NM & CO local Fodorite experts needed!

We want you to weigh in on our plans. Please make suggestions and point out errors or problems, or tell us your idea that would work better.

We'll fly from MSY into ABQ Sat, 10/18, rent a small SUV (rent in town or at airport?).

Then we head out to Durango, stopping at Chaco Canyon for a visit, before going to Durgano for the night. Maybe stay at Apple Orchard B & B (???). Dinner at Guido's.

Next morning Silverton train trip from Durango, so we'll sit on the right side, and take the bus back. We'll wear clothes suitable for getting sooty and dirty. Maybe lunch at Serious Texas BBQ or will we have to eat in Silverton? Suggestions?

From Durango, we go on to Ouray/Teluride. Not sure where to stay, how many nights we'll need in each, or what to do in these towns. Any suggestions? How rough is the jeep tour ride?

After the San Juan Mtns loop, then we'll go to Mesa Verde. Spend 1 night at Far Lodge, top room on edge facing west. Dinner at the Metate Dining Room. Take ranger tour and sightsee as much as we can before going on that day towards Moab, if time permits.

Fly home from ABQ Oct 25.

These plans are a very rough draft. Please help us fine tune with your recommendations and suggestions from the great trips you've enjoyed to this area.

Thank you!

Sounds like you spent a lot of time researching this trip and your basic plan looks good. My one criticism is that you're probably two weeks late for the end of the peak aspen season, but will likely find lower rates because of the timing.

Comments about a couple of things:

Maybe lunch at Serious Texas BBQ or will we have to eat in Silverton?

I've had a couple of awful meals in Silverton and would try to plan on eating elsewhere if possible. Or maybe I was just unlucky in my choices.

we go on to Ouray/Teluride. Not sure where to stay, how many nights we'll need in each, or what to do in these towns.

They are very different. Ouray is mainly a mining area and located at the head of a canyon with pretty steep mountains on three sides. Telluride is also a mining area but has great skiing and so has attracted more high dollar development and is a more ritzy moneyed place, especially on the Mountain. There are a lot of nice lower elevation drives around Telluride that are probably open if there has been snow that shut down the higher elevation jeep roads.

Staying 2 nights at each would work great, but if you only have 3 nights total maybe 2 at Ouray so you can do the jeep rides easier, then one at Telluride. I would try to stay at Mountain Village in Telluride and ride the cable car down into town if you can find good rates, which you should be able to do that time of year.

How rough is the jeep tour ride?

There are many jeep tours so it depends on which one you pick. For example Ophir Pass is rated I think a 2 and can be done in your rental SUV (as can the first 80% of Yankee Boy Basin), Imogene Pass is rated I think a 4 and you need pretty high clearance to do it, and Black Bear is a real challenge and rated 5, with some scary steep tight switchbacks on a one-way road.

I'm guessing Imogene and Black Bear will probably be closed in mid-Oct (for sure after the 2nd good snowfall, maybe after the first snowfall) so perhaps your jeep options will be limited to the lower, less challenging areas anyway. But just ask the jeep company for recommendations ... for sure Black Bear will be a great tour if it's open, and I'd recommend Imogene too if you can get across the pass, which is very high and thus prone to icing up.

Hope this helps.

Bill

We liked the Balcony House tour the best at Mesa Verde. Go to as many of the houses as you can, as they are all different. If you like to hike Petroglyph Point is a pretty nice hike that wasn't very strenuous. We took the train only 1/2 way and got off and did the ziplining, which was fantastic. I certainly wouldn't ride the train round trip.

Hi BayouGal,
Lucky you! What a wonderful trip!
I hope your flight into ABQ is early so you'll have a decent amount of time for Chaco - it is an incredible place. It's pretty isolated and takes a little effort to get to, but it's worth it!

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/50422730

We really enjoyed our two nights in Ouray. The small town is highly scenic, very walkable and has access to some wonderful hot springs. We loved the Wiesbaden Inn; great location off the main drag. Not fancy but it has a vapor cave below the inn where you can soak in a very hot pool built into the cave. Really cool! They have a lovely outdoor hot springs pool also.

