[rewind back to mid-August] Colorado Day 3

10/16/2024

Took the drive along the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton. Crazy curves with many swooping switchbacks and lots of steep drop offs without guardrails. Amazing views. Lots of cool abandoned mining operations along the way.

It's the little things - like watching this old train pull out of town.

Silverton is another cool old-time western town. Like out of a movie - the train pulls right down the middle of street, there are some really old buildings that seem fake, gravel streets.

The weather was crazy, we got caught in downpours 4 separate times that day.

Door of the old jail. Wild that this still exists.

not my photo: more jail

I love all the old mining stuff.

Our main destination was the Ouray hot springs. Went during the day and then back again after dark. Pretty magical soaking in the hot water surrounded by shear mountains. Recommended.

Very cool vibes being in this hot water at night.

3 Comments

Lion Bianchi

10/16/2024 07:47:39 pm

Hey Mr. G!

I am starting from the bottom up!

Night swimming is always best! There is something about it that is so relaxing - that and swimming in the rain...
Those moutains are amazing, especially contrasting with the dusk-lit sky and bright pool...

That mining stuff is really cool... I have never seen any in person - only in the movies...

That jail door is awesome! How old is it? Mid to late ninteenth century? It looks like a door in an old western... cool.

That old-time town is amazing. That mountain has many more rock formations than they do here... Metamorphic?

I think that it would be really fun to take an old-timey train at some point... Pullman style, though not as pretentious...

The Million Dollar Highway is postcard-worthy... Just stunning... Those windy roads have been known to make me hurl... Worth the views, though... Not to mention the excitement of no guardrails. Those mines are pretty cool, too...

Have a great week, Mr. G.!

-Lion

Mr. G

10/17/2024 07:03:55 am

Yes, night swimming is really cool. I remember swimming at night in trhe ocean with my sister in law years ago - the water was so deeply jet black, it looked like oil. Very odd yet interesting. And not really being able to see the waves added an element to it. This experience in Ouray was sublime.

With my geology background and a general interest in construction, I've always been drawn to mining. And there's a rich mining history in Colorado and visible evidence of it all over. You see old mining operations driving along the main highway and they're all very much intact and as they were originally.

Love the jail. I looked it up and it was constructed in 1883, so great estimate Lion. It's amazing to me that stuff like that still exists today in original condition. As you said all of it is like out of an old western, except it's authentic. These are the places the old western movies are trying to replicate. So that's really cool to me. I'll add another photo or 2 of it above so you can see more of it.

Love the old trains and would love a trip on one. I see some old train cars next to where I park at work (cool but kinda unusual to have this as part of my day...) - my office butts up to the Rensselaer train station and some old trains cars are stored there.

From what I saw most the rock is sed. Million Highway was a great drive.

Thanks Lion!

10/19/2024 12:35:28 pm

That sounds great... I too find the concept of mining really interesting, however I likely would not have been able to BE a miner back in the day... it was a tough job!

Thanks Mr. G! It is pretty cool to be able to see history like that. I remember being in London back in January 2020 and seeing the oldest door in the UK in Westminster Abbey. It was installed circa 1050, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, who was the ELEVENTH King of England. Thanks for adding more pictures!

That is pretty cool! I always wonder what the history behind the old train cars is... Who has ridden in them and such...

Interesting about the composition of the mountain. Thanks for correcting me! I think that I will take one of the old Regents again later this year... I need to get that 100!

Have a great weekend!
-Lion

G-blog

[rewind back to mid-August] Colorado Day 3

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