Bayfield, Durango and Silverton with Mum

Mum and I flew back to Denver on Thursday and on Friday we had a quiet day...I gave mum her first Walmart experience, and we pottered around the local area checking out some of the Fall colours.

On the Saturday morning we headed south to Bayfield, where we were staying with Sue and Warren Black (and their 3 kids), Australians on exchange, for the weekend.  It's about a 7 hr drive, but always takes longer when you have to stop to take in the amazing scenery,

 and for a coffee at Fairplay, which is the town SouthPark (the TV show) is based around.  I think the significance of that may have been lost on Mum...and me as well!!

We had done the drive before (but we didn't realise as we have travelled so many kms this year!) but this time it was so different with all the Autumn colours.  It was breathtaking!

We thought about going in to Bonanza and seeing if Little Joe was home....

but changed our minds and instead crossed the "Rio Grande" in all its splendour.

Heading into Pagosa Springs we saw these deer crossing the creek.  We've seen that many deer now, but they are still so photogenic...and when they're in the water they look even more delightful.

We arrived at Bayfield Saturday evening and had tea with the Blacks, a great catchup and off to bed as we had an early start to catch the steam train up to Silverton from Durango. It was a beautiful morning, cold and a little bit overcast.  The train ride takes about 3 hrs to go up and we were able to do the one way trip and Warren picked us up to take us back to Bayfield.  We even had snow falling, the higher we got.  Again, the scenery was beautiful.

Silverton is a little town up in the mountains, catering to a large tourist population that heads up there on the train.  It is so picturesque....old buildings, surrounded by snow capped mountains and lots of interesting little shops.  We had lunch there and walked around the town for a bit.  It was cold!!

Warren drove us back through a couple of mountain passes, which were covered in snow and are so immense.  They seem to be endless.

The colours are really indescribable and photos can't do them justice, but they are truly magnificent at every turn in the road and you always feel like you are on a movie set.

Warren dropped us off in Durango and Stu, Mum and I went our separate ways to look around the town.  It was a Sunday afternoon, so nice and quiet. People were out walking with their dogs ( some dressed bizarrely...the dogs, not the people!!) and I couldn't resist this photo of a little outfit I thought would look a treat on Lua.

And I wasn't even tempted to give these a go...

That evening we went out to a new local restaurant in Bayfield, where the food was delicious and the beer plentiful, then off to bed as we had an early start to head back to Denver the next morning. We were up before the sun as we had planned to do a drive across another mountain pass....it was a longer way home but apparently the views were amazing, so we thought we'd give it a go.  Unfortunately there had been snow the night before,

 and this particular pass is quite treacherous at the best of times, let alone with snow, so we turned back, ending up at our start point 3 hrs later!!

The drive back to the house was just as spectacular, particularly as it included Stuart showing off his enormous muscles....he is so buff!

 and we got to see this..

...the skies and clouds are amazing here in the US and with a Rocky Mountain thrown in as well, you can't go wrong.

So another fabulous weekend was had as we count down to our last few weeks here in the US.  Sue and Warren were so hospitable and we really appreciated that and to be able to show mum some of the state of Colorado in all its glory was great.