The Million Dollar Question

I was walking down Main St. in Ouray this past Saturday when a young couple stopped me.  They both had that magical glow and huge smiles that often characterize visitors to this area.  They asked me how to pronounce the name of the town.  It's your-ray', accent on the 2nd syllable.

They had JUST arrived in town after driving over the infamous Red Mountain Pass.  Yes, Ouray really is on the other end of this pass in the distant valley seen below.

Red Mountain Pass between Silverton and Ouray, known as The Million Dollar Highway

The couple was clearly enamored of the San Juan Mountains and the town of Ouray.  They bombarded me with questions on what to do, what to see, where the natural hot springs pool was, where to eat, etc.  They looked positively transfixed with the beauty that surrounded them.  And rightly so.

Ouray Street Scene

And then came the question.  The million dollar question.  "How do you get to live here???"  I burst out laughing.  That's exactly the same question I asked people on the street, shop proprietors and anyone who would listen back in 1995 during my first visit to the area.

The answer to that question is, in a word, "creatively!" 

Stay tuned: More of my own story coming up.

Fun fact to know: In the book, "Atlas Shrugged", there was a hidden little mountain town called Galt's Gulch where the shakers and movers in society disappeared to after dropping out of the rat race.  That town was actually Ouray.  Ayn Rand spent a great deal of time in Ouray when writing that book and Ouray became the model for Galt's Gulch.