Day 5

Rise and shine…after seeing beautiful towns like Vail along the way, it is hard to imagine that when choosing Ouray, CO as our place to land late after dark, that we’d awake to the most picturesque views ever!! This plus or minus one street town, was noted as the little ‘Switzerland’ in the USA and has been rated amongst National Geographic’s most beautiful. Setting at an elevation of 7500 ft., the 14,000 ft. mountain range surrounds this once little mining town, exceptionally well! Fitting as it may seem, our stay at the 1891 Western Historic Hotel gave us a true glimpse of that time period as well.

No time to waste, headed southwest to Mesa Verde. Getting to the place was a piece of cake, seeing it was quite a challenge. Road construction and a later tour ate up more time than we had expected but a neat side note was that the park ranger taking our 60 person tour group to see the Indian Cliff Palace, selected Sophie as his helper throughout the tour. She did a great job handling life as an Indian squaw.

As we felt a need to adjust our day, God had it all under control, as our next stop to Four Corners, NM was closed and under construction, only allowing us a chance to get snapshots of the gate. Understanding the location where all 4 states come together (CO, UTAH, NM and AZ), was good enough, in and of itself.

The drive into NE Arizona, gave us a new view with the red rocks and canyons surrounding us. Our trip to Monument Valley was great, however the sky was looking rather foreboding. The rain did come. We were amazed at how upon a rather bleak possibility to get down onto the 17 mile trek, an absolutely stunning rainbow cover the sky over the monuments and gave us an awesome realization that God was guiding and directing our every step. Thank you Lord!!

On to Page, AZ to spend the night before day 6…off to another memorable day!!

Posted by: Cheryl