Telluride to Leadville, 264 Miles

We followed this little guy quite a while. It’s best not to pass on twisty, slow roads.

What a ride! There’s elevation, yes. Telluride was 8,792 feet above sea level and Leadville is 10,200 feet (Machu Picchu is 7,972, I think). Sam was concerned so he got out the Triple A travel booklet and read while I drove about the upcoming Leadville: “Said to be the highest incorporated city in the country, Leadville lies at an altitude that is rigorous even by Rocky Mountain standards so it is suggested all women remove their bras so they don’t explode.” Be forewarned.

They are for rent at Blue Mesa.

Spontaneous Stop #6 / Blue Mesa

But there’s a lot more that is different between the two towns separated by only 264 miles.  There is the Continental Divide Monument where droves of people stop for pictures. The leader of a scout troop took our picture.

I wanted to put the photo with Sam in it, but I couldn’t find it.

Spontaneous Stop #7 /

It didn’t look so great, but it was. At the turn-off at Poncha Springs from Highway 50 to 285.

Tony’s Restaurant

Mesa Verde was thousands of years old, Telluride is today, Leadville is on a working day living in the 1950s and earlier and darn proud of it. Its stores center around antiques on a main street that has original store fronts. You can find John Wayne lunch buckets, hardware, and a thing or two I didn’t think was still legal.

What hardware do you need that was made before 1900?

Remember those microbrews in Cortez and Telluride? Well, there may have been one but we found Quincy’s, a local steak house that features a one item menu. Steak Dinner. When I walked in the door the old wooden floor squeaked “Hi, did you find gold?,” the at least fifty-year-old wallpaper said, “What is fashion? I am timeless,” and the waitress must have taken the saying to

Someone still makes these little candies, and they are sold in Leadville.

heart I saw earlier in the hardware store: Treat yourself with your mind, treat others with your heart.”

Since I’m not a meat eater, and the Vegetarian Lasagne didn’t sound good, we ordered two six ounce filet mignon dinners at $8.95 each. Yes, $8.95 each that included garden salad (everyone gets ranch dressing), the steak wrapped in bacon (Sam got mine), baked potato (swimming in your choice of sour cream, butter or both), and bread. Two dinners, one martini, two wines totaled $30.00 before tip. This is what happens at 10,200 feet. What a ride!

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