Sweety's is a great stop while in Lake City. Karen who operates the zoo is so nice and good with…read morechildren. Kids love this place and adults too. Very unique setting in these beautiful mountains. This was the highlight of the trip for our 2 year old grandson. No reservations needed and you won't regret spending time in this relaxing zoo. We will stop at Sweety's every year.

We are on a family vacation and stopped at the cute little zoo and Karen the owner was absolutely…read morephenomenal! Her energy made our entire day. Her art work is out of this world. It was a great stop on our journey through lake city! MUST GO! Karen will make your day!

One of my favorite little shops we found on our summer trip to Telluride. I love spots like this,…read moreeven though everything is on the costly side. Picaya is like a high quality Earth Bounds Trading Company (are those still around?). Like a more eclectic, expensive, and small Pier 1 or World Market. Their tagline is "Many cultures... one source" - simple and fitting. It's super cozy in here, like a really awesome, worldly, and wealthy person's living room. Beautiful furniture, pillows, lamps, mirrors, hand woven baskets, bowls, wooden boxes, glass pipes, fancy candles and soaps, crystals, rugs, handmade toys and trinkets. Everything is so earthy and fragrant with vibrant colors and unique details. You could probably spend hours admiring all of these handmade goodies from around the world. Incense, spiritual decor, jewelry, wind-chimes, gorgeous wall art, kitchen tools... I didn't end up buying anything because we were only passing through and I'd already spent enough $$$, but it was definitely my kinda boutique. I wish I could fill my entire house with treasures from Picaya.

I absolutely adore Picaya! It's not exactly a tourist shop, it's not exacltlyan art gallery, it's…read morenot exactly a toy store - it's a little bit of everything. The place is so cool! Imagine a store filled with handmade carved wooden boxes of varying sizes and uses (I own at least two just for their aesthetics), multiple incense scents to choose from, mirrors, statues of dragons and buddhas, energy crystals, hand woven rugs and old school (yet still unique) children's toys designed to amaze and delight. The place is just excellent for finding something totally unique to take home to that unlucky soul who couldn't come to Telluride for the skiing. There are plenty of things that are easily packable (and many that are easily breakable too - ask about assistance shipping fragile or larger items home, they can accommodate), and as I said, since almost all is hand made, it's all unique. Every time I go, I have to pick up something new to remember the trip by. Great find. Even if you don't want to drop any coin, it's definitely worth wandering into and poking around - you never know what treasure they'll have.

This was an awesome quick stop on our trip. The part that made our day was that the owner took us…read morearound on a personal tour and history lesson of each of the train cars and the surrounding equipment. Our 4-year-old daughter and the kid in me loved every minute of this tour. Totally recommend this stop.

Very sweet little stop-off! We stopped here on our way from Ouray to Montrose Airport to eat our…read morelunch with 2, 5, 8 yr old at the picnic table adjacent to the rail cars. Kids were able to get on and explore a few of them (the others are just in restoration stage at the moment, that's all). Adjacent museum has a few great dioramas, plus many books about the area and railroading. Plus it's FREE! Give a lil' donation though, it's how all the restorations are funded :-)

It doesn't exist anymore, Fabula occupies the space. Fabula is wonderful. Staff very friendly.read more

Not sure exactly how to categorize this store. Maybe it's a gift shop? Lots of interesting items…read moreinside ranging from home accessories to jewelry to gift cards to novelties. Lady behind the countertop with whom we spoke was very friendly. I have no idea if these are good prices or not but it was a way to spend 15 minutes in a diverting shop.

I'm glad my friends who visit Telluride each year recommended I stop in this museum. It was the…read moreinitial hospital during the mining days, which was later converted into a museum. It had so many interesting displays and pieces of history, from the Native American Indians times, through the boom-and-bust mining days, to the present-day ski resort revitalization of this charming town. The exhibits are strategically placed to allow you to experience how the area evolved. It is easy to walk around, taking your time examining specific items that are of interest to you. The small gift shop is charming and has a number of books and periodicals of the town's history that may be difficult to find elsewhere. For a nominal entrance fee, you can easily spend an enjoyable hour or two learning the history of this great town. There is also a museum donation canister at the entrance way, which I gladly deposited additional money in as I finished my tour as it was definitely worth it!

