Durango

Dan and I took Friday off from work, and headed to Durango, CO, to spend the weekend. Durango is less than four hours from Albuquerque, and now we wonder why we had never gone there before.

Coming into Durango, from the south, you get a great view of the town, down in the valley between the mountains.

Durango's old downtown is the heart of the city, and Main Street is lined with historic old buildings from the gold mining days, like this one, the Strater Hotel. Durango is now a tourist town, and close enough to the Purgatory Ski Resort (now called the Durango Mountain Resort) to attract tourists in all seasons.


The Animas River flows through town. We took a walk in a park that borders the river. One night we also ate at a restaurant that sits along the river walk.

Durango is a railroad town. It was founded by The Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad in 1879. This railroad has been in continuous operation for 127 years! Their historic coal-fired, steam-powered locomotives make several runs a day, one of them to the old mining town of Silverton. We chose to drive to Silverton this time, but would like to take the train when we visit again. Here are a couple pictures of the train trestle passing over the Animas River.


And this is the train station, at the end of Main Street in old town.

On Saturday morning we headed a little farther north, to the town of Ouray (pronounced You-Ray), passing by Silverton on the way. We had been told that this was a beautiful trip, but that the road was narrow and winding, the cliffs steep, and in most places there were no guard rails. But words couldn't prepare us for our excursion to Ouray. I'll post some pictures of our adventurous day, going to Ouray, in another day or two. I have to say, though, that pictures - at least my pictures - don't begin to do justice to the thrill-factor.