Road trippin from the Durango home base: 1. Telluride

Roy and Kate were the first visitors, and they were ready to road trip to Telluride! As I'm getting used to this whole reality of driving everywhere I see the benefit in a good road trip.

We followed the amazingly beautiful Dolores River valley (an unusual river that flows both south and north) 

Through tiny towns like Rico that mining and railroads built but with strong histories of Native American settlement and displacement still vivid in the placenames like Ute Mountain. (PS: how amazing the Rico website for a town of about 300?)

Contrary to popular thought, retail herb is not to be found in every Colorado town. It is slowly being developed city by city. As you can imagine the big ski towns are the first to have these candy stores. And wow. What a trip. These are extraordinary times. 

Super quaint! 

While the ski lift is literally in downtown Telluride, we hit the slopes via snowshoe and cross country ski's just outside of town at Lizard Head Pass. 

This trip, the Galloping Goose followed us from the old train in Dolores to the transit stations in Telluride. A good mystery to track down...