Coffee Shop Stop

I bought a zippered hoodie last night. I know I'll be wearing it in the evenings. "Dorothy, you are not in Kansas" and " you are not in Louisiana" and it gets chilly here in the evenings. I knew this. I really did. I remembered but I still didn't pack a jacket when I left home.

Out of bed early and the first thing I did was drag all the dirty laundry to the laundry room. While I watched the news and had coffee in the breakfast room, my clothes became clean and fresh and ready to be worn again. I had to participate a bit more then what it sounds like here to accomplish that but at least I didn't have to beat them on rocks and hang them out on the bushes to dry. I would never have survived "the good ole days". I would have quickly instigated new family rules. "Everyone is responsible for their own laundry" and I'll shoot my own food.

We tried to check into the Rusty Cannon Motel but all the rooms in the inn were booked. Next try was the La Quinta; we could stay one night, check out for one night and check back in and stay as long as we wanted. That wouldn't work as hubby will leave tonight on his job and I may not see him again for a few days. We had to find a place with no interruption in stay so the last choice was a new Super o8 that has only been open for 4 days.
It's a nice modern facility; granite everywhere and everything new and fresh. It ain't the Best Western we left in Montrose though. The room is a bit smaller and there is no big bathroom with a whirlpool tub. I'll survive. At least I'm not in a tent with a bear hunting my food cooler.

The locals here are super friendly. There is a seismic crew in town and I spoke with the party manager this morning in the breakfast room. The construction workers on the new hotel are staying here too. They are from Colorado but not from here in Rifle. A fellow sitting and watching the news struck up a conversation about all the crime going on. Soon he was proclaiming the end of the world and quoting the Bible. OH OH! I let him talk. I may not have believed a thing he was saying but he was so obviously a believer and I'm sure a really nice guy here with his family that I just smiled and nodded. I looked at my watch and excused myself with getting my laundry from the laundry room.

I took the clean clothes to the room, grabbed my laptop and headed back to the breakfast room. The lobby computer for guests isn't attached to the internet. I tried it earlier and their explanation was "we still have some bugs to work out". I didn't want to say anything but "bugs" isn't a word I would have used in relation to a computer.

I must say, I'm not looking forward to the husband going on his job. I know that is why we are here but I'm sure going to miss his truck. I'll be lacing up my walking shoes and getting lots of fresh air and exercise.

It's time to go back to the room. It's 8:30 and he should be awake now.

Onward to Rifle, Colorado

We left Montrose and moved away from the mountains. Plains
country, few trees and lots of sage and sand.



We passed through a valley that raised grapes, and a winery and had peach orchards. Then into the cuts between the mountains. We followed the Colorado River all the way to Rifle. Because of all the rain it is swollen and out of it's banks with brown muddy water. We passed through Grand Junction and continued north. The scenery although different then around Montrose was still breath taking. The rock formations are interesting to watch. The rocks that are teetering and barely clinging to the mountain side makes me nervous. Rock slides are frequent.

We passed through Parachute, Colorado. I remember when that was a big boom town because of the oil shale. That eventually stopped because of the disposal of the contaminated water that came from that drilling. A boom and a bust. It's cyclic.

And finally 9 miles out of Rifle, we see a money maker. This is a rare sight here. A few months back the landscape was dotted with rigs. Now you see yards with pipe stacked out, water trucks, trailors and all the equipment associated with rigs. They are stored and not working. Rifle's expansion from 1 hotel to a new Super 8, a LaQuinta and a another big hotel can be credited to the oil boom that grew in this area. The boom is over. Six years ago when I was last here there was a small cafe called Base Camp that was the only place to eat and it closed at 7PM and the Rusty Canon hotel, the only place to get a room. By the time hubby would get in from his job, there was no place open except for the Quick Stops that sold packaged sandwiches.

Today a Subway, a Taco place, a Rib place, a Starbucks (I'm wondering how many of the locals are willing to pay 4 bucks for a cup of coffee) and others too numerous to mention have sprung up close to Interstate. What a change! For the good? I don't know. I do know that I enjoy the little mountain towns as "were"; a step back in time. It's sad to me to see them change and become so commercialized. It does offer more job opportunities to the locals so maybe it isn't a bad thing.

