This motel is immaculate! What a fun place to stay. Hostess/owner Lora "S" made our stay even more enjoyable, with her warm personality and knowledge of everything "Ouray". (And she's not even a native---Lora didn't move to Ouray until she was nine months old!) Lora made my wife, Pat, and our Boston Terrier, Farrah, feel right at home. We had a most lovely second floor room with a balcony overlooking Ouray's great main street. The room was spacious, the bed was super comfy, there is a wonderful bathroom and shower, refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, and a great, relaxing table for cocktail hour, too! Believe me, this place is worth each of it's coveted three AAA diamonds!

You can walk down the block in back of the motel, and you're within two minutes of the beautiful Uncompahgre River. And, there is never a need to use your car to shop or eat---everything is within two blocks of the motel.Lora was right on the mark with three very good restaurant recommendations. When Pat and I dined at Outlaws Steakhouse, I could almost feel the "Duke's" presence, as it was here in Ouray that he filmed "True Grit." This is where he ate, and this is where he hung his famous hat (seen behind the bar). I can't wait to come back to Ouray again, in a little over a year from now, to take a Swiss jeep trip up into the mountain backroads with my son, Jim---you can never see enough beauty or "ghost towns" while in Colorado!

We did sorta get stranded in a snowstorm in Ouray---I-70 was closed when we needed to get to Denver and beyond. But, if you have to be stranded, I couldn't think of a nicer town or motel. You certainly won't go hungry, as there are so many restaurants, delis, bakeries and candy shops. The "mom & pop" grocery store is the only grocery store in town (you park your car diagonally, right out in front, on Main Street---right where they used to "park" their horses a hundred years ago). And the "General Store" (mercantile) is right out of "Little House On The Prairie". They sell every imaginable item there.

The pictures I took of this "Winter Wonderland in May" would make Norman Rockwell eat his heart out. If you've never been to Ouray before, then "What are you waiting for?" Next time, I'm definitely gonna soak for a few hours in the natural Hot Springs at the end of town. (Could ten-thousand Native American Utes be wrong?)Then it's back to my relaxing room at the Ouray Chalet for some delicious cocktails, hors 'de ouvres, and more local Ouray "chat" with owner Lora!!!