Ouray, Million Dollar Highway and Colorado National Monument

We spent the night in Ouray, an old mining town that's pretty much boxed in by mountains in every direction. It is appropriately called the Switzerland of America.

Our hotel right next to the river.

The main reason to come here was the Million Dollar Highway which runs from Ouray to Silverton. It's a roughly 25 mile long stretch of road with no guardrails and pretty spectacular views.

There's a moose running in the meadow

Silverton

After reaching Silverton we did a 180 and headed back to Ouray where we continued north towards Grand Junction and the Colorado National Monument. The day was incredibly windy and it took quite a bit of concentration just to keep the car on the road as the high winds pushed from the left side. Sadly they also brought in a whole lot of smoke from the New Mexico forest fires and it kind of ruined the trip as you couldn't see that far and the gusts almost forced you to turn your back to the wind.

The drive to Grand Junction wasn't exactly thrilling

That's how bad the smoke from the New Mexico forest fires was

Even with the high wind, there were two blokes climbing to the top of that pillar in the center. I needed binoculars to even see them, that's how big and far away it actually was