July 2- With the frenetic pace we've been maintaining to get across the country so quickly, today felt a little like a vacation from our vacation. We did a nice leisurely pace from Durango to Ridgeway, passing through some of the most spectacular mountains imaginable. The main stop along the way was the town of Silverton, a "Victorian Mining Town" turned really cool tourist village. We strolled through town, got lattes and hot chocolates, took a stagecoach ride, did some shopping, and found a rum distillery. Happiness abounded.

We also managed to make a reservation to rent a jeep on Sunday, which means we will be able to do a hike up to Yankee Boy Basin, which is only accessible by 4-wheel drive. This is the place you see in the postcards of Colorado with the incredibly rugged scenery. It means staying an extra day in this area, so I think we are going to go to Telluride tomorrow, and skip Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Colorado National Monument, which is what we were going to do on Sunday. But that's a small price to pay to visit what is probably Rob's favorite spot on Earth.

We had made advance reservations at Ridgeway State Park, which turned out to be a very nice spot, with widely spaced camping spots, a lake, playgrounds, and nice views of the mountains. As we were sitting here, a storm passed just to the southeast of us, so we got a gorgeous double rainbow in the evening light.