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/49926589

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/49900195

Bien Tiempo was a great place to eat in Ouray.

We skipped Telluride and the train trip but spent a few nights in Mesa Verde since we had never stayed in the park on past visits. Far View and the Metate Room were great and we loved being so close to the cliff dwellings so we could get out for pictures in the early morning.

I want to suggest heading to a tiny town called Jemez Springs instead of Moab after Mesa Verde. You'll be heading south toward ABQ so it would be convenient. We spent a night at a lovely inn called the Canon del Rio - http://www.canondelrio.com/

There are several different hot springs in the area that you can hike to. We hiked a few miles into McCauley HS and it was one of the many highlights of our trip.

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/50426431

Let me know if you have any questions. What a great trip you're going to have!

Ya done real good kid!

Apple Orchard B&B absolutely!
Same for Guido's - it isn't a fancy place, but oh the food is excellent. Save room for gelato.

I agree, don't eat in Silverton. Get a few things a Guido's and have a little impromtu picnic while waiting for the bus back to Durango.

I believe John [owner of Apple Orchard} can arrange to have the train stop right near the inn so you don't have to drive into town, but am not sure about the bus bac -ask John or Celeste about it].

I would stay one night in Telluride [I like the very basic, clean and right in town Victorian Inn.} The gondola is free and you can ride it up to Mountain Village - it is a 2 minute walk to gondola base from Vitorian Inn. Mountain Village is a nice little walk around, but it is mostly condos. Very few shops and or places to eat. The actual town of Telluride is at the base of the gondola. Lots to walk around and window shop and places to eat.Will get back to you on Telluride restaurants.

In Ouray, we like St Elmo B&B { I think room #4 I have check on that}. Box Canyon falls is a nice thing and a soak in the hot springs. There is also a neat little, funky museum in a former hospital. Bien Tiempo for excellent lunch or dinner, Tundra in the Beaumont Hotel if you want to spend $$$. Yankee Boy basin is a nice ride into and the SUV would be ok.

I would not suggest Imogene Pass; DH took his daughter over it last week - there was already snow on the top and she freaked out quite a bit. You can drive part of the way and see Tom Boy, or what's left of it. It was the mining camp closest to Telluride and there are some old blds etc laying around.

Ophir isn't AS intimidating, but I would do it with tour company rather than on your own. Black Bear - forget it.

I would honestly do only a night in Telluride, and a night in Ouray so that you might work in a night in Moab. It will be a lot of driving, but you will get to see some of the best that the area has to offer.

Cali Cochita B&B in Moab if you make it there, another excellent choice. 2 nights in Moab would be great.

Sorry to disagree with Sharon, but Moab winds hands down over Jemez.

Oh, you will need to pencil in dinner with the DebitNM's somewhere in the trip! I will either still be in ABQ helping with the new grandbaby [if she ever decides to be born!!} or back at home in SW Coloraod.
Deb

Bayougal,

You are hitting all the places I have never been! I wish I had better info. It's a bummer you can't be in ABQ a week or two earlier, because the Balloon Fiesta is something you should put on your top 100 things to do before you die.

Have a great time...

Your plans look great to me!

Rent your car at the airport in Albuquerque; it's much easier than trying to take a bus to a rental place in town.

Jemez Springs is a pleasant little town, but I would also go to Moab.

Too bad we'll be out of town when you're in the area. I'd love to meet you and BayouGuy.

Lee Ann

I'm pretty sure BayouGal has been to Moab - so with only a night, figured she'd enjoy some place different. I sure wouldn't choose Jemez Springs over Moab.

You'll be covering alot of ground and you may run into snow in October and you don't need a huge vehicle, just something with 4WD vehicle and go slowly if you do get into weather.
I think staying in the town of Telluride (having lived there for years) is better than staying in Mountain Village because that's where the 'stuff' is. You can easily walk the mainstreet and see the majority of restaurants and taverns right there.
Ouray is a beautiful setting and famous for their hot springs.
You might also check into the possibility of doing just the half-day train trip because the whole day is just too much for most people. I think they have a shuttle that will take you to Silverton then you can ride it back down to Durango, which is the best part from what I've heard.

