5 "Spur of the Moment" places you have to see!
Have you ever driven the same route to and from a specific destination each time you traveled to that place? Every time we travel to visit my family in California, we take the same route. I-70 west to 15 south, stop in Las Vegas for the night. Next day, continue on 15 south to 58 west and so forth until we reach the coast of California. We have never really considered venturing off the beaten path and taking the road, or roads, less traveled.
WELL! This trip, we shook things up a bit. We knew we were going to be in Denver before heading to California and had talked about heading South then West and doing some site seeing along the way. Taking into consideration that the dog was going to be accompanying us, that idea was put on the back burner.
It wasn’t until we were on C470 heading toward I-70 to take our usual route, that the back burner heated up. At the last minute, literally, we took the 285 off-ramp and headed towards Fairplay, CO., which is when the adventure begins.
Come along with us and experience the 5 “Spur of the Moment” sites we stopped to see.
Growing up in California, sure you expect there to be sand at the beach. If you live in a desert region, absolutely you are going to encounter sand. But at the base of a large mountain range, in the middle of Colorado, this just blows my mind!
From the visitors center, we did have to cross Medano Creek to get to the Dunes. With its heaviest flow occurring late May to early June, we were thankful to only have gotten our feet wet.
And no photo op would be complete without a gymnastics pose. Here is #1. . . .
BUT OH HOW MAJESTIC!
I’m just going to let the breath taking enormity of this place do all the talking.
A repeat visit is in the making
We concluded that on our next visit, we will most likely have to stay a week. Maybe longer.
With a camp ground located near the Visitors center, they make it easy to stay longer than just a few hours. Thumbing through the visitor guide we were given when we entered the park, there is so much more to do that requires more than 2-3 hour visit. There are back country and local trails for hiking, events and programs to attend, Medano Pass Primitive road (4WD) to travel and camp along, not to mention hiking the Dunes themselves and sand sledding or boarding back down.
Oh yes! A repeat visit is definitely in the making.
Spur of the Moment #2
Treasure Falls
Back on HWY 285/160, we headed over Wolf Creek Pass to get to our sleep destination, Durango.
The drive itself was spectacular. Colossal mountains over looking the green valley below.
After stopping at a turn off to take photos of the mountains, as you come around the last switchback on HWY 160, you come upon Treasure Falls. They’re just all of a sudden there! It truly is a spur of the moment decision to stop and take a look. You have about 10 seconds to pull into the parking lot. Thankfully there was no traffic in the opposite direction, so the decision to make that left turn was easy.
There is a legend of treasure buried deep within the falls and that is why it is called Treasure Falls.
Allowing yourself 30-45 minutes at this stop, you can hike the 1/4 mile trail, ascending roughly 300 feet to get a closer look at the falls. Since we had the dog, and there were quite a bit of people on the thin trail, we didn’t make the climb. But we know where they are. Next time. And maybe we can spend a little extra time scouting around for the legendary chest of gold.
So after that quick detour, we made it to Durango where we stopped for the night. During dinner, we reminisced about the Sand Dunes and how awesome that site was to see, and how cool Treasure Falls was, just right there, off the side of the road.
For dinner, the hubby of course chose the most healthy, carb friendly item he could find on the menu. Tayler, surprisingly enough, ordered healthy as well with a grilled chicken Caesar salad. Only to negate the healthiness by adding a piece of banana cream pie to the mix. Me on the other hand, decided I was on vacation and had Parmesan crusted chicken which came with a side salad and a dollop of mashed potatoes. Something I haven’t had in quite awhile since being on the low carb band wagon with the hubby. Well, I leaped off this band wagon with flying colors when I enjoyed a piece of coconut cream pie! It was SO yummy.
Spur of the Moment #3
This is really a quick stop. A total tourist attraction in that you have to stand in line to take any photos. But what is truly a trip about this stop, is that you can shop in four different states within 30 minutes. As each state corner fans out, you have a line of merchants, as you can see in the background. It’s fun to tell people I went shopping in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah all in the same day.
