Welcome to Part Two of the travelogue for our 2018 RV trip (through Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada).
We saw yet more lovely scenery as we headed out of Vail
Pass and toward Superior.
Upon arriving at Cynda & Marcel’s home, we got situated in their driveway, although there was a fair amount of brush swiping the coach as we backed in. And to get far enough back so that some of the tree branches weren’t blocking our door, Chris had to climb up the ladder on the back of the coach and hold one of the sturdier branches up and out of the way while I backed up the coach another 5 feet or so.
The day before we arrived, Cynda had mentioned possibly going out to dinner, but we gladly accepted their offer of a number of Persian dishes leftover from a group they’d had over the night before. We had a nice evening catching up and sharing photos and stories of our current trip and their very recent Colorado River rafting trip.
Today we went grocery shopping, a little over a week after leaving home. Time to replenish some dairy and produce, as well as ingredients for dinner that night. I had offered to cook dinner for all of us, and our nephew John joined us for chips & salsa, tortilla soup, Carnitas, and refried beans. We all love Mexican food so that was an easy choice. And then some more catching up and sipping wine.
No big plans today. Chris went with Cynda to see the offices of her foundation, Secure World Foundation, and Marcel’s foundation, One Earth Future. Check out the links to read about the wonderful work these two individuals are spearheading. I stayed at the house and puttered around the kitchen, chatted with Cynda’s personal assistant Irma, and did some preliminary preparations for dinner. Tonight I made dinner again (my version of Chicken Cordon Bleu and French green beans), and joining us for dinner this night was Peter, the newly hired executive director for Cynda’s foundation.
During our stay we sure enjoyed visiting with Cynda’s cat ‘Boots,’ and drinking some great wine from Marcel’s cellar (an actual cellar, with a tiny ‘creek’ running through it).
It’s time to say goodbye to family (and friends). We left
Superior this morning and headed south, with a planned stop at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We
had hoped to ride our bikes on a sight-seeing loop here, but it was drizzling,
so we drove the loop in the coach, and took our pictures through the windows.
Check out the link above to see more photos and videos of the area. The
uplifting and erosion that occurred here over millions of years left some
really interesting shapes, including essentially vertical sheets of rock.
Our camp site for the night was another Harvest Host, The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. There’s some interesting history here. There used to be Benedictine monks in the Holy Cross Abbey next to the tasting room. They made wine there, briefly, to help support themselves, before ultimately selling the abbey, and taking up residence in various other monasteries. We browsed the lovely gift shop and did some wine tasting. And of course bought a couple of bottles of wine—a very nice Chardonnay and their ‘Reserve’ Cabernet Sauvignon.
In the morning, we took a few pictures of the ‘Abbey’ from the coach, and then headed out. As we climbed, it began raining and then, in the area of Royal Gorge, it began snowing. Initially, there wasn’t enough to stick to the road, although it was collecting on trees, shrubs and rooftops.
As it got heavier and heavier, we went through a stretch where it was collecting just a bit on the road, and we pulled over in a campground parking lot to check the weather satellites to see just how long this storm might last. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a signal and decided to proceed, slowly.
Eventually the snow became rain, we enjoyed lovely scenery driving along the Arkansas River, in spite of the cloudy, gray skies. And as we neared the end of the gorge and started our descent, there were blue skies ahead.
As we passed through the town of Salida, it was lunch
time, and we thought it might be one of those rare opportunities to eat lunch
out, hopefully a hot lunch, if we could find a place to park the coach. We
followed the signs toward the historic downtown section of Salida and the
‘Riverside Walk’ along the Arkansas River.
We spotted a city park where it looked like good parking for the coach, near the Moonlight Pizza and Brewpub, and decided this was it. It was a brisk walk in 44° but not too far. We had a very good pizza and some beer, and enjoyed reading the humorous parts of the menu. It was just starting to rain again as we walked back to the coach. As we headed back toward the main drag, we spotted two deer in someone’s front yard, which is always fun, and a nice finishing touch to our detour from the highway through town!
Continuing onward, we had to climb again, and at around 9,000 ft. we hit more snow. It didn’t last long this time, and when we were past it, we saw mountains frosted with snow, while yellow Aspens dotted the base of the mountains. And it warmed up to 53°, with sprinkles off and on.
The spot Chris had found for this night was simply a small city park in Del Norte that allows free overnight parking, and even has a free dump station with potable water (for drinking, not for filling your tank).
