For my 33rd birthday, Grandma Cathy volunteered to come down to Arizona and watch the kids so Clint and I could get out of town for a long weekend. We were headed for Santa Fe, NM but only made it as far as Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We left Thursday night and drove up to Flagstaff, thru Tuba City and made it to Kayenta, Arizona where we camped out in the back of the Explorer. On Friday morning we realized we were close to Canyon De Chelly and decided to take a detour on our trip to go and see it. We pretty much had the park to ourselves. It was so beautiful and peaceful.
Taking the railroad from Durango, CO to Silverton was a last minute decision. On our way to Cortez from Canyon De Chelly we came across a really bad accident and were told to take a detour around. We reprogrammed the GPS and headed north into Utah with barely enough gas to get us to Cortez. Our GPS started to lead us out in the middle of nowhere on small unnamed roads and pretty soon it quits working since we don't have Colorado programmed into it. So there we were, a long ways from anywhere with no gas and no idea how to get there! Luckily we made it into Cortez on fumes but took 2 hours longer than we planned.
Since it was getting late we decided to stay the night in Durango and to take the train, which is supposed to be one of the ten best train rides in the world and we were there on one of the best weekends since all the leaves were changing colors.
Durango is a fun westernish little town built right around the Animas river. It reminded us both of Jackson Hole. Friday night we wandered around downtown and window shopped for awhile after we got our train tickets and found a hotel room.
Our train ride started out at 7:30 in the morning on Saturday, September 25 (My Birthday). It was freezing since it was in the 50's and we were in what they called the Gondola Car which was open air seating. As soon as we got on board, the train conductors told us we needed to wear eye protection since there would be a lot of cinders in the air. They weren't kidding--By the time we got to Silverton, four and a half hours later, we were pretty much black. It took me 2 days to get all the coal out of my hair!
The ride was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Since we got our tickets so late we were on the wrong side of the train for part of the trip through this narrow gorge. On one side, the train tracks hug the granite mountain with only a foot in some areas between the train and the rock and on the other side a steep drop off a couple hundred feet to the river below.
Silverton, Colorado is only 50 miles from Durango, but by steam train it's four and a half hours away! There really isn't much to the town of Silverton and we only had two hours to explore anyway (which proved to be more than enough time). The town is nestled in a valley in Colorado's San Juan National Forest. It is surrounded by giant mountains that were covered in beautiful fall colors on all sides. Most of the buildings in the town are national historical landmarks dating back to the 1800s when Silverton was a booming mining town.
There were a lot of places to eat but they were all crowded with train passangers. We ended up choosing Handlebars restaurant and saloon for my birthday lunch and had a good time.
After lunch, we spent some time walking around town and enjoying the cool fall air. We took lots of pictures and just took our time wandering around in the laid back atmosphere. We walked up to the end of town to the courthouse that was built right next to a mountain with the most amazing display of yellow aspen trees.
This picture is my favorite. I couldn't resist a picture with the wooden statue at Grumpy's Saloon since he looks exactly like Grandpa Mustache!
After we got off the train around 6pm we got in the car and headed to Pagosa Springs on our way to Taos, New Mexico. We stopped at this restaurant around sunset that was right along the river. Our food wasn't impressive, but the location more than made up for it! Our dinner took so long though that we decided not to try and cram in a trip to New Mexico but to head back to Durango and go to Mesa Verde tomorrow instead.
Unfortunately, we only had time to visit one of the several dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. We chose Spruce Tree House since it was one of the largest dwellings and it was a self guided tour so we didn't have to wait for the ranger tours later in the day.
We were really facinated by the cliff dwellings and by the culture of the Anasazi Indians. The ranger told us that this area was occupied by the Anasazi about 700-800 years ago and was in really amazing condition.
About 90% of Spruce Tree House is origional and intact. The only structure the National Park Service rebuilt was the roof and ladder to one of the kivas so that you could see what that structure would have been like 800 years ago.
We wished we would have planned to spend some more time here-you could easily spend a day or two. Someday we need to bring the kids back here and explore some of the other structures that are in the park. Unfortunately though it was time to head home.
We enjoyed the rest of the trip through northwestern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. We listened to several books on tape, did a lot of talking and planning, and had a lot of fun being together. We're so lucky that Grandma Cathy would be so generous to come down from Idaho to take care of the kids so we could get away.
When we got home the kids rushed me upstairs and when I came down, they had all the lights off and were hiding to throw me a surprise party. Complete with streamers, balloons and a cake made by them!