Taking HWY 160 from Durango, heading south from Cortez, you will come to the Four Corners Monument. It can be a spur of the moment decision to stop if you weren’t originally planning on it since it is right there off the highway.
And then there is our Gymnast pose #2
Spur of the Moment #4
(yea, I know exactly what you’re thinking…what on earth?)
Elephant's Feet
Located along Highway 160, at Tonalea some 20 miles east of Tuba City, you will run into these two lonely sandstone towers. The Navajo call them “Elephants Feet”.
It had been several hours since out stop at Four Corners. The dog was getting restless and we all could use a stretching of the legs. So as we were coming around the bend, we were discussing “at the next rest stop” and BOOM, there they were. So of course, you know we had to stop.
As we were walking to them and discussing what on earth these were, the nice lady selling jewelry told us they are named Elephant’s Feet. Yep, I can see it.
This was a much more entertaining stop than your regular ol’ rest stop. This was truly a unique spur of the moment stop.
Spur of the moment #5
Yep, you guessed it!
This destination truly has no room for words.
All truth be told, we actually knew we were going to stop here. I mean, if you are traveling HWY 160 South, then head West on 64, you know that’s where you are going to end up. Lol.
I list this as a spur of the moment stop, because we were only able to spend two hours there.
But what a two hour stop it was!
After our excursion around the Grand Canyon, South Rim, we headed to Flagstaff, AZ for the night. The Grand Canyon certainly tuckered Tonka out.
A repeat visit is certainly in the making for this stop as well. Two hours, certainly, is no where near enough time to take in all that the Grand Canyon has to offer. We think a two week stay is more appropriate.
We did eventually make it to our scheduled destination, California.
In Conclusion
If you ever find yourself in Colorado heading West, and you decide you want to venture off the beaten path, you might want to consider this route:
HWY 285 West/South. 17 South is the detour to the Great Sand Dunes. From Alamosa, 285/160 West will take you over Wolf Creek Pass, which then turns into 160, continue West into Durango. HWY 160 from takes you straight through 4 corners and into Arizona. Continue on a South/Westerly direction and just outside Tuba City are the Elephant’s Feet. Stay on 160 to the 89 junction, take it South to 64 West and you will find yourself at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
There are a couple additional stops along that route you might also consider. Mesa Verde National Park, west from Durango just outside of Cortez. Monument Valley, bordering Arizona and Utah off HWY 160.
As with any trip, planned or not, the spur of the moment sites are the ones you remember the most.
These all look so fun but the Grand Canyon has been on my list for awhile. Would love to visit someday.
Taking the alternate routes can definitely lead to some fun adventures. This was a great read, and the pictures really helped us to follow along with your adventures. Thanks for sharing!
I live in Colorado and have family in Southern California. I can attest that these are all AWESOME places to visit!
I LOVE road trips with spontaneous stops! How fun! And it all looked so amazing! Those dunes especially…..
LOVED this post! Great impulsive choices!!
The pictures are absolutely breathtaking! I love the mountains and waterfalls. They are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing!.
What fun spur of the moment trips! We’ve only been to the Great Sand Dunes of the ones on your list. I’d love to make it to the falls as well.
We’ve been to the Grand Canyon but we’ll definitely have to check out the other places too.
Beautiful pictures! If I ever get out that way I’d love to check these all off my list.
Oh my goodness, this sounds like it was fun! I’ve actually been to the Dunes and the Canyon (several years ago now)! I camped at the Dunes for a couple of nights with friends and then we tried sledding down the sand. It did NOT work but it was fun to try, haha! And, although I technically have been to the Canyon, it was on my way to…somewhere…Vegas? Salt Lake?…I don’t remember :(…and was literally a last-minute decision. So we got there just as the sun was setting. Must go back when we have more than an hour of daylight, haha!
These destinations look wonderful! May have to put a few on our list.
I still want to visit the Grand Canyon one day! I’m glad you all made it everywhere safely!