Sunstones in Plush Oregon

Hunting sunstones has been on our to do list for several years since a fellow rockhound showed us a bag of  faceted stones ablaze in the sunlight.  So here we are in Oregon at the Double Eagle Mine screening for sunstones.

Dig

Dump

Screen

Eureka

A successful day

After 20 miles of dirt and gravel road we headed for the local carwash,   They asked us to use the outside hose as we would leave mud on the inside carwash.

Flora and Fauna

Pronghorns crossed the road in front of our car

A field of carrots (going to seed)

Good Sam Rally, Redmond Oregon

We decided to attend the rally when we saw the entertainment lineup - Vince Gill, Bobby Vinton, and Peter Noone (Herman's Hermits).  Since we attended an earlier rally this year, we decided to volunteer and get free camping.  So the first three days we spent 5 hours a day parking RVs - aprox 3,000 rigs; then we ushered for 3 of the concerts.  Fortunately the parking days were cool and dry. That kept us pretty busy.

The crack in our windshield continued to expand, so the rally provided an excellent opportunity to replace the windshield.  They came to our site and removed the windshield, put in the new one, and moved the registration and inspection stickers.

Removing the windshield

It's gone

The crack

The concert arena was outdoors - the bleachers seated 3000, with a roof, but open on sides. In front of the bleachers were 3000 chairs.  The Gill concert was delayed because of a thunderstorm.   Everyone got soaked; but everybody stayed.  6000 people tried to squeeze into the bleachers.   Eventually the concert started and Vince was wonderful.  Bobby and Peter were also great concerts.  The final three days were wet - still cool, but lots of rain.  I just forgot to take pictures.

Flora and Fauna

A nest of Ospreys on the fairgrounds

Time to check on the babies

OK, guess I'll feed them

Mom, Dad and two youngins

The Million Dollar Highway

Charlie has wanted to visit Ouray since he discovered it was the village Ayn Rand described in "Atlas Shrugged", and since we were in the neighborhood.    And also because the Million Dollar Highway is legendary to all RVers.   So we hit two bucket list items with one trip.   We left the RV at the park and drove the Million Dollar Highway in the Jeep.  Saw some RVs on it, and we congratulated ourselves that  we were smarter than they.  The MDH is about 30 miles in length - a section of Rte 550 between Silverton and Ouray.  Took us well over an hour to traverse the hundreds of S curves.  Lots of snow still up there.   Ouray is a neat little village, we would have liked to explore, but settled for lunch at the brewery when the rains began.  Ducked into a rock shop on our way back to the car.

Ouray (and Hooray, we made it)

Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

We took the steam train from Durango to Silverton in an open air car.  It was a beautiful sunshiny day in Durango.

3-1/2 hours later in Silverton it was thunder and lightening and the streets flooded.   The shops were loaded with ponchos and sweat shirts so I guess they get a lot of rain up there. On the return trip we donned jackets and wrapped our newly purchased ponchos around us and our cameras.   It was a long 3-1/2 hours.  Durango was dry so we had dinner on the patio of a local hotel.

Animas River

Taking on water for the boiler

One of many water falls

An old mine

Silverton at last

Some strange things along the way

Zip line acrobat

Nuff said

Flora and Fauna

The largest and prettiest thistles I have ever seen

Saw some mountain sheep, snapped this

Four Corners Monument

FCM is not terribly impressive.  We drove down, had our picture taken, checked out the tribal merchandise, ate some Indian Fry Bread (Yum), and drove back.  Stopped at the Ute Mountain Casino for a couple of hours which made the trip worthwhile.

  I have one foot in Utah and one inArizona, Charlie has one in New Mexico and the other in Colorado 

Mesa Verde NP

Our Grand Circle tour is now complete.  Mesa Verde is filled with Anasazi ruins (or to be politically correct, Ancestral Puebloan ruins) and it is as incredible as the rest.   The park contains over 4500 archeological  sites (600 of which are cliff dwellings) -- we missed a few.  The tour begins with a 15 mile drive from the entrance criss-crossing the front the mesa until your reach the top (8500+ feet) , a trip that takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  Seems to get shorter each time.  Top speed limit is an occasional 45mph, but most of the time 15-20 is the limit.

It is a 15 mile drive ( highest point 8572 feet)

Square Tower House

House of Many Windows

Sptuce Tree House

Cliff Palace was a ranger lead tour.  We hiked down a hundred feet of fairly steep metal stairs and then up a ladder to tour the ruins.

 

One of the Kivas (meeting rooms) in Cliff Palace

Cliff Palace

Then we had to climb back up -  three 10 foot ladders and some very narrow stone stairs.

Not my best view

Flora and Fauna

Yucca (fruit is edible) 

Thistle

Feral horses roam the park

Deer grazing on top of Spruce Tree House

Young male mule deer