Day 11: Durango Unchained

Thanks to a shorter drive today and no reservations of any kind at our next stop, we had a little extra time to explore Durango. This was also a day that illustrates how life can give you unexpected turns. Yes, that is foreshadowing.

Let me say again how much I just love the Strater Hotel (more pics added to yesterday's post). which, apparently, has been in continuous operation since it opened without losing its Victorian charm.

This is probably because rest of Durango is much the same. Most of the shop exteriors look like they did 100 years ago. We enjoyed a walk around town (which is only a few blocks) and popped into a couple of shops, particularly the candy store. Madison was just like a kid in there.

But the best part of all was the Railroad Museum. You start out at the Depot, which also looks like you've stepped back in time.

From there, you head out back and down the tracks. The railroad in Durango is narrow gauge (only about four feet between the tracks, as opposed to the standard nearly six). The smaller trains are better for mountain passage and made this line much cheaper, and faster, to build back in the day.

The museum is like a mini wonderland of cool stuff from days gone by. There's antique cars from the 1930s, a replica of the first airplane to fly in Durango (like the Wright flyer with wheels), two locomotives, two passenger train cars, a caboose, two large model railroads, a huge collection of miniature soldiers, guns from WWII, and so much more it would take me all day to describe it.

We could have easily spent all day in there. Well, at least I could. Everywhere you turned there was something cool. I'm already making plans to go back.

Madison just loved the tiny drive-in theater on one of the model trains that was playing The Searchers. She just loves imitating Jeffrey Hunter after having seen the same clip a hundred times on The Great Movie Ride ("Oh, no you don't, Ethan! No you don't!"). Ironically, despite my love of TCM, we still haven't seen the movie.

They also offer tours of the rail yard and an all day excursion to nearby Silverton and back. As much as we would have loved that and had some extra time, we didn't have that much time.

We decided to check out the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is near our destination of Pueblo (famous for free government information). The bridge is the tallest in the United States and until 2001, was the tallest bridge in the world.

We headed off into the San Juan Mountains, where we crossed the San Juan River for about the sixth time in the last two days. The landscape got much greener, which was a welcome sight. Another long stretch without cell service, too. It's amazing how much of the West we've been through without cell coverage since Montana. And on major highways to boot. We've often worried what would happen if we broke down.

The higher we went, though, the cooler it got. Durango was around 89 degrees, but it got all the way down to around 55 in the mountains. We thought for a moment that we even saw some snowflakes.

It started raining again on the way back down, which was fine by us since we were past the steep inclines and sharp curves, and weren't planning to get out of the car for a while.

From there it was back into farm and ranch country. There was one ranch after another, followed by a series of farms that all had circular fields instead of the square ones that we're used to seeing, which works much better for the rotating irrigation systems. I was also interested to see that Colorado also favors the rectangular hay bales, arranged in large, rectangular stacks. In addition to the horses on the ranches, we saw a lot of cows and even a few llamas.

The green soon gave way to a red, rocky landscape. Very much like Red Rocks near Denver. 

We eventually made it back into green mountains as we reached Royal Gorge. In addition to the bridge, which also has a walking path, there's an incline railway, an aerial tramway, and even a little theme park to go with all of the other local attractions built around the bridge.

You can imagine our shock when we reached the entrance and saw a big sign that said "Bridge Closed."

Thoroughly confused, we ventured on and headed into the park. On our way up, we saw more signs that said the bridge was closed. As we rounded one of the many turns uphill, we found the answer.

Just a month earlier, there had been a huge fire (cause unknown) that burned down much of the surrounding forest and every one of the park buildings.

The bridge itself suffered only minimal damage, but is currently closed for an indefinite period of time. The whole area was a rather jarring site, as you can imagine. The road to the picnic area was still open, which offers the only view of the bridge from a distance.

We looked into going to a local drive-in theater in Pueblo to see The Lone Ranger (keeping with the Western theme), but Madison wasn't feeling well. So, we called it an early night and relaxed at the hotel. Watching Harry Potter (Azkaban) on TV and eating take-out from Cracker Barrel, complete with crayons -- still a great evening together.

Day 10: From Navajo Country to Cowboy Country

There's nothing much better than waking up inside a National Park and seeing the Grand Canyon right outside your door. We got up early because we had a lot of driving and were losing an hour due to a time zone change.

