Randy Cassingham's Blog

Chelle, who didn't say where in the U.S. she was from, was one of many who wrote appreciative notes about last week's description of my vacation trip to Southwest Colorado.

"I loved your note about Ouray!" Chelle wrote. "I got to visit there over Christmas last year and... wow!! It was even amazing at night, as the layer of steam settled over the town, and driving in on the road above, Ouray was just a glowing disc below. My reason for seeking out this tiny town was that my favorite author, Ayn Rand, used it as the setting for 'Galt's Gulch', a hidden place in the mountains, in Atlas Shrugged."

I didn't know that, Chelle! I had a picture in my mind as I read A.S. of what "Galt's Gulch" must look like, and I must say, Ouray had that mental picture beat!

Not everyone loved my talking so glowingly about Colorado, though: Bill writes, "Look, Randy, since I think I live just up the hill from you in Estes Park, would you mind awfully not violating the unwritten Colorado Code? You are supposed to tell everyone that Colorado sucks. Look what is happening to the front range. Like the Indians used to say, 'Don't these visitors have a home?'"

I know what you mean, Bill. Whenever the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl showed how nice it was in Pasadena in January, I cringed at all the people in the Northeast, huddled by their TVs for warmth. I could just hear them yelling into the kitchen, "Ethel! Pack everything up! We're moving to Cal-uh-FORN-yuh!" So when you're ready to pack up for Col-uh-RAD-uh, think about our big blizzard last October! I wasn't kidding when I said I rushed south before the snows came; odds are, it'll snow here before the month is out. But no, I don't miss Pasadena....

I liked the area so much that, five years later, I moved there -- to Ouray County. Rather than live in Ouray, which is in a tight valley (not much sun!), I chose a mesa just outside Ridgway with views of the two mountain ranges that create the valley Ouray is in. And fair warning: it's a fantastic place to vacation, but don't move here unless you can bring your job with you, like I did!