Ouray!

Today is Saturday, June 21 and it's the first day of summer.  Wow, time flies!  It's been two weeks since we were in Ouray, Colorado, but my memory of our visit is still vivid.  This was a memorable way to spend our last evening on the road.  Seemed appropriate to end our "coast to coast" journey in the mountains, since we started at the Pacific Ocean.  I love the ocean and Randy's loves the mountains and we've experienced the best of both on this adventure.

After our wild ride on HWY 550, (Saturday, June 7) we arrive in Ouray, Colorado and I'm so happy! Although the mountains were beautiful, I also know ahead of us is a wonderful hotel, complete with hot tubs that are filled with the local hot springs. Heaven!

We stayed at Box Canyon Lodge and Hot Springs which is very nice and only a few blocks from the Historic Downtown. It's biker friendly too! There were a lot of Harley's in Ouray. I'm excited to stay here and I really can't believe that this is our very last night of our trip!






We unpacked the bikes and walked to the Downtown which was only about 10 minutes away. However, I was huffing and puffing, the elevation of 10,000+ and the fact that I hadn't really exercised in six weeks was getting to me!

We ended up at the Ouray Brewing Company and went immediately to the outside deck. Great view and OK beer. We planned on eating there, but decided that it was too expensive. A burger was $12.50 and it only came with potato chips! It's a nice place with a great view but the vibe just wasn't working for us so we moved on.







It was the Stanley Cup finals and we headed over to the Irish Pub as they had great ratings on YELP and a they had a TV. However, the other Ouray Brewery caught our eye and we decided to forgo hockey for a few minutes to grab a quick beer. We ventured into "OurAyle House Brewery" a small brewery with a cabin-like interior.


The owner who is known as "Mr. Grumpy Pants" barely acknowledged our presence. At first I thought "great, another curmudgeon just like the Silverton guy".   I soon learned that the bartender acted like a first-rate jerk, worse than the guy in Silverton.


However, turns out "Hutch", who is proud of his grumpy status, turns out to be a pretty great guy. He's also the owner and he's just like his brewery, quirky, interesting and in a weird way, comfortable.  Maybe it was the beers I had, but I ended up thinking he was OK.  I think too, he likes bikers and we fit that bill perfectly. 

Every person who comes into the Brewery, experiences Hutch's quirky routine. Upon arrival, in a very grumpy-like manner, he points to the beer list on a chalk board, then to the 3 glass sizes, and tells you he only accepts cash. His glass sizes are crazy and they start with "Toddler" which is very small, "His", which is medium and "Hers" which is very large. Funny to watch guys order "Hers"! He does all of this while sitting on a swing, made of climbing apparatus, which glides the length of his bar. Once we experienced his routine, it was fun to watch him put others through the paces.




He only serves beer and after a few "Toddlers" , I needed something more substantial than barley, hops and water. Note, that Randy was enjoying a few "Hers".  Next door is a burger joint named "Maggie's" and what a fabulous find!  Only $10.00 for a 1/2 pound burger and a huge order of fries. I ordered the Serrano Burger and it was delicious! Roasted serranos, cheddar cheese and a hand-formed beef patty. Randy and I spilt the burger which was a perfect compliment to our beers.




The Ourayle House Brewery is fabulous--- you can't take beer out but you can bring in food. Hutch, the curmudgeon, was a hoot! He has a degree in urban planning and one day decided to move to Ouray and open his teeny-tiny brewery and make beer. He was the first brewery in Ouray, until the "other" guys moved in. I think he is Randy's idol. He named it "OurAYLE or Ouray-le -- get it? Clever and quirky, just like Hutch.

We ended up spending the evening there and loving it! If you visit Ouray...go to Ourayle House Brewery, have a beer then go next door to Maggie's, order a burger, bring it back and order another beer. You will have a great time!

Arriving back at our hotel we are anticipating a wonderful soak in one of the six hot tubs. Well, unfortunately we also encountered a group of very rude people, who were hogging the tubs. There were 3 levels of tubs, slightly warm, warm and hot. Those in the lower levels, laughed at us when we arrived and said "good luck in finding a spot" and then told us to go the the very top. So we did.  It was empty because it was really hot almost too hot to enjoy.  But we did!  A good, quick soak.  



The next morning, enjoying the middle level tub, I read a sign that says "Please share the tubs and limit your time to 15 minutes per soak". Obviously the people who were enjoying the tubs the night before couldn't read otherwise I'm sure they would have shared the tub with us or others. Either that or they were just extremely rude.  Probably both!  The thing I've learned in life, is we all need to remember what we learned in Kindergarten: share and be nice. Those rude people obviously can't read, and maybe didn't learn anything in Kindergarten!

What I learned from our Ouray adventure... visit the hot tubs early in the afternoon and again in the morning. After your early evening soak, walk downtown and enjoy the fresh air and historic mining town ambiance. Then hit the Ourayle House Brewery for a beer, Maggie's for a yummy burger and just stay put hanging out with Hutch. I can guarantee you'll have great beer and a fabulous burger. You'll need to take your chances on Hutch; you might catch him in a good grumpy mood or you might get him in a bad grumpy mood. Either way it will be an experience!

Ouray was a fabulous find! Historic downtown, hiking, fishing, biking, hot tubs and if you're into rock climbing - this is the place. In the winter it's the ice climbing capital of the world! Amazing place! If it wasn't so cold in the winter, this might be a great place to live.