Ouray Once More

My husband and I decided to drive from our home in Berthoud, Co to visit our long-time friends living in Prescott, Arizona, hopefully before the surrounding mountainous area is visited by more intense heat and monsoon rains. I do like the monsoon season though—when lightning sprays the sky and the rain cools. We lived in Tucson for twelve years, so great memories and nostalgia linger there, monsoons included.

On this two-day road trip, we spent the night in Ouray, Colorado. It is a charming, beautiful mountain town with numerous old buildings from the late 1800’s. The San Juan mountains rise abruptly above the town, literally surrounding it. Waterfalls relieve the mountains of their extremely abundant snowfall this past winter and as we sat on a patio, my husband and I watched a fall gushing out of a cliff. Water is abundant everywhere and the meadows are so moisture soaked and green that everywhere tall grass tickles calves’ bellies. Climate change has become an urgent subject and it seemed as if in Ouray, it was only a myth. 

Nearly twenty years ago, our writing group headed to Steamboat Springs from Tucson to attend a writing conference. We gabbed, joked and on the way, stopped in Ouray for a while to check out the bookstore. It was one of those many terrific times we shared.

Before leaving Ouray with my husband this last time, I visited that same bookstore. It was now at a different location. I purchased a couple books and bookmarks. My heart ached a little, remembering when our writing group was younger. So many years have sped by. So many changes for us all. I’m glad I visited Ouray Bookstore. Sometimes, as we get older, returning to memorable times brings a smile, something we all need as time speeds along much faster than we’d like.