Wednesday, August 10
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| This section of road is known as the "Million Dollar Highway". It is steep, winding, narrow and has no guard rails. |
Today we packed up again and got ready for our next part of the trip: Silverton Colorado. Dad and I got to drive separately in the CRV. I drove up until we hit the million dollar highway, and then it was all Dad and I was the expert photographer of the RV.
Once we got to our campsite (in the rain) we unpacked the RV and got all ready to have lunch and explore. Once the rain stopped, Evan and I ran out to the Silverton-Durango railroad tracks (right next to the campground) and put pennies on the tracks so when a train came by, they’d be flattened. We got really lucky, because once we finished putting them down we heard the train horn, so we didn’t have to wait long to get them back.
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| Our view from the campground |
We experimented a little bit with the pennies- Notes for next time: 1. Don’t use duct tape to hold them down, it’ll just melt on the tracks. 2. The pennies fly; look within three feet of where you placed it because it will kick the penny up. 3. Don’t use quarters, it’s expensive and it doesn’t work. 4. Don’t put pennies near the edge; they don’t get bent, they just fly off sooner.
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| The Durango-Silverton train arriving in Silverton. This is where we put pennies on the rail tracks. |
Once Evan and I had our fill of pennies and trains, we walked downtown from the campsite to scout out a place for dinner (and of course shop a little.) To be honest, it was kinda a let down; all of the shops carried the same stuff. Literally. The ‘special’, ‘handcrafted’ dishes were the exact same in every shop. When we got tired of shopping, Dad, Evan and I went to their funnel cake store for a funnel cake and ice cream. Note to self: Peanut butter drowns out all the goodness of funnel cake, don’t do it.
We all went back to the RV to hang out for a little while before heading to the handlebars saloon for dinner. This whole town is a little funky; the streets are all dirt roads, there are no schools within 20 miles and every shop seems to be closing or needing help. That said, handlebars saloon was “5 stars for Silverton but 3 stars anywhere else.... At least they try.” So handlebars was this super crowded saloon with stuffed animals EVERYWHERE. Not like cuddly stuffed animals but like dead things that look still alive...ish. The food took a while, but we definitely had a good meal.
Once we got back to the RV, Evan and I went back to the railroad tracks to of course put more pennies on the tracks. Once it got dark, Dad and I went back to the tracks to take more pictures of stars (even though it was cloudy and all the RVs were polluting the light.)
Thursday, August 11
Today the bright and early was more bright and late, because we didn’t get out of bed til 8! It was awesome. When we got up, we figured that we had about 4 hours before we needed to pack up the RV and get ready for the train.
Mom and Dad got to thinking about taking an ATV out and trying one of the Silverton trails. The getting to thinking became reality after breakfast, so around 9:30 we walked downtown to rent two 4-seaters to drive to the ghost town around 8 miles away.
We got the 2 ATVs, Mom driving me and Papa and Dad driving Evan. We drove first to the ghost town of Animas right along a river, and let me tell you, it was creepy. The speed limit there was 25 miles an hour but my very own Mom (the speed demon) drove on average 40s but at her max, she hit 58 miles an hour.
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| Ghost Mining Town |
We made it to the ghost town in record time, and let me tell you, this was spooky. The houses had really weird wood coloration that made it look even scarier, almost like it had caught fire and you were about to fall through the floors. One of the ceilings freaked me out so much I didn’t go in, but don’t worry- I made Papa get a picture of it.
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| Very Sketchy. An old gold sluicing operation-I guess! |
From Animas, we went up this really rocky (like huge rocks that your ATV will go up about 2 feet) path that was a mountain on one side, and a cliff on the other. It was definitely scary, but Mom handled it like a pro.
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| We made it to a very cold Cinnamon Pass - and weren't dressed for it. |
At the top of Cinnamon Pass it was 12,000 some feet above sea level and COLD. We didn’t stay there long.
On the scary drive back down, Mom and Dad let Evan and I drive. I of course was a pro (duh.) I don’t know about Evan because I was paying attention to not falling off the cliff… but I hear from Dad that he was pretty good.
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| Evan's first time behind the wheel on a real road. Yee Haa!!!! |
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| Totally killing it. |
We drove home super fast from there to have lunch and pack up the RV before driving to the depot to get our tickets to the train for Durango.
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| Dirt roads of Silverton. |
The train ride was absolutely GORGEOUS. It was a little under 4 hours… about hour longer than normal because the train that left before us lost it’s brakes, so we had to stop, hook up their cars and head down the mountain with double the weight.
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| The rocks were only inches away from the train |
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| The little train that could. |
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| I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. |
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| We had to pick up a second train |
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| Papa was waiting for us to come in with Chuck and Cheryl! |
The train went between rivers and rocks 2 feet away from the car- easy to say I took about 300 pictures. Papa won’t be too happy about that when he finds out :).
Once we got to Durango, we met Mimi and Papa’s friends Chuck and Cheryl for supper. We all went to a lovely place right off the train tracks, and then explored Durango shops (at least those still open.)
Tonight is supposed to be one the best meteor showers in years, so Dad and I are going to go out around 2 this morning to take some pictures and see it.