We are checked into our rooms although we had to wait till 3PM to check in so we took a trip to Rifle Falls.

The following picture is of the caves beside the falls. Hubby mentioned bears and I quickly headed back the way I had arrived! I saw that special on TV about the bears mauling hikers and campers. You could see the slickness at the entrance where they could have been sliding into the caves on their bellies. Maybe that isn't what caused the earth to look slick but I wasn't taking any chances. There are signs posted to beware of the bears. Call me a coward. I don't care. I know that I can't out run one and playing dead wouldn't work for me. It would interfere with all that screaming I would be doing.

As I look around here I note the differences from here to Louisiana. Many of the vehicles here are 4 wheel drives and coated in mud. Off roading is a major activity. Kayaks, canoes and camping equipment can be seen packed on top of the trucks and jeeps. Fly fisherman standing in waders, boats on the lakes and tents surrounding the lakes; it's an outdoor recreation haven here.

Goodbye Montrose

I awoke this morning to 42 degree temperatures. It's just the right climate for a long sleeve shirt and a pair of slacks. No need for a jacket as it really doesn't feel cold at all. If it were 42 degrees in Louisiana you would need a jacket as the humidity makes the slightest drop in temperatures feel much colder then here. Also my hair looks much better here. No humidity and no fuzzy hair. Now that's a good enough reason alone to move here.

And related to that house on the mountain by the Bridal Veil falls in Telluride, I found this on the web: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffrojr/2831812418/

and this information about the house and owner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridal_Veil_Falls_(Telluride)

The coffee shop here is full of folks from Germany. Germans and French come through here all summer on bus tours. I spoke with a few of them this morning. They were from Cologne and most of them were retired. Some had their young adult children traveling with them. They started their tour in California, then to Arizona, Colorado and more of the west. Now that's the way to retire. Retire to travel. Also, our dollar is weak against the Euro right now so a trip to the States is a bargain for the Europeans.

I'll be packing all of our stuff up which is always fun moving it from this upstairs room down to the truck. Maybe I could just drop it off the second floor and have hubby catch it from below? Nah..he would never go for that and it might be a little rough on the laptops.
I'm outta here to pack!

Leaving Montrose

More pictures and videos from the Telluride trip. We will be moving tomorrow to an unknown at this time destination. Hubby just found out his job is in Meeker, Colorado so we will be moving to Rifle, Rangley or Craig, Colorado which is about 2 hrs. north of here.
ELK


A still photo just can't capture the size of this place so I did a few videos to better show the beauty and grandness of the mountains.

View of Telluride

I don't like shooting through the windshield but if I hold the camera outside it picks up a lot of wind noise so, excuse the noise on these videos.

On the ride back out of the canyon I spent the time watching the landscape slide by. There was miles and miles of pole fencing and large herds of cattle grazing the fields. There was some scrubby looking small trees that I couldn't identify. I would like to ask a local what they were. A creek ran along side the road. Sometimes it was a fast running stretch of water hiding the rocks beneath and sometimes it was mostly rocks with enough water to make them moist. I noticed small trees splayed down toward the water and looking closer found a big beaver dam in that creek. I watched that creek all the way out of the canyon and found many more beaver dams. I wanted to see the ranch house that all those cattle belonged to. A lot of small houses were on that property but I didn't think that was where the rancher lived and I was right. When we got to the ranch house there was no mistaking it for the hired hands houses. It flaunted a large entrance with the name of the ranch displayed across the front.

Getting closer to Montrose there was a small herd of Alpacas. We have seen llamas, alpacas, elk, antelope and camels on this trip. The camels were in the panhandle of Texas and it did make you do a double take. Who would expect camels in Texas?

I'm ready for a nice long bath in that huge tub. It might be my last night for a whirlpool bath.

Hubby and I did discuss having the master bath remodel to have a whirlpool and a separate shower stall. That won't happen until the economy gets better.

I'll be back from a new time and place!