Lulu City Condominiums Telluride

... return! There is another lake a little way above Ice Lake called Island Lake, and it looks just as cool. By the time we got off the trail and returned to Durango it was dark. We ate dinner at Carvers Brewery, walked around downtown a little bit, and then returned to our camp where we fell asleep immediately. The next morning we ran a couple errands in Durango and made our obligatory stop at Serious Texas BBQ before heading home.

So I just get back from Colorado where I hung out with old friends for a buddy's bachelor party.

It was an amazing trip. We were very blessed to have a free condo to stay in which was plenty big enough for the 7 of us. A special thanks to the Jays for letting us stay there.

We did a ...

... and made the
native americans move away from the San Juan mountains because they
were mining for precious metals. The museum is on the site of Chief
Ourays property. Both he and his wonderful wife Chipeta are both
buried here.

That afternoon we ended our day in
Gunnison, Colorado where they were having a very cool car show. It is
an annual event where all and sundry turn out for a fun street party
as an opening to the weekend long fair.

... was 16 almost 17, so I think I remember it pretty well. Melissa or Sarah, please back me up on this. I don't know how many other fairs you guys have been to, but the Douglas County is big for a county fair, isn't it? Please tell Silas!
Anyway, we walked through all the animal barns. My favorite is the pig barn and Silas likes the rabbits. (oops, was I not supposed to tell that?!) It didn't take us too long to go through all the barns and ...

Family and Grandma Connie went to Ouray to drop of some tile work for art show. On the way, we stopped at a couple of abandoned mine sites and explored. Founds some cool rocks with imbedded crystals. Stayed at Box Canyon and soaked in spring fed hot tubs made from old wine barrels ...

... started.  Turns out it wasn't until 11.  Oops, I don't know where I got 10:00 from. 
  Anyway, the parade started and at first it was really slow- I was starting to think that maybe it wasn't going to be that great, but then it picked up and it ended up being a really fun parade, especially for a town of that size. 
  When it was over everyone seemed to head to the park at the end of town- that's where the volunteer firemen had their BBQ set up.  We didn't go ...

... wanted to stay longer, but the weather was not cooperating and Kristi was feeling worse with sinus troubles, which the high altitude did not help.

We chose to drive to Ouray to try out the hot springs. We made it to the hot springs and jumped in for about two minutes before lightning was sighted and everyone was told to get out. We could either wait for twenty minutes after the last ...

... but the railway buffs and photographers in the group spent most of the 3 hour ride in the open sided car behind us. Jack spent the whole ride with Gil's video camera, sticking his head out of the window and shooting scenery till his eyes were watering from the smoke and cinders coming back from the engine. The scenery was fabulous, despite (or perhaps because of) the rain ...

An overnight stop in Durango (a very cool town, which we would have liked to explore more of) and on to Silverton and Ouray (Victorian, mining towns), gave us a chance to slow down and adjust to the higher altitude of Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The winding mountain roads exposed alpine valleys, snow melt pour-offs, and the ...

... having to reach for your car keys every time you step out of home. Stop at the Station Telluride to get on to the gondola. The gondola is a free service that pretty much takes you up another 1500 feet to 8000 feet and connects Teulluride to the mountain village. There's plenty of stuff to do in Telluride. Pick a map and start walking the trails. My favorite was Bear Creek Trail. It ends in a ...