Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Southwest Colorado trip report

A quick trip report on our family vacation to Telluride and the surrounding area. I think I've found my new favorite spot in the US (Jackson Hole is getting bumped to second...never thought that would happen:). Southwest CO is beautiful. The town of Ouray was a gem. We flew into Albuquerque and stayed at the Homewood Suites the first night. Very nice, clean, and close to the airport, which was good since we had flight delays and didn't get in until after midnight. Drove to Telluride the next day. It took a little over 6 hours, but we stopped in Durango to eat and walk around. We stayed in Telluride for 4 nights and were glad we made that our base. The kids loved taking the gondola everywhere, and there are plenty of hikes and mountain bike paths in the area. We rented a condo in Mtn. Village so we could have breakfasts in, and have a little more room. Telluride is somewhat off the beaten path for sightseeing the area, but we found it worth it. We did the Durango-Silverton rail one day. My husband and I thought it was great. The kids started out liking it, but by the second to third hour, they were ready to stop. We took the train to Silverton and the bus back. Glad we did that. The drive from Telluride to Durango was about 2 hours (not taking 550, but taking the route around to the southwest toward Cortez). We went to the south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison one day, which was also well worth the drive...about 2+ hours I think. The million dollar highway was beautiful. The route from Silverton to Ouray was most impressive. We stopped in Santa Fe for 2 nights on our way back to Albuquerque, but only had one day to really spend there. A great trip, lots of driving, but spectacular scenery.