Category: Road Trip 2012

I haven't blogged in a few days because we have mainly been on the road with just a few fun stops.

After getting off the train in Durango we drove a few miles east and spent the night in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Soon after we left the next morning we left the Rockies behind. In northeastern New Mexico we stopped at Capulin National Monument. It is an extinct cinder cone volcano. We drove up the road almost to the top and then did the hike around the rim.The view from the top was fantastic.

Capulin was pretty much the last mountain we saw as we drove towards Guymon, Oklahoma to spend the night, Guymon is in the panhandle of Oklahoma.

On Monday we drove from Guymon across the great plains to Joplin, Missouri. Joplin is in the southwestern corner of Missouri and is green and wooded. On May 22 last year an enormous tornado hit Joplin killing 160 people. We didn't see the tornado damage in Joplin but we did see some tornado damage along the road during the day.

Tuesday morning we visited the George Washington Carver National Monument just south of Joplin. The farm where Carver grew up is covered with  trees, there is a stream running through it and there were birds and butterflies everywhere. It is easy to understand why he loved nature. The visitor center told the story of how Carver was born a slave, never knew his father, lost his mother early on and then went on to be a world famous scientist. Of course the fact that he graduated from my alma matter, Iowa State University is a source of pride to me. We learned a lot about his life and his many discoveries It was a cool, bright morning and we really enjoyed walking the nature trail.

From Joplin we drove through the Ozarks to Branson, Missouri which is only 112 miles. The scenery was hilly and green. We had a nice picnic lunch just outside of Branson

Just recently a tornado also hit Branson. There was some very impressive damage in Branson. It must have been very scary when the tornado went through. One of hte buildings hit was the Hilton. Lots of windows were blown out and are now boarded up and the Hilton is closed.

We had a wonderful dinner overlooking the river and watched a water and light show.

 

From Branson we drove to Memphis Tennessee where we spent the night with my sister lizabeth and her daughter katherine.. We had a wonderful  visit and then left for Nashville yesterday.

We visited Nashville on our Honeymoon so it is fun to be back 9 years later. We went out honky tonking last night. That is visiting the bars down town to listen to the music. It was a much fun as I remembered. I don't know anywhere else in the world that you can hear so much great music. We must have visited 6 or 8 bars in two blocks and they each had great bands playing for tips. And we certainly didn't visit every bar! We also had a great dinner at a restaurant from our last visit because Duke remembered the meat loaf. It was a great as we remembered

 

Yesterday was day four of our road trip. It was a great day. It was also a long day. But most of all it was an incredibly fun day.  We rode the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway from Durango to Silverton. Had lunch and did some shopping in Silverton and then rode the train back to Durango. We boarded at 8:30 in the morning and didn't get back to Durango until almost 7 last night. The train runs 45 miles from Durango north to Silverton along the Animas River through wilderness that can only be accessed by train.

It was a wonderful day for a lot of reasons. During the winter the train just goes part way to Silverton and then turns around. Today was the first trip of the season for the train to go all the way to Silverton. There was a festive air. It was an extra long train so part of the time we had two steam locomotives pulling us. There were all sorts of people along the route  who were waving and taking pictures as the train went by.

The route follows the Animas River. It was full from snow run off and there were lots of waterfalls coming into the river. When we were at over 9000 feet there were still jagged snow covered peaks towering above the canyon.The most impressive part of the ride was the High Line. The train creeps along a narrow rock ledge 240 feet above the river.

And the history was fascinating. The Durango and Silverton railroad has been in continuous operation since 1882 when Durangoa and Silverton were booming mine towns.

But the best part of the whole experience was the people. There were four or five people in character who took turns coming into our car and  telling us about their lives on the frontier in the area.

The conductors and concessions people were friendly and clearly excited. They hung around and answered our questions and pointed out their favorite sites along the route. They even pointed out a moose that was swimming across the river to get away from the train.

We stopped several times to take on water. Another time we stopped so three hikers could get off the train to start their back packing trip.

One of the coolest things though was that the owner of the railroad was riding the train. He stopped in our car and talked with us. He told us he used to be a Florida real estate developer which allowed him to fulfill a dream and buy a railroad. He now owns a couple of other railroads and manges several others including the Tequila Train outside of Guadalajara, Mexico. He talked about how important he thinks it is to make history and our heritage alive and fun. His passion was contagious.

These trains are a for profit operation and you couldn't help but notice how it improved the experience.  The guidebook cost $20 but it is a 188 page well written book with lots of color pictures. It covers everything from the history, to what we saw along the route, to how to run a railroad. Everyone we ran into from the owner down to the girl selling guidebooks made us feeling like we were a part of something very special.

If you ever get the chance take a ride on the Durangoa and Silverton Narrow Gauge railway. Do it!

 

 

 

 

 

Duke and I left Wednesday on a six week U.S. road trip. From Reno we pretty much drove straight through to Cedar City Utah. We drove 527 miles. Nevada has some beautiful scenery and a lot of sage brush but we have explored much of it on previous trips.

Thursday our first stop was Zion National Park. We drove through the 1.1 mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. it was built in the 1920s. In this picture you can see one of the ventilation holes in the tunnel.

Right on the other side of the tunnel is the Valley Overlook trail. It is a one mile round trip trail with an amazing view. It was a perfect day and a great hike.

From Zion we drove to Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park. If you look very closely you can see Duke on top of that sand dune. You should also be able to click on the picture to get a bigger view.

Our next stop was the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The dam created Lake Powell in northern Arizona. I was surprised that it was just completed in 1966.

Our mileage Thursday was 487 miles so after our stops at Zion and Pink Coral Sand Dunes we didn't get to Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park in south west Colorado until sunset. We watched a beautiful sunset as we were driving into the park and then had a fabulous dinner with a bottle of wine at the lodge restaurant.

This morning (Friday) we took a tour of the park including climbing down into the Cliff Palace Cave Dwellings. Native Americans lived at Mesa Verde and farmed corn, beans and squash for 700 years but the cliff dwellings were only occupied for about the last 80 years before the Native Americans migrated south in search of water.

Mesa Verde is covered with archaeological sites. We saw pit houses and a fascinating museum. I would like to visit again some day. After a picnic lunch we headed to Durango where we are tonight.

If you would like ot see all of our pictures from this trip they are available on Flickr here.