Interesting displays, including audio features and a rotating special exhibit; broad range of…read morecultural, environmental, and economic stages touched on in a short time; and a very reasonable admission fee. If you can visit on a walking tour day, it's well worth the time (1.5 hours), and you are able to go inside some of the most historic buildings, like the opera house, and the "New" Sheridan Hotel and connected bar. Ours was by Ashley, and he was engaging, friendly, fielded every question with aplomb. It may be hard to engage small, active children but older kids and adults will find plenty of interest.

This place was very interesting. We were on a girls trip to Colorado and went on a drive from…read moreDurango to Silverton to see the trees changing colors. We stumbled upon this museum and we were interested in seeing what they had to offer. It was a mining museum that had collections of rocks and minerals, uniforms and tools used by the miners and other items that were interesting. For those folks that need it, they do have a small elevator. This is also next to the restroom on the lower floor. Besides the rock/mineral room, I found the assay section interesting, where they had scales and weights used to weight the gold or minerals mined. In the gift shop I found two rocks I liked and bought them and a few postcards. Included in the tour is a visit to the jail and the quarters for the acting sherriff. The sherriff quarters had glimpses of a typical bedroom and kitchen for the late 1800's. My sister went to the jail and she said it was an open room with an iron ball with lots of chains to connect the prisoners to. Outside the jail is caboose used to haul minerals from the mines.

Tried to visit the museum but it was closed. The only small indication was a small notice on one of…read morethe building's doors. We tried to call the museum's number to see if they had an outgoing recorded message with more information, but no answering machine and no-one answered. While restaurants and shops in Silverton were open post COVID, doing business carefully with social distancing, mandatory masks, limited capacity and so forth, this museum is closed :(( I think it's a huge miss because tourists could bring some much needed funds, if they were only given a chance. While perusing around the museum's grounds we witnessed other 3 cars stopping by and trying to visit to no avail. I wish I could give them more stars, but I am literally giving them one star each for the two things we were able to visit...the train car from the Durango & Silverton railroad and the grounds we strolled upon.

Colorado mountain towns almost always have tourist-trap stores that our family says "have gone the…read moreway of the rubber tomahawk". One can just hear the cry of the famous Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta turning in their graves. The Buckskin more than offsets a lot of the tourista trash. Via architectural fortune, the Buckskin has the honor of being located on the ground floor of the AMAZINGLY well-restored Beaumont Hotel (the lobby is up a beautiful set of stairs leading to the 2nd floor). Ouray and the surrounding area are fantastic (e.g. hiking 14er Mt. Sneffels, camping where people cannot find you off of Imogene Pass, a killer hot springs pool), but unfortunately, Ouray also has its fair share of sloppy homely-cousin kitsch (the ubiquitous glass hummingbirds and t-shirts with the usual unfunny slogans). The Buckskin is a great place to walk in and peruse for local history - in a classy but friendly environment. The Beaumont itself is a great story - look it up online. It will make even the worst curmudgeon smile. Recipe for a great day in Ouray: go for a nice draining hike; take in the hot springs; eat a great dinner - then head to the bookstore before crashing. The only downside to the Buckskin is it's not very big. However, no book (in the Buckskin or elsewhere) will prepare you for the adrenaline pumping, no highway rail ride from Ouray to Silverton (and Durango)! If you bring out-of-staters, make sure you also bring some Depends.

I went into this store to find a specific book I had seen elsewhere. They had the book I wanted,…read moreand many more books about Colorado, CO mining, the Old West, 4x4ing, and anything else you might want about Colorado. They also had the most popular books you might be looking for while in Ouray. If you're on vacation, and need a book, this is the place to go. The owner is very friendly, but also knows how to stay back and let you browse. It's the perfect bookstore for a Colorado mountain town.

Russ Brown does amazing painting and you can watch him paint--he is in the gallery all the time. He…read moreis a fascinating guy with a rich history of the Lake City area and hiking around the area. His knowledge and expressive painting of aircraft, the area around Lake City, trout and various other things is an inspiration. Whether you're in the market for art or not, it's worth a stop in Rudd Brown's gallery.

I bought some paintings from Russ Brown while he was still in Sedona, right before he moved. One of…read morethe acrylic paintings is a self portrait of Mr. Brown, sitting on the ledge of the red rocks. I cherish it. I was drawn into his gallery, by his friendly demeanor and the fascination of watching him paint as we talked and I browsed. His nature is definitely kind, and it was worth the visit just to speak with him. I spent over an hour trying to choose my favorite painting to purchase, so I ended I up buying two.