June 13, 14 -- Ridgway State Park, Ouray & Silverton

Moved to Ridgway state park a bit north or Mesa Verde. It was a beautiful drive. Several days ago, we went over Lizard Head pass with Gregg, and there was just a dusting of snow on the peaks. This time all the peaks were covered in substantial snow from the storm the night before (that delivered rain in Mesa Verde). We ate lunch in the car (45 degrees) with a great view of Vermillion Peak and a whole bunch of others. Really nice. When we got to the turn for Telluride, we went the other way and circled the mountain. The drive down into Ridgway was a long glide with many jagged snow capped peaks to admire. Our campground looks out over many of those peaks and a lake; great spot for morning coffee. Today, the 14th, we drove to Ouray and on to Silverton over the Red Mountain Pass. In our mind, it rivals the pass into Yellowstone we took years ago, I believe something like Beartooth Pass but might be wrong on the name. We ate at a place in Silverton with a guy playing the old time piano; he was very good. It was cold, so chili was the order of the day. We then visited the cemetery, which has many interesting tombstones, such as "He died drunk and friendless." Or it identified the mine disaster that caused death, or "He died shoveling snow for the railroad." During our tour, we got rained on, sleeted, and warmed by sunshine. To say the weather right now is a bit unsettled would be an understatement. But after weeks of unrelenting sunshine and weather into the high 80s to low 100s, we are not complaining.

We appreciate the comments some of you have made. This blogging is a new experience for us, so it is good to know it is not going into a black hole, like some of the papers I wrote about numerous economic topics occasionally (okay, frequently) did.