Christmas in the Switzerland of America, Ouray, CO

December 31, 2014

Christmas in the Switzerland of America, Ouray, CO

We "get" Anna and Nic every other Christmas. Two years ago we (the Halffield family) stayed in Lake City, CO, one of our favorite locales, particularly in the winter when you get Lake City all to yourself. This Christmas we chose, Ouray, Colorado, the Switzerland of America. As the crow flies, Ouray is probably only perhaps 25 miles from Lake City, but as the car drives its at least a three hour drive (about 300 miles SW of Denver). Ouray is indeed a beautiful little town (a bit over a thousand folks year round) that is mostly a summer tourist destination, except for the the 4 day ice climbing festival held in January each year.

We rented the Ouray Stone House for a week, and in addition to our family, Matt and Sara (friends of Anna and Nic's, and ours too) joined us for the last few days. Snowy roads made getting there interesting, but made for gorgeous scenery while we were there. Unfortunately, I came down with Type A influenza (confirmed by the mountain medical clinic in Ridgway - thank you Donna for taking me to the clinic instead of going to Telluride with the young crowd) so except for the first few days, I laid low in the house. Kirsten ended up picking up the bug from me (Nic may have had a mile version of it when he arrived - contracted from school no doubt). In spite of our sickness, much fun was had. Lots of evening game playing, delicious food by Donna, trips to Telluride (all the young- uns), Red Mtn. Pass area, the Dallas Divide near Ridgway, and Silverton with some shorter snowshoeing adventures by the healthy ones, and downhill skiing/snowboarding by Colin and Nic at Silverton Mtn, an expert only ski area.

This area is truly beautiful, and we (Don and Donna) are already planning on coming back in a few weeks. Lots of pics mostly taken by Anna.