Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Up AnD dOwN aNd AlL aRoUnD...

Yesterday, we arrived at the

DSC_0058

Durango Riverside Resort and RV Park.  We had to wait for our site to be cleared, but were soon escorted right to Site #31.  We pulled in to what seemed like a fairly level space.  Mark and Andrew placed the jack pads under the jacks and I proceeded to let down the jacks.  All was going good until I got an alarm from one of the rear jacks.  The rear jack was trying to extend too far.  When we tried to retract the jacks, they all came up except for the one that had set off the alarm.  Mark had to get out the

DSC_0039 

tool box and with the help of his drill motor, he had to manually raise the jack.  Where were you Jim Meacham?  We added additional jack pads, reset the jacks, and all was good.

Oh, yes, while he had out the tool box, he had to re-solder a wire that had vibrated loose on the water pump.

Once all the repairs were done and

DSC_0028

we were settled in, it was time to do something....so, we headed back into Durango to take a look around and find the

DSC_0053

local Visitor Center.  We gathered all the brochures we could carry and headed back to the campground to make a plan.

We also made a stop by the

DSC_0044

Honeyville Bee Factory.  We saw the bees

DSC_0046

hard at work, and the results of

DSC_0047

their labor.

Once, we were back at the motor home and had dinner, we were ready to talk about our plan for today.  We decided that we would get up early and head over to

DSC_0077

the little town of Silverton.  Again, we stopped in at the Visitor Center, picked up a couple of maps for Jeep Trails and headed for the

DSC_0094

Alpine Loop.  We checked with several and they all assured us that our Jeep would travel these trail without too much difficulty.

We traveled from the pavement to

DSC_0091

dirt roads, to

DSC_0122

gravel roads.

We took a turn at

DSC_0141

  Picayune Gulch and climbed up and up winding around to an

DSC_0133

mine.  We were going to travel on around the loop, but, were advised by one of the tour guides there that we shouldn't try the rest of the loop from here.  So, we headed back down the hill to the main road to finish the loop in reverse.

Wow, what sights we saw...there were

DSC_0117 

beautiful waterfalls,

DSC_0163

ghost towns that

DSC_0194-1

dated way back.

Lauren

DSC_0251

posed for pictures while

DSC_0170

Andrew enjoyed climbing around the old structures, and

DSC_0175 .

Poppa tried keeping up with all of us.

The

DSC_0125

flowers were beautiful

DSC_0165

everywhere we looked.

After a great morning, we headed back into downtown Durango for lunch.  We found

DSC_0192

Thee Pitts Again, a restaurant, that has been featured on the Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.  Wow, was it yummy barbeque.

With full tummies, we took a walk around town, checked into the

DSC_0198

Durango/Silverton Train ride, a future plan, and did a little window shopping. 

By this time, we were ready to head back to Durango, but, we wanted to do another Jeep Trail.  We traveled out of Silverton on 550 towards Ouray to the Ophir Pass road.  Oh, my...not only were we in the back country, we were

DSC_0293

in the high country.  By the time we got to the summit, we were eye level

DSC_0217

with all the snow and ice still on

DSC_0221

the mountains.

Oh...the sights we saw, but...only a couple of times did I question our sanity.

By the time we finally made it back to Durango, we were all starving, so we made a stop by Papa Murphy's for pizza and headed to the motor home.  I don't think anyone will have a hard time sleeping tonight, especially our driver, who did a great job taking us Up AnD dOwN aNd AlL aRoUnD.  We can't wait to do it again!

2 comments:

  1. Reminds us of when we were there last October. We had a great time also. If you are there long enough, check out Serious Texas BBQ www.serioustexasbbq.com/locations.html
    It is fantastic.

    Stay Safe

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks great and the Jeep Tour looks like it was fun for all. I know your weather is much cooker than in Texas.

    ReplyDelete