Day 18: Late, Slow, Yankee Boy Basin in Decline, and Playing Dogs...

After a couple of long days, we decided to sleep in this morning. It was approaching noon by the time we crawled down off Blair Mountain and into Silverton.  Debbie had an appointment in Ouray at 6 pm to get her nails done, so we headed off to Yankee Boy Basin (where the flowers were so wonderful two weeks earlier) to enjoy some offroading until then.

Yankee Boy was still pretty, but had faded to the point where Stony Basin was a superior wildflower experience.  Dodging mining trucks, tourist trucks, and inexperienced offroaders, we made our slow way up to the very top of the Yankee Boy Basin road, up around 12,500'.  There I found some alpine areas on knolls, but even they were now past prime, with very little in bloom.  It was a pleasant day, but not nearly as spectacular as our first visit, and we couldn't help but compare the two. 

The day's highlight was a second visit to the pond at 12,200' where the dogs had enjoyed themselves two weeks earlier.  This time we had it all to ourselves, and the dogs had a great time chasing the ball into the water or up a nearby hill.  We played with them there until they were panting and moving much slower :)  Then we loaded 'em up in the FJ and got a blanket on them, as they were wet and cold.  Even Miki got wet!

Then it was off to Ouray, where Debbie and I had a good, but not memorable meal at the local Mexican restaurant.  Then I dropped Debbie off for her nail appointment, and the dogs and I did a little exploring through the parts of town where tourists don't generally go.  There I ran into a couple of interesting things. 

First was an aging hippie out walking his yellow Labrador Retriever and a giant yellow tabby.  Both were off-leash, and both were following him closely.  As I drove slowly up alongside him, he called them both to him – and they both came up and sat down.  I stopped to chat, and the cat jumped up into his arms.  He told me that he'd trained the cat some ten years ago, and now these walks were their twice-a-day routine.  I can't even imagine any of our cats doing this :) 

The second interesting bit was a scene right out of Southern California.  A modular home sat in a small yard, with a tall fence on both sides.  This made a yard that was private except for the street.  About 15 feet from the street was a hot tub, and in it were three people: two girls and a guy, all nude (as evidenced by the pile of of bathing suits beside the tub).  One of the girls was shy, and covered herself with her hands as I drove (slowly :) by, the other had her arms spread out along the tub's edge and gave me a sunny, knowing smile as she displayed a choice pair of mammaries.  Later I related all this to Debbie, who seemed to think I shouldn't have noticed anything.  Silly girl :)

Debbie emerged from the nail salon with fingers outspread and hands carefully not touching anything – nail polish drying.  I buckled her seatbelt for her, and we headed for “home” in our little cabin, where we rested up in preparation for a long day tomorrow...

Miki in the water!  This is an amazing thing for us, as before this trip he wouldn't even dip a paw in.  Now he'll even get wet!  Race, of course, just plows in after the ball...

Chasing the ball on a hill over the pond, two happy mutts...

Just before snagging the ball in the middle of the pond.  Check out the “bow wave” he's kicking up as he powers along.  That's one strong dogly swimmer...