Telluride/Ouray

Well, for once I am actually posting the pictures I promised..

Emily and I had today off (I'm not sure why we still have a Columbus day, but it's nice to have a day off), so we decided to go on a trip. After much deliberation, and fruitless searches for cheap hotels in a number of locations (within 8 hours driving distance) we found a room in Cortez Colorado. It held many attractions or us. One, the cheap hotel. Two, it is within an hour of Durango and Telluride. Three, it is only 4.5-ish hours away.

So, we get to the hotel without trouble or lostness. It's a pink motel crammed in beside a restaurant called Nero's (who would name a retaurant after Nero???) The room was rather large (good) and rather stained (bad). By stained, I mean the carpet looked like a church carpet after a few years, the walls had who knows what on them, and the sheets may not have been what you would call white. It also smelled like a mix between stale smoke, hotel room (they all have a smell), and alcohol. So, we drove to the nearby SuperWalmart (where the local teens were hanging out playing hide and go seek because, as we soon discovered, there is nothing else to do in Cortez) where we purchased some candles and hand sanitizer.

We spent about 20 minutes driving around town trying to find the rest of the town. Not ahving any luck, we pull into the Sonic and ask the voice at the sign, Is there anything to do in theis city? The voice obviously sensing the urgency of this question replies, Hold on a minute I'll be right there. Out comes a middle aged man covered in tattoos and piercings. He gets up to the car and the tattoos are all of disney and peanuts characters. He tells us, Yes this really is all of the city and there is no more.

I like meeting people.

After a night without much sleep I wake up in the morning to see cockroaches scattering on the walls. We leave.

The drive to Telluride was gorgeous, the leaves were beautiful.



(Yes, we match, and No, not on purpose)

So we get to Telluride and end up riding on the gondola with a pastor carrying a guitar who leads a service on the mountain every sunday after his church meets. His name is Tree. The service was amazing. There were about 10 or so of us sitting there looking out over Telluride and these huge mountains singing songs to God about His love and His creation. Pastor Tree gave a short message on a verse in Isaiah and told us about the "Good Shepherd" paintings you'll see around. He said that when a lamb wanders from the herd the shepherd has to follow it for hours until it is so worn out it literally falls down. We all know that image of Jesus walking with a lamb across his shoulders, but what I didn't know was that a lamb won't stay on the Shepherd's shoulders if all of its legs are working. the shpeherd actually has to break the lamb's front leg in order to carry it back to the flock. The pastor said that if you look, in the paintings the lamb's leg is actually broken. Then the shepherd talks to the lamb the whole way back and the lamb never forgets the shpeherd's voice after that. Also, the front leg that the shpeherd breaks heals faster than any of the other legs.

Something to think about huh?

Here's a pic of the church, a few of the ladies were from Austen, TX; a couple of them were from Telluride, and the older man is also from Telluride. He actually climbs the mountain every week with his dogs and never misses a Sunday. I made friends with Peanut, the golden retriever in the back. He kept me warm :).


We spent the afternoon in Telluride and Emily managed to end up on the front page of the paper the morning as the 'quote of the day'. We stopped at a gas station just outside of the town this morning and she came out of the station with the paper and her picture at the top of the front page. Too funny. We also found a few things in the Free box. A box of stuff you can take for free. I found a shirt and a large, foam Woody the Cowboy hat for James (told him I'd get him something for covering my shift)

We stayed the night with Julie's parents who own an RV park by Ouray, and spent this morning there. We had a deep discussion about absolutes and submission. I decided to become a nun. Submitting is a scary thing, and a hard thing. I realized I need to re-evaluate and study what the Bible says about all of that, and what it would look like in a marriage. So.. I think there's good work for nuns in India... No, but seriously, I've got questions, and I don't think I like this concept very much.. no one said following God was easy.

We managed to find a little outlet store that sells goods from around the world AND the man was selling everything for dirt cheap because it's the end of the season. Quite exciting.

And now, I need a shower. badly.
Blessings.