The Greatest Adventure of then all

 I have procrastinated writing this due to school, work and other things but I find that today, at this very time, I am free to do it, so here we go! This greatest adventure began on Tuesday of last week when my better half, known as Beauty, flew into Salt Lake to join me on a joint adventure to......... yup, Ouray Colorado. We left Wednesday morning bright and early and after 7 hours or so of driving, arrived in Paradise. Our 1st stop was at the courthouse of Ouray where we purchased our marriage license. Colorado is unique in that you can buy the license and then just sign it and presto chango, you are hitched. Simple as pie. We took a quick peek at the courtroom above the clerks office just because it was the place where John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn in True Grit and testified before the judge. Kinda cool walking down the famous staircase where Mattie 1st confronted him.

After the quick tour, we headed up Yankee Boy basin to sign our papers at Twin Falls. I didn't add the fall foto on here cuz I brain farted and this thing can be a pain in the ass trying to arrange things. So if you want a copy, just ask and I can email it to you. This is our foto taken by a nice couple at Box Canyon Falls. So you can see for yourself, Beauty and the Beast! After said papers were signed, we headed back down the canyon to our wedding feast. Oh it was a good one. We ate at the Outlaw and wow..... the place never disappoints you. It was the most I have ever spent on a dinner, but it was worth it. Gotta love a good cut of prime rib! After that, it was back to the hotel. 

 Wait, I did add the falls..... top foto. I swear I hate this damn program. I just lost a foto. Anyways, Thursday morning dawned bright and beautiful and we headed up engineer pass to Animas Forks. Animas Forks is a preserved ghost town with quite a few buildings around and some great foto ops. After that it was up Piciuyne gulch to search for another small town. We found it, got some great fotos and managed to sneak up on a Rock Chuck dozing on an old collapsed building. It was fun to film him till I tripped and woke him up. Took off like a bat outta hell. We went over the pass into California gulch, climbed out at California pass then took Corkscrew down to the main road. Tonight's dinner was at a local pizza/sandwich joint. I had a Reuben minus the sauerkraut. Not very good. Then it was back to the hotel where I took a test for school online and aced it. 

 Friday was again, an incredibly beautiful day. We were up and out the door by 8 heading to Black Bear Pass. I love this trail. It's not about your vehicle, but your mental capabilities. We video taped most of it and for the most part its a great film. We did have one spot of video challenge, but we recovered and all went well. Just before the trail turns nasty, we ran into the guy above. He was not the least bit interested in us, but more so the brush he was eating. I did get him to turn his head for the foto, but then it was right back to eating. We continued on and easily conquered the famous stairs and moved on to the switchbacks. They were a piece of cake till number 7 I believe. Since last July, there has been a small land slide about 30 inches

high that makes that switchback a total bitch. But, old yellow made quick work of it and we pressed on. As usual, we skipped Telluride and headed over to Ophir pass. The town itself is awesome and I would love to live there. The pass itself  is steep but the views of the fall colors was awesome. We came down and headed into Silverton. I showed Em the canyon of cable cars and she thought it was cool. Didn't like the idea of having to ride one to work but I think it would have been fun! Beats what the foto above shows. The miners of this mine had to crawl down these ladders to get to work..... and its a long way down if you slip. Saturday was a return to Yankee Boy and some trails I hadn't run. Governor basin was very interesting. There were some other trails we skipped by and went partially up Imogene to a beautiful fall. Don't know the name but is sure was a nice place to hang out for a few. Dinner that night was at O'Briens pub for the 2nd night in a row. The food is great and the price is right! We finally made it to the hot springs Saturday night and they sure felt good. Wish I lived down that way again. That was our adventure. I had 2 more fotos, but blog spot ate them and I am not gonna do this again. So ends my greatest adventure ever..... I couldn't have asked for a better partner in crime and a better place to do it! I love ya Em........ Jeep on my friends!