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Best of all in Durango is the narrow gauge railroad that still runs out of it and through the mountains up to the mining town of Silverton. Each day we'd wave to its passengers as it passed by the house on its daily trip up the mountain.
One day, we were privileged to ride. We boarded the train in the morning, decked out in our shorts and T-shirts. As we wound our way up the mountain over train trestles and lakes, and through the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen, we added layers as the temperatures cooled the higher we climbed.
At one point, as our train snaked along the tracks, I was able to lean out of the car I was riding in toward the rear to take a picture of the front of the train as it wound around a mountain pass. A steep drop off greeted us on the right, a sheer wall of rock on the left.
Up top, we had time to disembark and have a little lunch before exploring the historic town of Silverton.
The thick forests on the way back down brought to mind the age old question: "If a tree falls in the woods when no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?"
While in Durango, we also took a side trip to Mesa Verde National Park where we were able to see the ruins of the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings: remarkable monuments to our Nation's past.
For me, coming from the flat prairie-land of the Midwest, the majesty and grandeur of the mountains is almost impossible to describe in all its breathtaking awe. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Wow, Deb, just looking at the picture of the town I could see a perfect novel setting!
ReplyDeleteColorado is gorgeous. I am amazed when I go there at the geology of the mountains. The tilts of solid rock can be seen where the mountains were cut to construct highways. The trees grow on steep rock cliffs where it seems there would not be enough soil to support life. Imagine what the early settlers thought when they arrive to search for gold. We live on an amazing planet.
ReplyDeleteAna
Toni, Silverton would make a great setting for a novel! Walking around gave a sense of stepping into the past.
ReplyDeleteAna, It also amazes me the early settlers were able to cut through the mountains to lay track for the railroad without so-called "modern" technology.
That railroad would scare me with the sheer drop on one side! Maybe I've seen too many westerns with trains falling off tracks and rolling down hillsides!
ReplyDeleteBut beautiful scenery, Debra.
So true, Paula...or the heroine hanging from the side waiting to be rescued by the dashing hero?!
ReplyDeleteHow about the silent movie heroine tied to the narrow gauge tracks? The train is approaching, whistle blowing, as the hero and villain struggle...
ReplyDelete(My dad was a Buster Keaton fan. I've seen many, many great silent flicks. We could go to the movies, but could not have a television.)
Ana
Ana,
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