4/25/09 It started out a great day. Clear skies, a light breeze and about 60 degrees. With our early start in Cortez, we were in Durango by 9am and found our expresso fix in the historical downtown. The little cafe dualed as a kitchen store with all the coolest new inventions. We moved on to the million dollar highway and explored the high mountain passes which at this point before Silverton were mostly clear of snow and were showing their beautiful red, tans, yellows and green colors. The spontaneous waterfalls were everywhere. After a short break at the information depot in Silverton we were on to Orvis Hotsprings Spa. The trip had spectacular views, waterfalls, very curvy and steep roads, finally snow in the upper elevations. Once we reached Orvis, we took another break. This place holds lots of memories from our last visit about 15 years ago with friends, where we had camped in the small campground right at the hotspring. After our spa, we moved on again. We lunched in Telluride, which was completely changed from the last time we were there. We had a great lunch of tacos at the local bakery in the middle of town, it was the about the only place open for business at this time of year. This was a beautiful day and a great 1 day loop.