to check out the Garcia's Cafe for Mexican food. It wasn't fancy place but the food was excellent and price was reasonable. We bought a jar of Salsa for our son who likes everything hot. La Quinta was basic but room was comfortable.

8/2 (Sat)
We returned our Car and flew back to NJ where we live.

This was a wonderful trip and I thank and Debi and everyone for that.

DebitNM

It all sounds excellent! I am glad to have been of help. This is a pretty spectacular corner of the country.

Make sure you come back, there is more to see here and in the surrounding area.

{Just one thing, "The park gets 2 - 3 small and big fires every day" isn't really the case. There are lightening strikes up there which sometimes ignite, but it isn't a daily or even weekly occurance. When they do happen, they can be very bad - evidence of the past fires are still clearly visible there years later.}

Deb

BayouGal

Thanks for the trip report, whalefrisky! And thank you for sharing all this great travel information with those of us planning similar trips.