On this day, we were doing something that I have always wanted to do – ride the train from Durango to Silverton, Colorado. This means a serious climb in elevation to the old mining town that has become a destination for bikers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Our car had no windows, but it had a hostess who talked about the stuff we were passing. She also had food and drinks. How can you beat that? Actually, how can you write about it? I will just let the pictures do the talking.
First, there should be a people picture.
Then, there was this.
Oh yeah, we saw this.
Plus, we passed this.
This is my favorite.
When we arrived in Silverton, my stepdaughter’s friend asked, “Why did they put a town in the middle of nowhere?”
I have to admit that I was fired up because that question was right in my wheelhouse. I went into full teacher mode and explained that mining towns were built where minerals were found. That is why many towns in the West appeared where logic says they should never be. Anyway, they probably zoned out before I finished. Besides, we were looking for somewhere to eat.
We found it at the Grand Imperial Hotel.
As you can see from the picture, it started raining. The air got colder. We had to ride back in an open-air train car. For a while, it looked something like this.
As we descended in elevation, the air warmed, and everything returned to normal. Well, my wife and I had our one argument of the trip, but you will read about that in the next post.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 