For a couple of northeasterners who’ve spent their entire lives in a place where the saying “April showers bring May flowers” is considered a universal truth, seeing wildflowers pop all over southern California through February and into March is a real treat.
From street level the majestic San Juan Mountains tower above Ouray, Colorado, in nearly every direction you look. It is no wonder the small town has taken to calling itself the “Switzerland of America.” We’ve yet to visit that European country, so we can’t comment on the similarities. What we can attest to, though, is the awesome natural beauty found everywhere in this corner of Southwestern Colorado.
We arrived in Ouray via the San Juan Skyway; a 233 mile scenic loop connecting several historic towns, including our last stop, Durango. Not wanting to drive the motor home over the mountain passes of the Million Dollar Highway, we took the Skyway’s longer western route, and are glad we did.
The rising sun illuminates Monument Valley formations
In some respects, we were incredibly lucky. True, two of our three days in Utah’s Monument Valley were completely blown away by dust storms. And on our fourth day those same gusty winds threatened to force us off the road as we tried to escape the wicked weather. But that second day, the day we arranged an off road tour of the Valley? That day was perfect.
We arose well before sunup to get the first tour of the morning. Our only complaint is that we didn’t get up even earlier. We couldn’t have known that this would be our only clear day in the Valley, and our only chance to photograph the monuments as they emerged from night’s inky blackness into beautiful blue silhouettes of dawn.
We saw them briefly in that light as we pulled into our appointed pick-up spot but had no time for photos. Our jeep was waiting and a bit impatiently too.
Of all the places we’ve visited in our more than two years of continuous travel, Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park has to be the most under-sold. We arrived there expecting to see 225 million year old wood. What we found were some of the most magnificent badland vistas of our trip.
That’s not to say Petrified Forest doesn’t live up to its namesake, too. It does. The place is lousy with fossilized trees. And unlike other fossils, these aren’t impressions of once living creatures in stone. These once living organisms are stone.
Everywhere Once 