DAY 2 Tuesday, July 22

No bears last night when I trekked to the bathroom around 2 am - but the stars sure were beautiful!

This morning we had to drop the trailer at the gas station by the campground - none allowed in the park past there. In the morning we took the tour down to Cliff Palace (steep steps carved into the rocks, several wooden ladders) and in the afternoon we hiked down to Spruce House.  That brought back memories of when we visited there with the kids one summer (circa '96).

One of the guides told Tom that the area usually gets 10 feet of snow over the winter.  But this 

past winter they only got 8 INCHES!  The drought is everywhere in the SW.

Of course we toured the museum, which had excellent diaramas and exhibits.  Tom was certainly drooling over some of the artifacts.

Mesa Verde is a popular spot (Cliff Palace is a World Heritage site, along with the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids in Egypt) so no surprise we scored a bunch more license plates; by the time we left the park we were up to 37 states.  I had guessed we'd see 40 this trip and Tom was doubtful - but it seems possible at this point.

We had time before dinner to stop in at the quilt shop in Cortez.  Always fun - and I saw a placemat pattern I will whip up 'for someone' once I get home.  Dinner was very good (BBQ that was half the price of last night's dinner, 30 times faster - and much, much tastier!)

We found a spot to camp just off the road in the San Juan National Forest a couple of miles south of Rico. At this point we have it all to ourselves, though it's possible  we could get some company later.  The price is certainly right!

Tom didn't sleep well Monday night so he took a post dinner nap while I read.  When I got out to go water a tree I surprised a couple of deer just outside the truck.  They took one look at me and pronged off across across the road.  Definitely not used to people like the deer roaming the campground the night before!

We expected it to get chilly during the night so we closed the windows. But when I went out at 2:00 it was quite mild and I didn't even need to throw on my little jacket.

DAY 3 Wednesday, July 23

Gaining elevation as we head toward Lizard Head Pass (10,222) we get our first glimpse of snow on the fourteener mountains.  

Telluride was fun to walk around.  Lots of bikes and dogs everywhere, and I was able to buy a charger for my iPad/phone (for 5 times the price of the first one I bought, but that one didn't have enough juice to work.)  We took the (free) gondola rides up the mountain, checked out a nature center up there and wandered around Mountain Village, which had the most incredible kids' playground. I was pretty worried about the ride (heights are not my thing!) but I'm glad we did it.  Lots of mountain biking trails up there, and the gondolas had bike racks that were getting a lot of use.

During lunch back down in Telluried (again, a very long wait) I noticed how gray the sky had gotten. No sooner had I walked the 3 blocks back to where we parked and gotten into the truck when it started to rain. Perfect timing. Leaving town we saw a herd of about a dozen elk.

We stopped in Ridgeway for a few (expensive) groceries.  Most of the locals shop in Ouray (10 miles) or even Montrose (24 miles). Then we checked into Orvis Hot Springs to camp tonight and tomorrow night.  It's changed some since were were here last (almost 20 years ago) - but what place hasn't! The water is nice and toasty,  but just as I remember there's not a lot of shade in the pools.  Very pretty, but no pix (or electronics of any kind) allowed in most areas.  Not that I could post them anyway!

And since there's wifi here in the office I should <g> be able to post.