Road Trip Diary
Suzy Sube's Search for the Soul of America! Or, I quit my job to travel for a bit and shift gears, and needed to blog about it.
Leg 1 (March/April)
Leg 1 (March/April)
Leg 2 (May/June):
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We packed so much into our time in Colorado that it warrants a separate post! Colorado stops (Pt. 2):
While I was sad to leave Leadville (which was so lovely), I was looking forward to breathing a little easier at a slightly lower altitude (~8,000 ft). We stopped for lunch in Gunnison at the Ol' Miner Steakhouse, and had planned to spend the rest of the day and camp at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - but the weather was already not looking good. On the drive into the park, the rain and fog got so bad that we abandoned the plan and decided to spend the night at a motel just past the park in Montrose, instead. Luckily, the weather was much more agreeable the next day, and we were able to take the scenic drive through Black Canyon, stopping at many of the scenic viewpoints along the way. The name says it all - it's a very steep, dark canyon (due to the lack of sunlight in many areas) that the Gunnison River cuts right through. This is a criminally underrated park that is sadly one of the least visited national parks in the country...but it's well worth checking out if you are in the area. Continuing along with unplanned stops, on my mom's recommendation (thanks, Mom!) we decided to look around Ouray ("The Switzerland of America"), and ended up finding a great deal at a lovely little mountain lodge (shout out Box Canyon Lodge & Hot Springs) situated next to natural hot springs! Ouray totally lives up to its nickname, and the scenery is absolutely stunning. We had dinner at The Outlaw, the oldest restaurant in Ouray, and dessert (a "scrap cookie") at Mouse's Chocolates - both very yummy, then took a soak in the hot tubs at the hotel. It was a bit too 'natural' for my taste...but still relaxing, nonetheless. The next morning, we checked out some nearby waterfalls (Box Canyon Falls and Cascade Falls) and scenic viewpoints before letting Jesus take the wheel as we began our journey down the famously treacherous Million Dollar Highway... The "Million Dollar Highway" between Ouray and Silverton is notorious for being one of the windiest and most harrowing mountain roads in America - primarily because many of the sheer drops are not protected by guardrails. We learned that this is because snowplows in the winter have to be able to push snow off the sides of the cliff...hence the lack of guardrails. It was drizzling for most of the first leg of the highway drive, which was a bit unsettling...but we took it slow and did just fine, but I was more to take a break from this stressful road as soon as we got to our next stop. I had visited Silverton once before as a kid when we took a family vacation to CO and rode the steam train from Durango, and Alex had ridden the winter version of the train to Cascade before, as well. While we didn't have time for the train on this trip (it basically takes all day), Silverton was well worth a return visit (although it also meant returning to pretty high altitude, too). We stopped by the train depot, and had lunch across the street at a historic bordello turned restaurant, Natalia's 1912. One of the most unexpectedly delightful stops on the whole trip was our tour of the Mayflower Gold Mill, which was a functioning mill for the nearby Old Hundred Gold Mine until the 90's. It's now open for tours, essentially exactly as it was when it closed - and you even get to demo some of the equipment! It's important to note that Alex's hat of choice for this trip was the red "God Bless Gram Parsons" hat we got in Nashville. For the uninitiated - Gram was the godfather of country-rock and what he called "Cosmic American Music," a member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, performed as a duo with Emmylou Harris, and tragically overdosed at age 26 in Joshua Tree. We actually spent Alex's 40th at the Joshua Tree Inn, in the room where he passed...which surprisingly wasn't creepy - it's a really loving tribute to Gram now, and a very cute place to stay. Anyway, when we showed up at the mill for the self-guided tour, the clerk casually mentioned "y'know, I played with Gram back in the day." We talked to our new friend, Freddie, for close to an hour, hearing stories about his life as a session musician who played with tons of greats (John Prine, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, etc.) and as a horse stunt rider, his love of film, service in Vietnam, and finding his ultimate happiness in Silverton as a miner and rockhunter. He very kindly said we're "in the extended Silverton family now," and it was a totally delightful surprise for all parties.
