5/18/2008 - The San Juans and Telluride, CO

We woke early in the morning on Sunday thanks to the many, many birds that thought it was their duty to tell us it was morning. We packed up and made the short jaunt back to Moab in search of pay showers since the “smoke cologne” was just not doing the job anymore. We finally ran down $3/person showers at the private Slickrock Campground. Unluckily for us guys, the male showers were being cleaned by a not-so-pretty Hispanic lady with not-so-well-applied bright red lipstick, a companion pug (dog, that is) on his own small bed staring at us, and her apparent choice of light Christian rock blasting in the background from a small boombox buried in her cleaning supplies. Yes, this was one of the more unique shower experiences I’ve had in my life.

After the well-needed showers, we headed east toward southwest Colorado and the majestic San Juan Mountains. We setup camp in Telluride’s Town Park ($16 night). Of the many times I’ve visited Telluride, this was perhaps the most “dead” I’d seen the ski/festival town. Heck, even “the” TomKat was missing (for those who don’t tune in to Entertainment Tonight on a regular basis, you may need to research that reference). The lack of tourists was actually a blessing since it felt as though we had the beautiful town and mountains all to ourselves. After setting up camp, we drove over to Ouray and Silverton along the so-called “million dollar highway”. Spring snow melt was creating rather hazardous driving conditions along the road since the melt water was continually aiding in small rock slides that deposited healthy sized rocks on the roadway – one of which we nailed. We stopped in Silverton to sample some of the selections at the local brewery. After enjoying a couple of tasty pints, we hit the road back to Telluride.

Campsite at Telluride Town Park.

View of river next to our camp.

"Million dollar highway" -- no left turns.

San Juans.

Double RL Ranch and the San Juans (and, yes, that RL stands for Ralph Lauren).

As you can see, Grady is on board.

Downtown Telluride.

Hmmm ... I'm certain this picture was taken while drinking a Coors Light.

Hair pin along "million dollar highway."

We arrived back to camp in starvation mode. We made the short walk to downtown where we finally found a pizza joint that was open (a lot of stuff was closed since it was a Sunday during ‘shoulder’ season). Despite the fact that our waiter’s head was in some sort of haze (due to what, I won’t speculate), we enjoyed the pizza offerings, which we gobbled down with a variety of pints from the tap. Scott gobbled down the pizza a bit too fast and made a god-awful sound as he choked on … of all things … mozzarella. After dinner, I headed out for a bit of nighttime photography in the sleepy town – a cold, but rewarding experience.

Historical New Sheridan Hotel in downtown Telluride with the San Juans (background) bathed in moonlight.

Telluride Court House with an exploding moon off to the right.