We had a fantastic breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Probably the best we'd had since Custer. Which was great, because in the end we wouldn't have time for lunch. Which also ended up working out great.

We stopped at a few overlooks on our way out of the Grand Canyon, and had to resist temptation to just start hiking or stop even more. It just calls out to you.

Our route out of the Grand Canyon was through the desert and Navajo country. The trees around the Canyon quickly disappeared and everything was red. All rocks and dirt, all the same color. We saw a lot of trailers and small, ramshackle houses. The temps went back up to 105. There were a lot of little roadside shops that sell Navajo crafts and jewelry. We stopped at one to get John some buffalo jerky. There was no sales tax because it was Navajo land.

When we turned onto our main route, Highway 160, I was anxious to get up to speed. hoping for another 75 mph highway, but luck was not on our side. It was only 65, was all two-lane roads, and we got stuck behind one slowpoke after another. The killer was when we hit road construction (again!). We thought it would be a quick stop because there were flag persons, but they still kept us waiting about 40 minutes or so because they were paving a very long stretch.

When we finally got back underway, the clock was not in our favor with what we still wanted to see. We had dinner reservations at the Bar D Chuckwagon in Durango, and we had to get there by 6:45 if we wanted steak. Otherwise, it was chicken or beef, and if we didn't get there by 7:30, we wouldn't make it at all.

Our first detour was to take the scenic route through Monument Valley. We didn't really have time at this point, but were hoping we could make it up later. 

Besides, that's what we were there for and how often do you get a chance to ride through Monument Valley? We decided to do our best and let the chips fall where they may.

It was worth the extended detour. Monument Valley is just so breathtaking, you can't believe it. Because it's not a main highway, there was less traffic (thankfully) and we were among the same group of cars who kept pulling over to take photos. It's no wonder John Ford shot so many Westerns here.

While we were able to regain some ground in Monument Valley, we had to slow back down as we headed into the mountains afterwards. The landscape turned from red to yellow. We finally saw our first scattered collection of oil rigs on the whole trip. Though they were all rather small, compared to what we were expecting.

Our next stop, which was really pushing it, was the Four Corners Monument. This I've been wanting to visit ever since seeing it on How the States Got Their Shapes (an absolutely fascinating special). Four Corners is the only point in the US where four states come together: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

We sped in, paid our fee, and ran straight  to the monument. It's on Navajo land, which was really cool. The monument is essentially a large circular plaza where you take your picture standing in four states at one time. It's surrounded by booths featuring Native American art and other things. Honestly, we didn't really have time to look because we were so pressed for time. We didn't even take an extra minute to go to the bathroom.

There were two families standing in line in front of us, including one woman who thought it would be a great idea to have her friend film her dancing in four states while the rest of us waited. She finally took her bow, so Madison and I got our shot. Marsha took our picture and we raced back to the car. Wish we could have had more time, but we did it!

From there we raced across Colorado to the Bar D Chuckwagon. We made it just in the nick of time (no steak, of course) and finally got to relax a bit.

It's been around since 1969 and is still going strong. There's a little western village with shops selling gifts, fudge, and more. There's also a little train, but we arrived too late for that. The main area are several rows of numbered picnic tables. Since we got there last, we were in the back. That was cool, so we could just follow everyone else. They start with a moment for prayer, then everyone lines up table by table, heads through the line to get your food, which also consisted of beans, potato, biscuit, apple sauce, and a square of spice cake. It was a lot of food! This is why we were glad we skipped lunch.

After eating, we relaxed at our tables to watch the Bar D Wranglers perform a great selection of Western tunes, including some rewritten comedy numbers. They were great, and one of the Wranglers had been in the group for 25 years. He was amazing.

After a rousing finish of "America the Beautiful" (we can sure attest to that!) and "God Bless the USA," it was back to town to check into our hotel, the Historic Strater Hotel, built in the late 1800s.

This place is incredible! It looks like you've stepped back in time (except for a few modern upgrades, of course). 

There's even a saloon right off the lobby with live piano and saloon girls. 

Everyone is in costume. The whole place is just fantastic. I can't wait to explore it in the morning. One other detail I did already notice us that Louis L'Amour wrote many of his books here, in Room 222. Now that is very cool.