Ouray, Colorado

The other day I came across some pictures of a trip my husband and I took back in 1968. We had flown to Denver, spent a few days with his sister and then drove through Colorado to the Grand Canyon, then California and Disneyland. We took basically the same Colorado route we had taken about three years earlier.

On the earlier trip, we passed through the town of Ouray Colorado which was basically a ghost town. The only life we saw was an old woman in a rocking chair on a porch and some tumbleweed that tumbled across the road. This scene stuck in my mind because it seemed so typical of the Old West. There was even a livery stable.

On our second trip through Ouray, we could hardly believe our eyes. The town was transformed. It was very lively and busy. Since it was getting late, we decided to stop for the night. We got a room at the Hotel St. Elmo on Main Street. This was a very quaint hotel, they only had a few rooms. The hotel was built in 1898, but it was very neat and clean. As we were checking in, the owner told us that in the fall, they would be filming the movie TRUE GRIT with John Wayne, Glen Campbell and Kim Darcy.

We went to dinner at one of the restaurants which was very busy. A woman who was eating alone asked us if we would like to join her. After our typical New York reaction of suspicion we joined her. She was from California, but she was thinking of moving to Colorado because California was getting two crowded.

I wish I had had a digital camera at the time so I could share those photos with you, but, alas, the digital age had not begun. Some day I hope to scan those photos into my computer, but that day is not now.

I have some good memories of that trip.