Durango to Silverton: Steam Power

July 9 --
The full trip was Farmington to Durango to Silverton to Durango to Farmington.



Just to get this out of the way, the scenery was gorgeous and the train follows the course of the Animas River. Sometimes we rode high above it but for the most part we travelled beside it.

We purchased seats in the observation car. These were benches that faced outward -- sold three to a bench. Now, if we were all small people weighing no more than say, 145 lbs, this might have worked. I ended up sitting next to this older couple. After about 10 minutes he stood up so she could have more room. She fussed at him because she was sure he wouldn't be able to stand the whole time. In exchange for her concern, he muttered, "Missed it" every time she raised her camera to take a photo. She would then make a show of removing the camera from around her neck. "You take pictures then." "No, you take them. I'm just saying you need to learn how to shoot from the hip. . ." Repeat for four hours.

At another point he asked her how she liked the trip. She said, "I won't remember anything but his shoulder." She had to look at me every time she wanted to see what was coming up. Still later, the old guy is on his cell phone. He's called up a friend who works for GMC because they rented a Chevy Malibu and he had some questions about the car. When his lovely wife picked up on the conversation she kept repeating, "Tell him it sucks. Tell him the bucket seats suck. Tell him I don't fit in them and I hate it." (Remember the small benches assigned three per?). Did I mention that the scenery was gorgeous?

When we boarded in Silverton for the return trip the woman mentioned that she wished they had known about the coach that ran between Silverton and Durango. The coach makes the return trip in 45 minutes instead of 4 hours. Karen -- bless her soul -- said they could ride it using their train tickets and they were off the train like a shot.

On the return trip, Karen and I had a bench to ourselves and so did my parents. Four hours passed like 45 minutes.

All of that is to say this: The exterior world we live in is a reflection of the interior world we have created. If you don't like what you're seeing, get a mirror.