What great advice, thank you all!

Car rentals are up in the air right now. We thought we could see more along the drive from an SUV, but it seems to be impossible to find out if we can get a 4WD. If any of you locals know who rents 4WD vehicles in ABQ, please let me know.

I wish we had more time, but we're thankful to even have this. We normally take longer trips, but we need a getaway and this is the only time we have right now. I hope we're not going to late in the fall, but we'll make do if the weather will be kind to us.

Now I have more researching to do on all this new information so I can figure out what questions to ask next.

I just saw on another thread that the week (or weekend?) of Oct 17 is a school break and Moab is a very popular destination. We may have to nix those plans and see Moab another time.

Hello BayouGal

I'm so happy to read that you're heading out West. This is a lovely trip you have planned. We did a similar trip a couple years ago with my parents.

I know you've probably got your Durango-Silverton train tickets already, but I'll go ahead and offer a suggestion just in case.

We booked the Alamosa Parlor Car for our journey. To us, it was a real upgrade from the regular bus-style small seats in the other compartments. For the extra money, you get a chair and a table, you are served hot and cold drinks and yummy flaky croissants, and the host/ess acts as a tour guide, pointing out the various sights along the way.

But for us, the best part was being able to get up and walk around and also being able to go out the back door of the train (since this was like the caboose), where we'd stand, taking pictures from side to side, unobstructed by other people's heads or thru a window.

When we arrived in Silverton, we ate at the Brown Bear. It was nothing fancy, mind you, but it served our purpose.

At Mesa Verde, we stayed in a king Kiva room, with a view onto the valley. The sunrise was spectacular. We also ate in the Metate Room. I remember enjoying the bison, DH had elk, Dad had trout, and Mom had a salad. Very good. They have a good breakfast buffet also. Biggest raspberries I've ever seen (we were there in fall, too, so maybe they'll be in season for you!)

Happy travels!

October 13th is Columbus Day, but as far as I know most kids won't get the whole week off. If you can get a room in Moab, I'd go ahead and visit.

Lee Ann

Hey, Swiss! I am doing the booking now. Only flights confirmed so far. Better late than never, huh? Thank you for the great suggestions. We're thinking bus ride there, then train ride back.

Lee Ann, there are rooms to be had in Moab, but now I'm worried that we'd just be driving there one day and driving back to ABQ the next day. Still trying to figure this out. This will mainly be a view it from the car kind of trip, but I don't know it's that's a good idea for the Moab area at this point. If the weather gets bad in the mountains, maybe we'll go to Moab earlier. Decisions, decisions!

Deb, we have an early flight into ABQ, so hopefully we'll have time to see Chaco then head on into Durango.

Can anyone give me driving times? Thanks!

If you're only in Durango overnight, I would suggest staying downtown and not outside of town, which is where Apple Orchard Inn is located. Downtown area is very small and walkable. I wouldn't waste my time driving to the Inn, then driving back to town for dinner, then back to the Inn for the night.

With the limited amount of time you have, I would leave Moab out. (I love Moab, but it would take most of a day out of your plans for the driving.)

*If you do make it to Moab, drop me off some pralines from Leahs.

I'd say skip Moab and add a night to Ouray or go to Jemez Springs (Canon del Rio now has a pool). A night a Jemez Springs gets you closer to your departure point for less driving the last day so you can linger a bit.

MUSIC

We always have special music ready for our vacations. Sometimes we find great CDs at national parks or local shops where we're visting.

Here is one song I just found to add to our CD for this trip:

CW McCall, The Silverton

It's a song about the Durango-Silverton train. It's a trucker special, but it will be fun for the trip.

Do you have any music recommendations for our trip?

Last year we got over a foot of snow during that same timeframe. Stay tuned to the weather if you are not accustomed to driving in snow and mountains. Mese Verde and Moab may be a better idea for a southerner if we have extreme weather that week.

What it Means to Miss New Orleans.

Walking in the Shadow of Life - Neville Brothers

Dr. John's Gumbo

I could go on...