Ouray

I really should hate this town. It has all of the necessary elements that make up a classic tourist trap, and I almost always avoid places like this. For those of you scoring at home, here are the canonical elements that make up the Garden Variety Tourist Trap:

1. Ice cream parlour
2. T-shirt shops (usually in multiples of two) often with names like the "Insert Town Name Here T-Shirt factory"
3. A store that is called an "Emporium"
4. A cutesy slogan (in this case "The Switzerland of America!")
5. Overpriced restaurants
6. Beds-and-Breakfasts
7. Tacky souvenier stores
...and the one unchanging element which simply MUST be present...
8. A Christmas store

Well, Ouray has all of these things. They even pull off a rare Tourist Trap Trifecta: Take a Christmas Store, combine it with a bed and breakfast, and witness the rare element that many have heard of but which few have actually observed in the wild: A CHRISTMAS BED AND BREAKFAST.

All of these things would normally make me hate Ouray, but for some reason I don't. This is the second trip here, and it's lovely to be back. The town is easily walkable, the people are generally friendly, and the sights here are spectacular. The town sits in a gorge, surrounded by jagged, rocky mountains. There are also a number of waterfalls that can be seen from town. It looks a bit like Rivendell, without the elves.

Or it could help that I'm frequenting the Orvis Hot Springs that are just north of Ouray in Ridgway. The lithium in the water is, perhaps, making me mellow. Or it could be that the Billy Goat Gruff's biergarten is next door, and they serve a Righteous Beer brewed up in Boulder. Last night I had an Imperial IPA, which uses twice the hops and has twice the normal alcohol. Effectively, this means you can drink fewer beers.

Sightseeing and soaking have been hindered a bit by big rainshowers in the afternoons. It poured late yesterday afternoon, and most of the night, and it has been cloudy most of the afternoon today. About 3:30 the bottom fell out, so I came back to the hotel to put my feet up. I can't complain too much, though, because this area of the country desperately needs rain to keep the summer wildfires in check.

Tomorrow I head south toward Santa Fe. The only way to go is down Highway 550, over the so called "Million Dollar Highway," the segment of the San Juan Skyway extending from Ouray to Silverton. For fun, fire up Google Earth and search for Ouray, CO, then look at what main street does immediately after you clear the city limits. I didn't know a road could be so curvy! I drove it last year, but it was bright and sunny. Actually that may have worked against me, because without cloud cover I could see that only the tiniest strip of guard railing prevented me and the car from a long free fall to the gorge below. It's beautiful, and a thrilling drive (if one finds cheating death "thrilling") . The One Thing Needful is dramamine, and it appears I'm out....