Our next stop, Durango, ended up being shorter than anticipated, due to a combination of factors...I messed up and booked a place to stay that was less than desirable (let's just say it included an outdoor port-a-potty...), and Mesa Verde (our next planned stop) ended up not having any tours available on the original day we wanted to go. So, while we only ended up being in Durango for one night, we luckily still had the opportunity to check out Honeyville market, which is absolutely incredible, and Ska Brewing, which is well-loved all over Central/Southern CO. Last but certainly not least for Colorado - Mesa Verde National Park! This is one of my very favorite stops, noted for its lush greenery and Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. We had visited before, but it was well worth the return trip for both of us. The weather was a bit touch and go, but luckily we didn't get rained on too much throughout the day. Along with hitting the majority of the scenic viewpoints/exhibits of historic pit and cliff dwellings located throughout this incredible park, we had the opportunity to tour Cliff Palace (one of the largest dwellings). We stayed at the Lodge in the park for the night and had dinner at the Metate Room, which had stunning views. A major highlight of the trip, for sure! Next up: Four Corners, Monument Valley, Las Vegas, Home!
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While I used to road trip with my family to Colorado fairly often when I was growing up, I hadn't been back in over 20 years, and was psyched to return. We decided to tackle a lot, although I was a bit nervous that the itinerary included some very high altitude spots. I've had altitude sickness before, and it was NOT fun. CW: Skip past the brackets if you don't want a gross altitude sickness story... [One summer in Mammoth Lakes (where I used to play oboe in the summers for several years), I foolishly thought I was well-acclimated enough at 8,000 ft. to go on a hike on a concert day. A few hours before the performance, I started getting really dizzy and vomiting. It was basically impossible to find a sub who could drive all the way to Mammoth on such short notice, so by the grace of adrenaline, I made through the first half, immediately ran outside to vomit again, chugged a Perrier, and somehow made it through the second half. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.] All this to say, was still super excited to revisit CO, and it's delivered! Colorado stops (Pt. 1):
Our next day was filled with many fun activities! I caught up with my longtime friend Kelcie (we go back to high school days) and her husband at Denver Biscuit Company, and had some incredible biscuits the size of a child's head. In the afternoon, we visited our fifth and final (for now) Meow Wolf location, which may have been my favorite one yet! There are three floors to explore and experience some very innovative art - I won't even pretend that I "get it," but just immersing yourself in the space is engaging enough, even if it doesn't fully make sense. I'm excited that they are building a location in LA that should open in the next year or two. In the evening, we turned the kitsch up to 11 and visited Casa Bonita - the legendary Mexican restaurant (popularized and now owned by the creators of South Park) that is also like a mini-Disneyland? There are cliff divers (my favorite part - I added a video below), puppet shows, a mariachi band, balloon animals, an arcade, face-painting, a root beer bar...you name it. While my cheese enchiladas were pretty 'meh,' the salsa and sopapillas were surprisingly on point - but as you may have discerned, the draw is not really the food! We ended with a nightcap at the oldest bar in Denver, My Brother's Bar, which has been open since 1873, and tried to play Drop the Needle to their running soundtrack of classical deep cuts (pretty tough, even for the oboe doctor...) The next day was equally eventful! For Elizabeth, Alex, and myself, our main reason for taking this trip to Denver was to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which has been a bucket list item for many years. A few months ago, we decided to take a gamble and get tickets to see Lord Huron and Molly Lewis at Red Rocks, just hoping that we could make the trip work...and thankfully, it did! Before the show, we fueled up with a big lunch at Sam's No. 3 Diner (est. 1927) and headed to see some very old dino tracks at Dinosaur Ridge (near Red Rocks). When we got back to the car from our hike, much to our chagrin, we realized Elizabeth's car battery had died...but fortunately, AAA was super quick with a jump, and we were back on our way within 30 minutes or so. Not too much worse for wear, we finally made it to Red Rocks - which, if you're not