One end of the park was situated at the edge of the Rio Grande, and after we settled on where to park, we set out on foot to check out the Riverwalk Trail. It was a lovely walk with sun shining through the yellow leaves and slivers of sunlight making it through the trees to find the path, so we walked to its end and then headed back to the coach.
Chris checked the current weather report this morning
because Wolf Creek Pass, whose summit is at an elevation of 10,856 feet, is
considered the most
treacherous pass in Colorado, and if the storm was headed that way, we
wanted to get through the pass before the worst of it got there. And good thing
he did ‘cause they were expecting snow in the pass by 1:00 pm. We hit the road
earlier than we ever have.
It started snowing as we headed up the mountain, but not heavily. The road itself was very nice (wide & smooth), and the snow plows were already at work keeping the road clear. We let out a sigh of relief when we reached the peak without incident, except for one little surge of adrenaline when the rear tires briefly lost traction. However, heading down the mountain was actually scarier than going up, and we decided to just follow along behind a big rig, who kept his speed at 25mph. We had some hail, and a light rain, but no more snow. We would later talk with a couple in Durango who came through the pass an hour or so after we did, and they said it was terrible, with cars sliding off the road and a jack-knifed big rig partially blocking the road.
On the way to our campground, we passed a shopping center
whose driveway and perimeters were lined with gloriously red trees, ahh!
Our campsite at the United Campground of Durango was spitting distance from the railroad tracks used by the Durango-Silverton narrow-gauge railroad. In fact, the train runs through the campground! All the spots at the edge of the tracks were taken, but a little distance was appreciated by the cats. Chris had contemplated a different campground that was on a creek, but this one had a stop for the city trolley, and we wanted to take advantage of it to get to the train depot the next morning, as well as back to the coach after dinner in town. The trolley was only $1.00 (actually, only $0.50 for those of us over 60) and had a bike rack on the front, which we planned to use the day after our train ride.
We were near Durango on a previous trip but hadn’t included it as one of our stops. I kind of wanted to go just because my stepfather grew up there, but the prospect of riding the Durango-Silverton train was also a big draw. Here are a few fun facts about the train:
· The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 3-foot wide, narrow-gauge railroad that operates and maintains 45 miles of track between Durango and Silverton.
· This railway is a federally designated National Historic Landmark.
· The route was originally opened in 1882 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) to transport silver and gold ore mined from the San Juan Mountains.
· The line from Durango to Silverton has run continuously since 1881, although it is now a tourist and heritage line hauling passengers.
· It is one of the few places in the U.S. that has seen continuous use of steam locomotives.
· Some of the locomotives & cars date back to the 1880s.
· The Durango depot was built in January 1882 and has been preserved in its original form.
In the wake of the 416 Fire (August 2018), the company began the process of converting—at least some of—its coal-burning engines into oil- and diesel-powered engines. There’s an interesting article about it in the Durango Herald that talks about the new restrictions (after the 2018 fire) and the costs for the conversion process.
We had to get an early start to get to the depot for our
train adventure today, but the excitement got the adrenaline going and we were
off and running! It was pretty chilly out and many people were staying warm
inside the small depot waiting area, while others milled about outside with a
steaming cup of something. We headed out through the waiting area to check out
the train cars, get a few pictures, and locate our car.
We had chosen to take different cars for the trip up and the trip back. For the ride up to Silverton, we chose the ‘Knight Sky’ car. It has virtually unobstructed views of the scenery with the windows leading to curved glass panes, which in turn connect to a glass ceiling.
It was clear and sunny—a far cry from the forecasted rain—and we were extremely grateful for the beautiful day. During some sections of the ride we were close to the river, and in other parts, the river was far below us, at the bottom of the gorge. And even on the steep, rocky walls of the canyon, there were always evergreen trees poking out between the rocks and scrub. And in the near distance we could see beautiful snow-capped peaks.
Signs on the train warned passengers to keep all body parts inside the train lest you leave any parts behind, you know, parts that you’d want to take home with you. ;-) And they weren’t kidding! In some places, the train was within inches of the canyon walls.
Of course, in other places, there was nothing next to the train but a sheer drop-off to the bottom of the canyon. And just as we experienced on our Verde Canyon train ride (near Sedona, Arizona), going around long curves provided a fun view of the other train cars up ahead (or behind) you.
