Honeymoon trip

have you ever been to the north rim?

 

I think you will be happy with those two in Colorado.

The problem with the Grand Canyon is they basically have you by the balls. You either stay at Grand Canyon Village (good luck with that no matter the time of year), Tusayan which is right outside the Grand Canyon, or Williams over an hour to the South and it's still relatively expensive there. Tusayan is expensive no matter what. And there are only a few restaurants there. So they charge a premium. We never once ate there and it be less than $100 per meal. Even some pizza place we ate at (which wasn't great) was still over $100. Grand Canyon is just expensive no matter what. Wish I could tell you different but that is just the way that it is. But... It is worth the view.

 

No. The North Rim is so far out of the way and so few amenities? No use in going. It is over 1000' higher in elevation on the North Rim though for whatever that might be worth lol.

 

They could stay in Flagstaff and drive to the Grand Canyon. Not bad unless they are going to North Rim.

 

True... There just isn't a lot of amenities up there. That said... I may be talking out of my ass since I've never been there. It may be amazing

 

One thing is for sure. We want to see pictures after you take your trip. No matter what, you will enjoy it! And I can promise you, you will make many more trips out there after you get a taste of the states out West.

 

I’ve only done South Rim. Heard the North side is beautiful but I know it’s a long trip to get there. Flagstaff is a very cool town with great amenities. Not too expensive. Our favorite place to stop when traveling across country.

 

I’ve been to the GC and Moab and through Colorado to Colorado Springs a few years ago. She’s never been to any of it. The fun part is getting to se her reaction to it all. And seeing parts of it I haven’t seen before. There will be lots of pics lol.

 

Admittedly didn’t read pages 2-4.

A nice break up to the drive is to soak in the hot springs at Pagosa.

 

I have been, totally different vibe then South rim, less crowds but a drive from anywhere to get to it. Pine tree's everywhere I was not expecting.

There is a National Park area with Restaurant right on side of cliff overlooking it all.

View wise they are equal.

 

@RearViewMirror i booked the Strater Hotel. Im a sucker for old historic places, i hope its as good as it looks. Looks like there is a motorcycle rally that weekend, maybe it will be cleared out before we get there. Planning on staying Monday thru Wednesday. Haven't figured out what to do while were there yet.

 

I've been in the Strater Hotel but never stayed there. It's been nice inside each time we've been in there though. Don't think you can go wrong staying there. I like the Doubletree because it gives you a choice of having a city view or river view. We always get the city view and watch the trains roll out each morning. Where you are staying the trains will roll directly behind your hotel.

As far as what to do while you are there? Plan on driving up 550 to Silverton and Ouray one day. I would carve out some time for Ouray though. I think you will find it so pretty that you won't want to leave. Silverton is a really cool town also. Both towns might appeal to you if you like historic buildings since most of those buildings in each of those towns were built before the 1900's. If you have three days up there then "maybe" take the train from Durango to Silverton and back? Your time is pretty limited though so that might not work. If nothing else, you can see the trains in the morning and afternoon when they leave and come back. There is also a really cool museum in the train station that you might like. You can also make a day trip over to Telluride since your wife wants to see it. Thing is, those two things will take up at least two of your days to see Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. But if you don't take that long you will just be passing through and you really won't get to see anything at all. They aren't exactly far from Durango but they are far enough that a trip up to Ouray will take one day and a trip over to Telluride will take another if you actually want to "see" anything. 550 North up to Ouray is a beautiful drive but you will go over two passes and the driving is relatively slow. On your way up to Ouray I would stop on top of Molas Pass. Beautiful views and some of the cleanest air you will ever breathe. Plus driving 550 (The Million Dollar Hwy) is something you just need to do no matter what. You will not be disappointed.

As far as what to do in Durango? There are plenty of things to see and do there. Plenty of places to eat (Steamworks Brewing Company is high on that list). I would recommend each night if you have the chance, take a walk by the Animas River. You'll have to cross over 550 toward the Doubletree Hotel which is easy and only a couple blocks from your hotel. Walk behind the Doubletree and turn South. Walk until at least Santa Rita Park. It's a long paved trail and it is a really pretty walk beside the river.

Problem is, you've crammed so much into a relatively short trip that you are going to have to decide what is most important for you to see. I made that mistake once when going to Yellowstone. There were so many places along the way that I wanted to stop and see but we were under such a time crunch that I didn't really get to "see" anything. We spent a week in Yellowstone but we were staying in Jackson Hole. And to really see anything in Yellowstone? You need at minimum of a month. And even then? You haven't even begun to see everything Yellowstone has to offer. Not to mention all the small towns that I would have loved to stop at and just explore. That was out of the question. That is kind of the situation you are in at the moment. Trying to see too many things at once which means you won't see anything unless you just break up each day and make a specific plan to see what you want to see that day.

*EDIT* Over the last 20 + years we have just picked out one place at a time to explore. Most of that has been in the Southern part of Colorado. And the vast majority of that has been spent exploring the San Juan's. We generally start our trip out of Colorado Springs and take a different path across the state each time. But even then, there were so many little towns that I wanted to stop and explore but we just didn't have the time because we were on our way to a certain destination. Now that we live here, I plan on exploring all the places we've always wanted to see.

