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| Boarding our train car |
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| Our steam engine |
Whoa, what an early day. We were up at 6:30 and left at about 7:15. It was so cold out this morning that early. 45!!! We both layered our clothes on since it’s reportedly 15 degrees colder at Silverton. We both took gloves too. The train left right at 8:15 for our 3 ½ hour trip up the valley running along the Animas River all the way. Some of the time was for several stops along the way. The train is the only way to get to some parts along the valley although there is the Million Dollar Highway that goes to Silverton. We stopped for water for the steam engine twice and to drop off a boy who lives on a ranch in the valley and then at the Elk Camp where hunters get on and off with their coolers and gear. The view today was awesome as it was a sunny day and even warmed up quite nicely. The cottonwood trees were beautiful and cheery so bright yellow. Most of the aspens had already lost their leaves. The scrub oaks along the mountainsides radiated coppers and golds. The train crossed the river numerous times. Luckily once we reached Silverton they turned the train around so we could see the side we missed on the way up. The tracks run VERY close to the edge in many places and is secured to keep from falling into the river and valley. The higher we got we could see snow on the peaks of some of the mountains. It’s sure beautiful but not in another month it won’t be. The town of Silverton only has 350 year around residents because once the train stops running the end of October, no one will be going there. They only have 2 paved roads in town and the rest are gravel and muddy once it gets wet. There are many jewelry and native American art stores along one of the 2 mains streets. The town is surrounded by snow peaked mountains and looks more like an old western town than anything the least bit modern. There are also a bunch of restaurants. Most getting off the train went to Natalia’s, which does a lot of advertising and is the closest to the train station. To avoid waiting and the “crowd” we walked down the street a couple of blocks to what looked like a coffee shop but on the outside it said homemade cookies and pastries. That indicated to me that the rest of the food would be homemade also. We had the biggest sandwiches with a choice of soup or salad. They make it all fresh. Bill had the white chicken chili and I had the Mexican butternut squash bisque. He said his was good but had too many beans. Mine was excellent. Makes me want to try and make some. Bill’s BLT was huge and I had a cheese steak wrap but they put bacon on it. It was good but I’m not a bacon on my sandwich person unless it’s a BLT. We were both full when we left and not as broke as those up the street. We stopped in one of the old hotels to check out the lobby and went in several shops. Mostly browsing, but Bill did get some buffalo jerky and I got a new watch. It has stone inlay on the sides of the band. The colors should go with most of what I wear. I love watches!
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| View from Silverton |
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| In Silverton |
Of course we took pictures of the town and then boarded the train after 2 hours for our 3 1/2 hour ride back down. The view was different as this side was along the deepest ravine and again ran right along the edge. Bill read his book most of the way back and I did sneak in about a 30 minute nap.
Xena was very glad to see us so we both took her for a walk. It warmed up a lot in Durango but I hear we will be seeing some flakes by Friday. Oh no! I heated up the chili I made yesterday and we finished off the cornbread. I did 2 posts tonight and am working on weeding through all the pictures we took today. Watched NCIS and The Good Wife and time to read my book.
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