Durango, CO

After leaving Mesa Verde National Park we rolled on down the hill into Durango, CO.

And found an RV campground, United Campground, just 4 miles north of Durango, along the Animas River ... and along the trolley route into downtown Durango (with the trolley stop just across the street from the campground).

We took the trolley (actually a bus designed to resemble a trolley) into town and walked with all of the other tourists up and down the downtown section ... catching dinner at a Himalayan restaurant and some ice cream afterwards before heading back "home".

Picture of the Strater Hotel in downtown Durango ... there were just too many pictures to take of buildings ... and the Durango Visitor's Center does a great job of publicizing the town ... I was more interested in the eclectic range of people strolling the streets, but felt that it might be a bit strange to be photographing the strange assortment of folks strolling the streets of Durango on a Saturday night ...

Picture of a post-gustatory smile on Paul's clean shaven face ... he did as he had promised to shave his grizzled face ...

This morning we rode our bikes from our campground down to the Animas River Trail ... the trail now extends much further south than it had during our last stay in Durango ... and the overcast sky kept the temperatures moderate ... just a wonderful experience to cycle alongside a robust river ... (yes, we have friends, Bob and Linda, who would wonder why one would cycle when one could kayak, but that may be for another trip).  It is just great to see a river that is really a river (not our Arizona dry river beds that only become "rivers" during monsoon season when the river beds flow with water).

Ending the ride with data, of course ...

The afternoon gave us the opportunity to drive from Durango to Silverton ... there is actually a bike race, Iron Horse, next weekend which involves cyclists racing the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railway engine from Durango to Silverton ... we wanted to see what it would be like (not enough to ride our bikes, but from the comfort of our car) ...

Durango Mountain Resort (formerly Purgatory) was a stop along the way ... these are the mountains overlooking the resort ... the resort was empty ... the summer season doesn't start until after Memorial Day and even the ski lifts were not running for a touristy run up the ski slopes ...

I had been looking for big horn sheep in all of our remote hike locations only to find one hanging out on the road (rather oblivious of all the traffic on the road ... creating a bit of a "ram jam") ...

We crossed Molas Pass (10,900 feet) on our way to Silverton and realized just how slowly spring comes to the Rockies ...

And, after a quick tour of Silverton, returned home ... incredibly glad that we did the trip by car, not bike, and are quite glad that we'll not be a part of the Iron Horse Bike Race next week ...