Ah, beautiful CR 205, La Plata County. Yep, back to visit Ryan again (I think he likes me), this time for 5 days. The two previous days I spent in Santa Fe visiting friends from NC and checkin out the southwestern style gorge, see previous post. The drive from Santa Fe to Durango on 84 was so lovely- yellow, cream & pink mountains and the most beautiful farm land I've seen in the west. 
I arrived on Friday evening, met him at a very special sushi restaurant. Saturday we took a road trip up north on 550 through Silverton, Ouray, & Telluride. Tel-yooouuuu-riiide, love saying that name. They call the strip between Silverton & Ouray The Million Dollar Highway because those mountains where so mineral rich they made somebody a lot money, and some a lot dead. Check out the color in the side of that mountain!! Wow. And the creek bed was so iron rich it made the creek look completely orange. The scenery was gorgeous all the way up to Telluride then back south to Durango. Besides pulling off onto a Site of Interest to eat our Boars Head turkey, smoked Gruyere, raspberries, and spicy brown mustard sandwiches with Boulder chips (the best chips in the world), we had only one stop we planned to make- Montanya rum distillery in Silverton.
Fillin up in the morn, I cleaned the windshield. Telluride, the end of our curvy trip, is about 120 miles from Durango but it takes three hours to drive there. Each town is roughly an hour from the other. 
tightest switch backs I've encountered in CO so far, between Silverton & Ouray
remaining buildings in a mining town vacated mid last century
que color! que minerales! que dolares!
lots o rock & tight valleys between Silverton & Ouray, and no railing
It was Labor Day Biker weekend in the Four Corners area, from Pagosa Springs to Telluride. This is Ouray.
Silverton
Ouray
Silverton No pictures of Telluride, I needed a break from taking pictures. The film festival was going on. We heard Werner Herzog speak, the guy who directed 'Grizzly Man' and 'Cave of Lost Dreams', and the ladies on the gondola told us the film that was creating the most buzz was 'The Artist', a film from Argentina. Anyway, Telluride is adorable and you can see the money everywhere. They have really good art galleries too, refreshingly not southwestern. One exhibit was of original drawings by childrens book illustrators including a couple by Maurice Sendak, 'Where the Wild Things Are', and Jean de Brunoff, 'Babar the Elephant'.
On the way back to Durango we stopped in Ouray to share a burger on the roof of a pub brewery, drink a couple, and sample too little of the local chocolate. The sky clouded over at that time which made being in the middle of those mother peaks even more cozy.
After that we continued south back through Red Mountain Pass & The Million Dollar Highway to Silverton, where we stopped here at Montanya rum distillery.
Thai boxer, so delicious- blueberries, mint,... Ryan can tell you what else
Sun setting in Silverton while we adventure drink. The distillery is on a street one over from the main street, the only paved street in town. All 3 towns are among the most secluded, if not THE 3 most secluded, in Colorado. I was surprised to see that both Silverton and Ouray had baseball diamonds. 
Twilight Peaks
I saw so much beauty that day, I passed out as soon as Ryan unlocked the door to his apartment. Or maybe it was from all the adventure drinking. 
Outside Ryan's local Albertson's a man was roasting hatch green chilis. What else does one do in that situation but buy a 4lb bag? This inspired a cooking frenzy. So in an afternoon Ryan & I made green chili sauce, baked artichokes with gorgonzola & thyme, roasted vegetable frittata, artichoke, pepperoni & green chili pizza, and ricotta with berries & balsamic vinegar reduction for dessert. None of which I had ever made before...which was precisely the whole point.
Make no mistake, this vegetable does not want to be eaten. Blood was drawn from both of us. 
frittata veggies & mr. moon
How handsome. And much less dangerous. 
Frittata Done! Damn that looks good. "You better eat all of this." I left Ryan with the frittata to eat with the green chili sauce for the rest of the week. He said it was delicious and he did eat all of it. 
Just look at that hatch green chili goodness. Roasted everything first: tomatillos, hatch green chilis, jalapenos, red onions & garlic. Then mashed it all together. The food processor is really unnecessary, depending on how you like the viscosity. 
Yeah, Baby, put the green chili on the pizza. Oh my gosh. I never. 
Artichokes ready to be cooled & eaten. The bread crumbs drizzled with olive oil are crispy crisp and the gorgonzola is melted through. Oh my. Thats the balsamic reducing on the back burner. You silky beautiful sauce, you.
Ryan's boss gave us a rare sour beer that made Ryan giddy. Sour beers are one of his favs. It was my first time tasting this kind of beer, and I loved it. It was like champagne & beer mixed together. I wanted a bottle to myself. So yummy & fizzy. 
I don't know why this was such a surprise, but it was like having artichoke dip right in the middle of the artichoke. The rich gorgonzola, the aromatic thyme, the fizzy acidic beer- My Lord that was good eats!
Which to put in my mouth first?
We picked the bones of those artichokes!
The green chili, artichoke, & pepperoni pizza turned out way good too. But after the artichokes & sour beer our taste buds where sated, our bodies just needed more calories...
...and more calories. Behold the ricotta, berries & balsamic reduction. Come to think of it, this dish was very rich & tangy too. We just couldn't get enough flavor. That day will go down in eating history.
After dinner I cut Ryan's hair. It turned out good. I like this deck. It's off the ground 15 or so feet, which is comforting because bear visit the property, and it's a great place to count satellites on clear nights. I have a big appreciation for dark places that are safe & comfortable for laying on my back under many, many stars. 
In the morning after Ryan left for work, and before I left for Denver, I took my time and enjoyed breakfast on the deck. Tea and berries & ricotta on toast. I did the dishes before I left as usual. Attention to all of those living on the coast, I am a good & considerate guest. It was a chilly morning, and later that day I found fall was cooling off Denver as well.
