Dobbs' Desert Trek 2010

If our trip could be divided into cowboys and indians, today and tomorrow are cowboy days. We drove over a mountain pass that was part San Juan National Forest. Unlike the National Parks we usually visit, this one did not have much in the way of 'scenic pullouts,' but they did have one, and it was a doozy. The picture above is one Amy took with her magic landscape feature.

Traveling over such rugged terrain on nicely paved roads, I found it hard to believe that anyone in a wagon made it. I can tell you right now that I'd have been buried along the trail (possibly alive, to shut up my whining). Durango, our stop for tonight, is in the Animas river valley and sits at 7800 feet. Wagon trains in the mid 1800's sometimes stopped here for a rest after their mountain passage while the men did temporary labor on the railroad,  The city of Durango was incorporated in 1880 and the hotel was built by a teenager (literally) in 1887. Our room is full of antiques, pressed wall paper, and custom wallpaper on the ceiling. When we moved into our little Speedway house, it had wallpaper on the ceiling . . . but somehow it wasn't as nice as this.
 After visiting the depot and museum (see Mark's entry), and getting a taste of what's in store of us tomorrow, we wandered the shops and bravely resisted some absolutely beautiful pottery and baskets. We did stop in for a cool Italian Soda (so appropriate Amy was wearing her Italia shirt) at a cafe. Then we ate dinner at a French Cafe - so much for Cowboys. Durango sure has changed.