Again, you can always come back. It took us over 20 years just to see all of the San Juan Mountains. And that is just one area of the state.

 

Aboard the train in Durango. Car 32 named “Tacoma”. Very fitting. We’re having a blast

 

how did this turn out?

 

^^ This ^^

I’d like to know myself. Hope you had a great trip

 

Trip went great! The weather was nice and the scenery was beautiful. I recommend the train ride in Durango. We drove over to Telluride from Ouray and rode the free gondola, that was pretty cool. Ouray, Silverton and Durango are all very cool towns. Strater Hotel in durango is nice if you like history. We stopped at monarch pass for a picture, that was about the coldest weather we had at 52 degrees and raining.

After we left durango, we headed to monument valley then on to the Grand Canyon. Came back on Route 66, made a stop in winslow AZ for obligatory pics. It was a very memorable trip and we plan on going back to Colorado, maybe do Pikes peak and Estes park next time.

 

Glad you guys had a great trip. I think you planned it right considering the time limitations. Yes... Most definitely come back to Colorado and see the things you missed. There is so much to do here that you will have a hard time running out of things to do. We've taken the train from Durango to Silverton twice and both times have been great. Once in the Spring and once in the Fall. Both great trips.

 

Well... since we didn't get any pictures of your trip I'll post mine. We were gone for a week camping in the Southern part of Colorado. Here is the story.

Just got back from a week on the road in Colorado. What a great week. This was really a shake down trip since we've never taken the van out for so long. But it did well while we were gone.

We left a day before our 23rd anniversary so we could be in Durango where we were married. Got to Durango around 3pm and ate at Steamworks Brewing Co. which is my favorite restaurant there. Ended up eating way too much but damn was it good. Only issue with Durango is the homeless population has grown so much over the years that it is a very unfriendly town if you want to sleep in your vehicle. We ended up at the last place that I wanted to be but it was the only place that we could find that there were other vans and a couple RV's in the parking lot. Walmart. And, wouldn't you know it, we got a knock on the door about 10pm from security. But the guy was super nice and asked us if we would mind moving to the overflow parking which was literally about 100' from where we were. But there were a bunch of vans there so we weren't alone. No problems during the night other than we were sleeping in a Walmart parking lot lol. But there is no dispersed camping anywhere close to Durango so we had to make due.

On our way to Durango. Wolf Creek Pass



We drove out to Blue Lake Ranch where my wife and I were married 23 years ago on the exact date we were married. This is literally the spot we were married.





Next day we drove over to Mesa Verde NP and got a dispersed campsite which was nice. Only issue was it rained all day long. So we really couldn't do much outside. We didn't really do much there since we have been to Mesa Verde many times and have seen all of the cliff dwellings over the years. Really pretty campsite and we didn't have anyone around us. It snowed on us that night so we woke up to some snow on the ground and it was pretty.

We drove from Mesa Verde over to Ouray on Hwy 145 and as pretty as Hwy 550 is? Hwy 145 up to Delores, Rico, Telluride, Ridgway, and on to Ouray is probably the most beautiful drive I've ever taken in my life. We hit the Aspens changing colors at the perfect time. Snow on the ground and in the trees just made it that much better. I honestly think this is the prettiest drive in Colorado because you are "in" the mountains the entire time.



I've got a friend that lives in Ouray and we stayed next door to him. The lady that owns the property has left for the winter so we had a beautiful site to camp. So we spent a lot of time in Ouray because it is the most beautiful town in America. Ouray never gets old.

Were we got to camp in Ouray



Looking up at the amphitheater from downtown Ouray



We were camped right down from Cascade Falls so it was about a 5 min walk up to them. I walked behind the falls and got this shot



Hiked a really narrow trail on the side of the cliff that goes around the perimeter of Ouray









Getting ready to cook one night. This stove (although expensive) is worth every penny



There was a great firepit that we could use and plenty of wood. Good thing too since it got down in the mid 20's while we were there



Left after a few days and drove back to the Great Sand Dunes before heading home the next day



Really great trip and only had one issue with the van. The freshwater probes aren't reading correctly. We filled it up until the tank overflowed to put it at 100%. But while we were in Mesa Verde it went down to 33% even though we used very little water. It would fluctuate between 33% and 67%. Not really a big deal since the freshwater tank and the grey water tank are the same size so I knew how much we had actually used. Other than that? It was a great week. We decided to come back home to check on our daughter. I think she actually enjoyed us being gone. But she has never been on her own by herself for any length of time so she was pretty happy when we came back.

 

Awesome trip! I better step my game up with my anniversary this summer. I love my Genesis Cooking system. I would buy one again & they're worth the money. That said, the arm (regulator) is complete junk. They use some crappy version from China. The Coleman regulators are not compatible. None of my extra regulators worked when mine died in Wyoming. Thankfully, I did bring my backup Coleman Grill.

Do not buy the replacement from Jetboil!!! Haha check the reviews! ---> https://jetboil.johnsonoutdoors.com...s/basecamp-accessories/fuel-regulator-genesis

Buy this one! As far as I know, it's the only one that is compatible, that isn't the crappy Jetboil one!! It also comes with a green propane stand which is nice! It's currently sold out because of this!! --->https://www.campchef.com/flexible-regulator-kit/CC-MS-121.html