Silverton, Colo.

Whoa weekends around here lately. Read that sentence REALLY fast the way I just sounded it out in my head as I typed. As if you just drank four cups of coffee back-to-back in a quick and consecutive fashion. Did you do it? Welcome to my brain, folks!

We have been on the war path with our weekends these past several weeks. It’s almost like we are trying to conquer every minute with decisive action. But fun action. Delightful action even. Just decisive. This past one we photographed a wedding on Copper Mountain, then drove an additional five hours to Silverton, Colorado, to catch the very tail end of the Hardrock 100 endurance race. (Here’s some words on that monumental endeavor from @danielpetty.) Then the next morning after closing down coverage of said race we drove seven hours back to Denver. We spent more time in the car than we did out of it, but that’s what tunes and incredible gas mileage are for, right?

This upcoming weekend gets even more ridiculous, but more on that later. (Pray for us, guys. We’ve worked with crazier schedules before, but this one is up there. Top three easy.)

So, Silverton! Funny little Silverton. To get there (well, one of the ways to get there) you go over Red Mountain Pass which is spectacular and terrifying. We did it at about 11 p.m. after a significant rain storm passed over soaking the roads and making the sheer drop-off that loomed directly beside me even more nerve-wracking. I’ve never been terribly scared of heights, but when you can see nothing but inky darkness dropping immediately off just feet from your window on a very twisty and wet road with no guardrail to speak of, that’s enough to spook even the most resolute.

But, spoiler alert, we survived!

We woke up to this beautiful window light. Well, I did. Dan had been awake since 5:30 a.m. to see the final runners cross the finish line before the 48-hour cutoff/disqualification time. Can you imagine? Truly, I cannot. I’ve tried, and even with my rather vivid imagination I cannot fathom being on your feet, scaling mountains and floating across creeks for 48 hours.

Our hotel, the Grand Imperial, was indeed grand. And also moderately haunted. You can quote me on that. It simply was, it’s a vibe thing. (Side note: Is that key chain indeed telling the truth? Are there any experts in the house? If we were to fail to return the room key could we just drop it into any mail box and it would be mailed back to the hotel as if by magic? This has been bugging me for days. I should have temporarily pilfered the key just to give it a shot.)

Do you see how this place has to be haunted? Not least of all because those damn mounted animal heads. Such wall trophies rank among my least favorite things in existence. If you know me at all you know they scare the living daylights out of me. It’s not even an anti-hunting thing, I’m a carnivore through and through and so it goes. But the mounting of the animal’s head upon a wall? Just hanging there, staring at you. NO THANK YOU.

With all that said, it’s not a bad hotel. The floorboards creak with every step you take in the rooms, hallways and staircases alike, and I can only assume they had those creaks installed professionally. Which is a pleasant touch.

From what I can tell, Silverton has only one paved road. Appropriately, that road is Main Street. The rest are made of strongly compacted dirt.

above/// The court house. Straight out of a novel it seems.

Let it be known that if there is a train then I will be there. I love trains. It’s pretty serious. They are simply magical, such trains.

above/// The Grand Imperial once again. That top right corner window was the one which we got to call our own for about 12 hours.

Guys! Enough said. I am such an unapologetic Colorado/West lover. It can’t be helped.

It becomes terribly difficult to ignore a stop sign when it is smack dab in the middle of the road. This is a good technique I think.

When was the last time you saw a kid sitting outside of such a perfect public library so intently reading in the middle of summer? I wanted to adopt him on the spot, but I’m not quite sure I’m ready to be a mother to an 11-year-old kid. Still, high fives to you, buddy. You’re doing life right.

And that’s Silverton. We’re going to rent an Airbnb place there next year and spend a week figuring out what exactly goes on in the town. So pencil that in everyone, we’ll bring you with us. It will be an adventure.