road trip diaries 2

September 4: Navajo National Monument to Montrose (Four Corners, Ouray Hot Springs)

The next day, I left the campsit very early, at like 6 am. I was relieved to put it behind me, even though the area was gorgeous. I've always wanted to visit Chaco Canyon, and I imagine it would be very similar to Navajo, because the two are close together although completely different in culture & architecture.

I stopped at the Four Corners tourist trap hoping that my $3 would get me a decent bathroom. No, just portable toilets. Ugh.



Here I am standing between Colorado and New Mexico.

Once in Colorado, I had a frustrating day looking for but not finding coffee. I was sort of happy that there was not a single starbucks in any of the towns I drove through (I expected one in Cortez!). The lack of coffee prompted my stop in Telluride. While Telluride is undeniably gorgeous, in a beautiful setting, the town and the people who hang out there are so annoying. But they do have coffee shops—I counted five! I got a great iced coffee with an espresso shot in it and proceeded to get the heck away from the Patagonia-wearing yuppie freaks who populate the town.

Coffee in hand I went to Ouray, a town just as gorgeous as Telluride without the crazy people. There is a wonderful natural hot springs there. I went swimming for about two or three hours.

This is the hot pool. One of the prettiest settings for a swimming pool ever.



From Ouray, I drove the 10 miles or so to Montrose, where my dad used to live before he got sucked into working in Fiji. He still has a house there, full of chiles and very funky. People used to heat their house with a heater in the basement and a bunch of holes in the floor upstairs. Someone carpeted over the floor without filling the holes, so when you walk around your feet dip into these soft spots. It's a little disconcerting. I had dinner with his ex-wife Ginny, who lives two blocks away (he followed her, it was weird). We went to Montrose's only and great Himalayan place.



September 5: Montrose to Denver

Montrose to Denver is either uneventful or gorgeous depending what road you take. 70 is uneventful (unless you want to go swimming again @ Glenwood Springs). 285 is gorgeous. One of my all time favorite hotsprings is en route near Buena Vista (pronounced BEUna Vista). Cottonwood hot springs is just a few miles from Buena Vista, but I didn't stop. Ouray satisfied my hot springs needs. 285 runs along the Rio Grande, which seems surprising as people usually think of the Rio Grande marking the US/Mexico border. But it doesn't. Denver is as far north as I went on this trip. My entire extended family lives there except for outposts in Phoenix and Portland/Seattle. I also have a lot of family in New Mexico, but they are not my immediate relatives.