During the first week in October last year, Kurt and I took a driving tour with his parents. We stayed in Durango at the old but opulent Strater Hotel.
Our reason for going to Durango was the narrow gauge train that runs between Durango and Silverton. Jean had heard about it and was interested in taking the trip. It’s about a four hour ride through the Animas River Canyon and turned out to be well worth the time and money. We were in the Vista, the only car with a glass roof. It’s well back in the train, but we still got our share of ashes from the engine smoke.
The scenery was glorious. We had excellent weather, chilly at first, but sunny most of the way. While the majority of the trees were coniferous, there were golden aspens to brighten things up. The river itself grew greener the farther we went up the canyon.
The train wound back and forth and we were able to take pictures of the front of the train from our carriage near the rear.
Silverton turned out to be a tiny town with wide dirt streets and a plethora of restaurants and gift shops. We had lunch at a cafe, then caught the bus back down to Durango. The drive takes about an hour, but it doesn’t get the kind of views we got from the train.