The narrow-gauge rails make for quite a bit of side-to-side swaying, but that is part of the fun, right? We were told the Knight Sky (that we were in) is the most stable of all the cars, but there was still plenty of swaying fun to be had. Watch this short video and you’ll see what I mean.
It was time for lunch by the time we reached Silverton. And that destination is interesting for many reasons, the first of which is the fact that the train rails just stop abruptly there, almost in the heart of town. And while passengers are getting lunch, shopping, etc., the train backs up slowly to the far side of town where the rails have been laid out in a ‘Y’ pattern enabling the train to ‘turn around’ and come back to the heart of town going backward, so that it’s pointing forward for the return to Durango.
Anyway, we headed off in search of a brewpub Chris had
chosen in advance, Avalanche Brewing.
He mostly liked the fact that they served their tasting flights in miniature ‘snowboards.’
We ordered a sandwich and tacos, and Chris enjoyed a tasting flight while I
enjoyed a pint.
After lunch, we strolled the main drag for a bit, enjoying
the colorful old-time buildings and doing a little window shopping.
We got a
kick out of the little graveyard in town, with headstone epitaphs reminiscent
of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Oh yeah, did I mention that in Silverton,
which sits at 9,320 feet, there was snow on the ground?
When the train rolled back into town, it was time to board
and head back to Durango.
For our return trip we had chosen to ride the Alamosa
Parlor Car, to experience a classic antique car.
This was the last car on the
train, and it had a small platform at the back, a little like riding in a ‘caboose.’
The return trip offered slightly different views as we
rode on the other side of the train on the way back. And here’s a shot of the
locals’ own ‘Matterhorn.’
Our car attendant for the return trip had extensive formal education in anthropology and geology and was full of information relevant to the area. She also had a keen, dry sense of humor and she really made the ride a lot fun. And of course, drinking wine and chatting with fellow passengers was also a lot of fun!
As we got closer to town, we passed through the RV Park where we were camping and we waved and said hello to our kitties from the train (you can barely see our FR3 in the second row back from the tracks). Then the people we’d been chatting with joined in and waved as well. (It was some of these people who told us about their experience going through Wolf Creek Pass.) And then we started sharing a few cat stories, and of course pictures of our respective kitties on our phones. So much fun! But you know what they say, “All good things must come to an end.” We said our goodbyes to our fellow passengers, attendant, and conductor, and headed off to dinner.
We were able to walk from the train station to the restaurant we had chosen for dinner, Eolus. And even though we were a bit late, they happily seated us in a booth where we began with some fabulous rustic bread (wish we could have brought some home), followed by the BEST tenderloin steaks we’ve EVER had, with green peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach, and mushroom ‘frites.’ Everything was wonderful, and I pretty much begged our server to pass on our appreciation to the chef, emphasizing it saying that I’m a very good cook myself, I’m VERY particular, and that everything was great!
We lingered so long over our meal that there was no time for dessert, that is, if we wanted to catch the last trolley for the evening that was going as far as our RV Park. But what a wonderful day!
The next day dawned sunny and clear again, which was great,
as we planned to ride our bikes enjoying the scenery along the Animas River and
on into the heart of town where Chris had picked out a brewery we could go to
for lunch.
The Animas
River Trail runs for just over 9 miles along the scenic Animas River,
occasionally following the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
corridor. The trail cuts through several city parks and across five bridges. Along
the way, there are many signs describing the vistas and related history.
After lunch we continued along the river for a while, then stopped for bit to enjoy the view near the water’s edge and to watch the ducks. Then we headed into town and checked out the lobby of the historic Strater Hotel, which our attendant from the train ride had told us we should do. And then on to a ‘souvenir’ shop looking for the requisite Christmas ornament (or two). Ready to call it a day, we put our bikes on the trolley and headed back to our coach (and our kitties).
Today was an ‘extra’ day here, one that we added on in
lieu of visiting the Wines of the
San Juan winery in northern New Mexico. They make one of our very favorite
Cabernet Sauvignons and we were hoping to taste the latest vintage, but it
hadn’t been bottled yet, so we decided to stay another day in Durango (the last
night they were open for the season).
After watching the morning train pass through the campground, it was a good opportunity to ride the trolley into town for groceries and wine. Oops! Only groceries. No liquor sales (except in restaurants) on Sunday. Darn it, and we were all out of red wine. But then, you don’t have to twist my arm very hard to drink champagne instead. ;-)
