RMNP to Gunnison, CO

We spent most of yesterday driving through absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery. We drove across RMNP, which has what must be one of the highest roads in the U.S. We stopped with other tourists at each of the overlooks and made it up to the road's high point with a simple trail through the alpine tundra. We walked along the path taking in the breathtaking views and smelling the sweet high mountain air. We saw a couple of people doing unconscionable things up on the tundra, including a teenage boy marching all over the area marked "stay off of the alpine tundra" (when the Ranger asked him to walk on the path, he said "I'm stepping around the flowers") and a Texan man allowing his kids to feed the pikas and videotaping it near one of the many signs that said "do not feed the wildlife". When Ry kindly brought his attention to the signs the man said, "these aren't wildlife, they're pests". It was sad to see such things, knowing how many people visit the fragile National Parks. But I reminded each of us that at least those folks rarely venture off one of a few simple trails into the more remote park where they can do even worse damage.

There was a lot of construction on the high road in the park and a lot of construction on the high mountain roads in general as we were driving along our route, so what we anticipated might be six hours of driving turned into eight. We'd be stopped on one side of the road for a long while and then eventually ushered on while construction workers stopped the other side. It was alright though, because I imagine this is the only absolutely safe time they can work on these mountain roads.

We ate homemade vegan lunch at a campsite in the Arapaho National Recreation Area and then continued south through the Rockies over many, many mountain passes. We drove through several ski resort towns which didn't look the least bit exciting at this time of year including Winter Park, Breckenridge and Frisco. We eventually passed through Salida and made it into the Arkansas River Valley. This area of high desert valleys reminded me of certain parts of Idaho or New Mexico, but greener. We saw cattle ranches and big, big sky everywhere. It was probably my favorite part of the drive because it was such a dramatic change after all of the green and craggy peaks before it.

We rolled into Gunnison in the early evening - home of Western State College of Colorado and located at approximately 7,700 feet. It reminds me of Flag, but smaller and we instantly decided we loved it. Ry picked out a little side of the highway motel in town called Swiss Inn, which I thought to be a funny theme for the middle of high desert Colorado. We learned our lesson from a yucky stay in North Platte, NE, asked to see the room and inspected it carefully before signing on the dotted line. The last three places we've stayed have used these really old fashioned little carbon paper forms for check-in, the kind of things you'd only see at a mom and pop-type operation. It's all quite charming and I'm glad we haven't stayed at any corporate chain yet even if it did mean one really bad night. One out of four ain't bad.

We ran across Highway 50 and dined on veggie burritos at a little hippie Mexican place called the Blue Iguana where we sat next to a young lady with a huge wolf dog named Tuck and a tiny little beagle mix. She said they got along well and that they were playful, but then we saw Tuck take the little dog's head in his mouth in one big bite. He let go and there wasn't any blood, so I guess it was playful. Later he licked the little dog's snouth with his big slobbery tongue. We wanted to walk around the cute little town, but it started raining and we went back to our little hotel room.

This morning we are enjoying coffee and bagels at a great coffeehouse called The Bean. Then we'll check out main street, the university and get on the road to Durango.