Lost pictures

For some reason the blog has dropped two of the pictures from one of my posts. So here they are again- a scene from the train and Chimney Rocks.

Scenery in NM and CO

Can't finish off this trip reporting without some scenery photos. Below - 2 scenes from the train, Chimney Rock archeological site, a sunset in New Mexico, and morning on the pass between Chama NM and Antonito CO.

SILVERTON COLORADO

If you go to http:// www.silvertoncolorado.com/ you will see this:

Welcome to Silverton, Colorado!

Or, as one local puts it, "Silverton: A gritty little mining town with Victorian pretensions!" Once the stomping ground of silver kings and railroad giants, Silverton survives today as one of Colorado's most endearing destinations...

For more information on the history of Silverton and San Juan County visit http://www.silvertonhistoricsociety.org/

Here are some pictures of downtown silverton today. One paved road goes through it.
And of course the train goes through it. It sits at an altitude of 9305 feet (2836 m) and has a population of 531. Millions of dollars worth of gold and silver were mined here.

The Durango Silverton train

Riding the train was a fun experience with great scenery along the way. We left Durango at 8:15 in the morning. It was chilly and occasionally rainy as the train worked its way up the canyon toward Silverton, an all-morning trip. Since we had chosen the open-sided car we came prepared with jackets and raingear. The snack car was the next car up the line and had plenty of hot coffee and chai available in ever-refillable souvenir cups.

The train stopped several times along the way, to pick up passengers and to refill the water tanks and blow off steam. Here are some train pictures. It's hard to get good pictures with all the rocking and moving but we got lucky now and then. Somebody wondered if the red cars were a different train. Actually the front cars were yellow, the back ones were red. We had only one yellow car behind us so whenever we looked up front we saw yellow cars and whenever we photographed back we saw red cars. The red cars were plushier.

The four-year traffic jam

While going up over Wolf Creek pass we were surprised to find ourselves in a traffic holdup. Four years ago we got stuck here for 2 hours while they did some blasting. Four years later they are still working on the same pass, still having long holdups in the traffic. This time it was a 15 minute wait instead of a 2 hour wait. We had to wait for trucks to get out of the way. Luckily they weren't doing any dynamiting this second time. I must admit the work area is now further up the pass than they were four years ago, so progress is being made. The view on the other side is just as great as before.

Happy Birthday

Someone is having a birthday today. I remember when she was four. Time sure flies. Happy birthday!!!

On the Road

Here's an interesting burger joint along the road in Saguache, CO. I loved the colors of this place and the quirky signs. The seating area was interesting - reminded me of a Degas cafe painting. It came complete with an eccentric local guy hanging about, willing to tell local stories, a character as interesting as the ones in the Degas picture. But I did not take his photo. Dale got a giant burger but I passed on that and wandered around taking pictures. He said it was a great burger.

Stepping high at the fair parade

We rode bikes over to the county fair parade this morning. Here's a little dose of Longmont Hispanic culture for those of you who are far away and missing Mexican food. This restaurant had a great display of horses and dancers.