Morning run on Flagstaff’s great urban trail system.
Then, left around 9 am for Durango via Monument Valley. What an incredible drive...and so satisfying that it was relatively empty!
I went on to Mexican Hat (see the rock formation below) and this tiny two lane road called Ismay Trading Post Road in Utah and County Road G in Colorado. Starts just around Aneth, UT and ends at the outskirts of Cortez, CO. Both were incredible, aside from not great road surface for the first 10 miles of the Colorado portion.
Driving this far without lunch means it’s time for a sugar-caffeine bomb at the Cortez Starbucks. Then, a quick jaunt into Mesa Verde National Park for a picture…park pass makes useless 10 minute detours easy, plus Ilse ticked over 10,000 miles in the park!
I’ve done the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde before, so didn’t need a ton of time. Also have done Monument Valley before, but wanted the pics…I’m not old, but old enough that the prior trip had actual photograph pics and I don’t have them! Get into Durango with time to wander around a bit and have an early dinner at the hotel’s beer garden on the Animas River. Durango is home to the very, very narrow gauged Durango-Silverton railway (3 feet tracks). It's fun if not done before (I've also done this). Aside from one truck that sprayed some stuff on her, Ilse wasn’t harmed and is so-far without issues…fingers crossed.
