This is the first in a series of southwestern states that I explored over a three-week period. During this quintessential American car trip I drove with my buddy and travel companion over 5,000 kilometers (3,200 miles) and crossed six states plus the border town on the Mexican side. Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Texas.
Our drive was languorous despite daily stretches of hundreds of miles and hotel switching every evening. We drove a rented 4-door Camero on Highway 163 to Rte. 160 which turned into the famed Route 66, into the Ute Mountain Tribal Park and directly into the town of Cortez.
When there’s no one on the road and it’s just before ski season in November, you have the pristine beauty of the countryside and the sincere warmth of the locales all to yourself. The Colorado itinerary included Mesa Verde National Park (a World Heritage Site), Dolores, Telluride, Ouray, Silverton and then south past Durango, Aztec and Farmington back to Route 66 to New Mexico.
Our first stop was Mesa Verde National Park off Highway US-160. This is home to the ancient Anasazi culture that disappeared around 1300 AD without a trace. The park is the only one in America devoted exclusively to archeological ruins. Archeologists are still baffled as to why the Anasazi abandoned this site. And rightly so! This wondrous site of canyons, sandstone cliff dwellings, which look like multi-story high-rise buildings built into the rock, were home to the Anasazi for over 700 years. Each complex contains a kiva. In the Hopi language kiva means ceremonial room. Kiva are underground chambers and contain a fireplace, ventilator, bench, air deflector and sipapu. Kivas were generally used to pray for rain, luck in hunting or good crops. They were also used as gathering places and sometimes for weaving. Chapin Mesa is where we stopped to see the three main cave dwellings, Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House and Balcony House.
Cliff Palace contained 217 rooms, 23 kivas and had a population of around 250 people. This rock was geologically deposited over 78 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The Anasazi were gardeners and farmers, potters who domesticated animals. How they could live and prosper 8000 feet in the mountains is a true mystery. For visitor information try http://www.swcolo.org and mailto:mcedc@swcolo.org
Dolores
After a full day of exploration at Mesa Verde we headed towards Dolores, a small blip on the screen yet home to Colorado’s second biggest lake, McPhee Lake where you can fish, water ski and boat. Basically the town is a block long tucked away in the mountains and alpine forests. It’s worth a stop as it is reflective of rural small town America meets Switzerland. Politically the people we bumped into were liberally inclined even though a large portion of the populace owns a gun or hunting rifle. There are three German restaurants in this town probably because it reminded the settlers of Bavaria. The moment we arrived we stopped to quench our thirst at the homey Old Germany Restaurant, Highway 145 in Dolores. Tel: (970) 882-7549 or (970) 882-2170, for some German beers and Black Forest cake. Bavarian specialties are their game. We stayed at The Dolores Mountain Inn, 701 Railroad Avenue Dolores, CO 81323. Tel: (970) 882-7203. Reservations (800) 842-8113).
Owned by a former Swedish football star, this cozy on-the-main-road motel is rustic, clean, cheap and simple.
We ate dinner at The Naked Moose also on 104 S.2nd Street off Highway 145. Tel: (970) 882-7540, since the name was intriguing. In the dead of winter with snow piled high around us we stumbled upon a gourmet menu. Eating at the bar while the locales played dominoes and watched Rob Reiner get torched on the Comedy Channel we laughed our heads off. The spinach salad dressing is a combo French-Bar-b-que and can be purchased. The Naked Moose is a proper restaurant yet you may not have the time or inclination to make such discoveries. If you like eating at road stops read more about highway dining in the States at http://www.roadfood.com
Radio Tunes
Throughout the southwestern states country and western music is as common as classical is in Europe. The lyrics to these numbers speak a thousand images, as in,
“If you feel like love
If you feel the need
Just click on me for
www.memory You don’t even have to log in….”
And for three weeks I didn’t log in, just went with the flow of infinite Mother Nature and the wonders of the earth.
Telluride
Off Highway 145 we stopped at the place where Butch Cassidy once lived in the 1880’s. He robbed his first bank here. We glided through exquisite Rockies mountain ranges all snowcapped and alpine pristine. The air was scented with pine, oak, cedar and the calls of birds animated the stillness. Telluride is America’s second most popular ski resort after Aspen, to the stars, the elite and the wannabe’s. It sports a cable car (which the locals call a gondola) for sightseeing between the town and Mountain Village where the ritzy hang out .The Hippie-turned quaint village like boutiques, all outrageously expensive except for sale items on winter sportswear, gear and jackets are well maintained. It reminded me of the Jungfrau mountain pass in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
In search of a secret hideaway in the mountains and far off the beaten track we discovered a natural hot spring off Highway 62. Ascending more than 7000 feet, in the Ridgway Mountain Pass we climbed up rocky cliffs to find two small bubbling pools of thermal water at 45 degrees Celsius. Several people were bathing and invited us to join them. With snow falling above us, our enclave of privacy and warmth was a welcome relief. We spent 6 hours here.
Ouray
Carrying on Highway 145 we landed in Little Switzerland.Ouray is a famous hot spring resort and considered one of the top ten small towns in America by The Rough Guide. This eager reporter wanted the best quality for price. What I got was the only affordable and OPEN thermal bath which turned out to be a great surprise at the St. Elmo Hotel, 426 Main Street, tel: (970) 325-4951. This throwback to Colonial America is one of the oldest inns in the state. Victorian decor, chintz wallpaper, a porcelain washbasin and footstool gave me the impression that I was smack dab in the middle of Western World, the movie!
The hot spring water flowed into an outdoor hot tub set amongst the snow-capped mountains and hidden by huge pines. Adele the hotel owner offered wine, cheese and crackers before we headed onto dinner and introduced us to her talking parakeet with which I had a philosophical discussion. To book a room mailto:steh@rmi.net
Silverton
On Route 62 to Silverton I passed a sign “Scenic Byway” at an elevation of 9,318 feet. There were no guardrails on the gorgeous precipice. If I had died there the sign surely would have read, “Scenic Bye-Bye Way”. This picturesque town was our next and last stop deep in the mountains. This former mining community last century stopped mining copper in 1991. It was like walking onto a western ghost town movie set, probably due to the snow, slush and time of year. Hardly a store was opened however the views were breathtakingly clear and crisp. We treated ourselves to a huge caffe latte American sized L and mocha espresso.
Durango
Twin city of Durango, Mexico, we brushed into the Animus valley like tumbling tumbling weed to pass a few old locomotive and steam railcars. Since this junction was a commuter line for
gold rushers of yesteryear trains are big things. I don’t recommend stopping here. We carried on west on the 64 till we hit a trucker’s junction at Route 66. I’ve never seen such huge tractor-trailers in my life. They wouldn’t fit on any European motorway. There we drove straight south into New Mexico.
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