Home in Ridgway Colorado

Our next stop in our quest to stay cool this summer is Ridgway State Park.  We picked Ridgway because it is close to several cool mountain towns that we would like to explore--Ouray and Telluride, and the majestic mountains that surround them.  The first evening after we got the motor home settled in, we started exploring our new home.  From the viewpoint from our hilltop campground, we could look south to the San Juan Mountains over Ridgway Lake.  Right in the middle of our view is Mount Sneffels, at 14,150 feet.  We are already planning a hike to visit that area.

As we drive down the hill to the visitor center, we see the Cimarron Mountains.  We can pick out Courthouse Mountain in the center of the picture, and Chimney Mountain to the left.

Our first day was a little trying, as we couldn't get the motor home leveled in the site that we had reserved.  We worked for an hour trying to get set up, and finally ended up at the visitor's center to see if there were any other options.  They were great to us, and found an even better site that worked.  We are quite comfortable, and excited to have a good telephone signal and television.  That is a combination that we have learned to not take for granted!  And if you get nice mountain views on top of that, we know we will be quite comfortable here.

There are also some great  trails in the state park, and we have now explored all of them.  We rode our bikes on a trail that ran the length of the lake, but on a ledge high above the water.  The incline to get to that ledge was a killer ride, but Denisa is not too proud to walk her bike up killer inclines.

There were some interesting signs on that ride.  Denisa was content to stay on the "designated trail," but of course Mark had to stand right behind that hazardous sign to prove that he is living life on the edge.

Another thing we like about our state park is the deer population that we share it with.  These two bucks welcomed us home last night.

The state park is just four miles from the town of Ridgway, and it took us four days to finally make the trip south to that town.  We went to church in Ridgway, but we couldn't help but notice all the signs advertising marijuana in this tiny town.

We're not sure about the differences between "top shelf" and "recreational" and we don't know what it takes to be a "medical dispensary" like at the Fiddler's Green.  But we now recognize that a green plus-sign means marijuana.  We read an article on the new Colorado marijuana law, and found that towns could independently decide if they wanted to make it illegal in their jurisdiction.  It looks like Ridgway, however, has embraced the drug.  In our two months in Colorado, we have noticed just a few of these marijuana retailers, so it was certainly surprising to see so many in such a tiny town.  It appears that Ridgway is high (and now we're not talking elevation).

Ridgway does have a claim to fame that we can approve of, however.  When the original movie, "True Grit" was filmed in 1969, many of the scenes from the old western were shot in and around Ridgway.  John Wayne played a U.S. Marshall with an eye patch named Rooster Cogburn, and we toured town to find bits of movie memorabilia.  In one of the city parks we found Rooster's paddy wagon that he used for transporting bad guys in the movie.

Fort Smith, Arkansas was the setting for the movie, so one of the buildings on Main Street became the "Fort Smith Saloon."  It looks like the saloon is selling more hats than drinks these days.

Three gallows were built in the city park for the hanging scene on the hundred year old trees.  You can tell from the way the trees were towering over Mark that they could hang 'em high.  Across the park is the True Grit Cafe, and we ate dinner there one day.  I'm not sure that the rough and tough cowboys in the film would have approved of the daily special that we ordered--shrimp and spinach in creamy tomato sauce over asiago cheese ravioli.





They added a cupola to the fire station building for the movie, and it has stayed since 1969.  The fire station is now an artist's gallery.

We watched excerpts from the movie, and it was fun to match the locations.  The climax of the movie was shot in a beautiful mountain valley.  We were relieved that there were no shoot-outs in the valley when we were visiting.  Instead, we enjoyed the view of Chimney Peak and Courthouse Mountain that most movie-watchers probably missed while watching John Wayne put the reins in his teeth so he could fire two guns while riding at full speed through the valley.  It was in this valley that the outlaw taunted John Wayne with, "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."

These are two of the peaks we can see from our campground!  We will be at Ridgway State Park for twelve days, and we have a long list of places to explore.  We just heard that the Grammy Awards are actually made in Ridgway, so we will try to find out more about that too.  We are always surprised at the fun things to do if we just take the time to find them as we wander around.