familiar, is a HUGE amphitheater that also has many trails for hikers/runners/etc. For all of its coolness and awesome beauty, Red Rocks is unfortunately not designed with accessibility in mind. If you go, get there early and be ready to walk A LOT - there's a shuttle, but you still have to walk up MANY stairs...no escalators, and very few elevators. I do think that if you have serious mobility issues and advocate for yourself, there are some options, but it seemed to cater mostly to those who were wheelchair bound, and not much else. Other than the schlepping that was required to get around the venue (and some chatty Cathys in our section), we loved Red Rocks, and it was a fantastic evening and show. Molly Lewis is an incredible whistler who opened the show for Lord Huron (psychedelic country folk-rock-ish), who were also wonderful. It was so worth the trip to have this experience at such a magical venue...even if it meant walking close to 15K steps that day...which is less of a pain when you get to do it with good friends :-) Videos: "Lounge Lizard" - Molly Lewis "Crushed Velvet" - Molly Lewis "Hurricane (Johnnie's Theme)" - Lord Huron "La Belle Fleur Savage" - Lord Huron "Not Dead Yet" - Lord Huron
After bidding farewell to Elizabeth (who sadly had to leave us to return to Long Beach), we stopped for lunch in downtown Denver at Ship Tavern, a splendid old pub (est. 1934) inside of the historic Brown Palace Hotel (what a name, huh?). We poked into the Brown Palace (I still can't believe that is the name) and then headed south toward Colorado Springs. We stopped at the Garden of the Gods - a fabulous park, free and open to the public. I wish we could have stayed in the area longer, but a storm was brewing and we still had to drive up the hill to our destination - Cripple Creek (another "I can't believe that is really the name"...will just call it CC from here on). CC is perhaps best known for its gold mining...then, in no particular order - outlaws, prostitution, and gambling. It also has an elevation around 9,500 ft, but I was feeling optimistic about it after having spent the majority of our trip at 6,000-8,000 ft. Ultimately, I was definitely affected and had some moments of really needing to catch my breath, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been coming straight from sea level (do not recommend ever going above more than 6,000 ft from sea level before you've acclimated). What I wasn't as prepared for was having to drive up to CC in rain - and then - sleet. Thankfully we made it just fine, but learned quickly that the higher you go, the more volatile the weather can be in CO (and the iPhone weather app is essentially worthless in CO, too). We stayed at an interesting B&B on the edge of town called the CC Hospitality House - which actually used to be a hospital from 1902-1930, and a nursing home from 1933-1960, until it was finally converted into a hotel in 1963. We are partial to weird hotels that may or may not be haunted - while we didn't have any particularly harrowing encounters as far as paranormal activity is concerned...one certainly notes the vibe of a lingering spirit or two. They also kept the names of each hospital room and have a few of those old-timey wheelchairs to maintain an appropriately creepy aesthetic. The place was actually very nice, though, so it was a net win/worthwhile stay. We visited a number of other historic places in CC, including:
Our next stop was the highest city in the United States - Leadville, CO (elev. 10,154 ft). I was totally enamored by the gorgeous drive up (a running theme in CO), and surprised by how much I loved visiting this little town - practically in the sky! Alex toured the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum while I took a nap (and said I really missed out). The main attraction for us visiting Leadville was the historic Tabor Opera House (known primarily through its association with "Baby Doe" Tabor - who has a fascinating/tragic story). Our guide also had quite a colorful past, and we ended up having a private tour through all of the areas of the theater - including the dressing rooms below the stage! Built in 1879, many famous people have performed or attended performances at the opera house, including Oscar Wilde, John Philip Sousa, Buffalo Bill, and even Harry Houdini - it is still occasionally in use, today. Apparently they even had circus elephants perform here?! Other places we visited in Leadville included:
That's all for now, but will catch up on the rest of Colorado as soon as I can! Next up: Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Ouray, Silverton, Durango, Mesa Verde |
Rachel V.A.Ruminations on a cross-country, open-ended excursion, AKA Archives
July 2025
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