Greetings at the Durango Inn: Kelly, Kathi, Dan, Gavin
Sean
Gavin and Daddy Dan (or Dandy Dad)
Scene in the Durangon railyard
The Palace Restaurant is next door to the depot in Durango
Assemblage of Knights
Jerry, Cameron, Christi, Jim, Ian, (Mick & Mary on the edge)
Dueling Photographers - Who is the faster draw?
Cameron and Grandma Kathi
Left, Vince, Maureen and Nick
Engineer Peak in the far distance. It was a hazy Sunday morning when Jim and I decided to take a drive to Missionary Ridge
The Animas Valley floor
More of the red cliffs and the valley floor
Jim was attracted to this route when he saw the many switchbacks on the map. It exceeded our expectations.
She had recently been involved in a fight and she was nursing a bad ear.
This gentlemen has lived on Missionary Ridge for a number of years. Just out walking the dogs, but he spent a few minutes with us as we admired his scenery.
Missionary Ridge was the site of a famous fire earlier in the decade. Vince MacMillan was one of the first firefighters on the scene and one of the last to sign off.
The Missionary Ridge forests are enjoying beautiful regeneration.
Jim has always had an eye for an unusual photograph.
The Animas Valley floor is a fascinating patchwork quilt.
Another attempt to capture Engineer Mountain in the haze.
Even the clouds were photogenic that morning.
We came across wild turkeys as we came back to the valley floor.
After Missionary Ridge, we drove to Hermosa, one of the railroad section houses where Dad had lived and grown up.
We were lucky to get a good view of the train beginning its daily climb to Silverton.
Did Dad live in the shadows of this water tower? It appears it may have been the original from about 1885.
Jim believe this is the site of the section house at Hermosa.
Jim remembers Dad talking about the Trimble Hot Springs at Hermosa. from his boyhood. The present installation is very modern and up-to-date.
There is a glide port near Hermosa.
On Monday morning we began our week long tour in earnest, driving the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton. The narrow gage tracks are on the right.
This is an establishment Mom and Dad would enjoy on their visits to Silverton
The joints in Silverton make most of their money serving the train travelers
Almost all of their business comes from riders of the Durango and Silverton. The first trainload will arrive in minutes
The beautiful back bar at the Imperial Palace
Taking it in.
The first train of the day will reboard soon for its 45-mile trip back down to Durango as the second puffs into town.
We decide to challenge a dirt road in search of the Sunnyside Mine area where Uncle Tom worked for many years as a young man
The following pictures are all snaps from our excursion to Sunnyside Mine
The pictures show many abandohned and some current mining and dredging operations
An old retaining wall
Old and Recent
This quonset structure, part of the modern operations at Sunnywide, was crushed by an avalance the previous winter (2007-2008)
Back into Silverton - and the county courthouset
Silverton City Hall
St Patricks Catholic Church - One of Dad's sisters was the first to be married when it was a new edifice early in the 20th Century.
One of the charming homes of Silverton
Now on the road to Ouray
We enjoyed wildflowers in abundance every day. We had a construction roadblock of about 20 minutes at the site.
Columbine is Colorado's official flower
Tuesday, first day in NM. Jim and I decided to change routes and immediately came to the Jemez Red Rocks and this Jemez family vending wonderful food from a picnic kiosk.
The red rocks were beautiful.
But we were even more taken by the family selling their food.
I put the camera away, and didn't get it out until Jim snapped these pictures of this giant caldera. The collapsed crater is one of the largest in North America.
Great elk herds roam the caldera
On Wednesday morning we decided to drive the Enchanted Circle, a grand route that includes Taos and many beautiful sites.
We encountered the captivating village of Cundiyo where the highway became a tiny lane winding among closely situated dwellings.
A graveyard next to the church.
A log flume carries water across this valley, presumably for irrigation
We spent Thursday morning in old Santa Fe. This the Cathedral Bassilica of St. Francis of Assissi.
Jim wanted to take me into the Loretto Chapel, where Jud had take him once.
Kinetic sculptures are very popular in Santa Fe... more of these to come!
We had to wait awhile for Loretto Chapel to open, but it was worth it.
An artist's studio across the street from Loretto Chapel featured beautiful bronzes.
The front of the chapel.
Adobe building is part of the Loretto Chapel facility; Navajo woman displaying her jewelry
Beautiful sculptures grace the entry of the Inn at Loretto, also part of the Loretto Chapel complex
The wind sculpture at the right fascinated me for awhile, trying to capture the various configurations
Another of those confounded wind sculptures
Inside the Chapel and the Miraculous Staircase
The Plaza at Santa Fe with the Palace of the Governors overlooking the plaza
Santa Fe is the second oldest city in the United States, following St. Augustine, Florida
More of the plaza and the Palace of the Governors
Another view of the Palace of the Governors where Indians gather daily to sell their beautiful merchandise. Space on the plaza is a premium/
Maybe the best view of the historic Palace of the Governors. taken from our tour bus.
The tour guide was knowledgeable about Santa Fe and had interesting information about the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assi si
Construction of the cathedral was never finished. The two towers were originally designed to be spires, and the tower on the left has an additional row of blocks added to the top.
The Archbiship is reported to have said, “God's work is never done, and my cathedral shall never be done”
Beautiful works of art and artists studios are all over the central part of Santa Fe
Our tour bus stopped at this park and cluster of artists studios. Many pictures to follow from this beautiful place.
Mark, with Tom and Becky
This old goat is not part of the display
We were encouraged to photograph, even using the flash
I loved the simplicity of this painting, an anachronism among the beautiful paintings and sculptures of Native Americans
This scultor captured incredibly detailed beadwork in all of his works.
Back on the bus, driving by more and more studios
Stop the world, I want to get off.
A Quaker meeting house in the middle of old Santa Fe
The ladder on the roof of this adobe is symbolic of the Pueblo people
This is part of the original system of irrigation canals that ran through old Santa Fe
A beautiful monument to the Santa Fe Trail
Our tour guide at the left with the rest of our tour group.
This is the New Mexico State Capitol
Jim was fascinated by this arrangement of the clouds seeming to reflect the river in the sky.
The Rio Grande
Indian vendors are set up at the Rio Grande Gorge
I encountered this fellow walking to the middle of the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge.
This is the Rio Grande Gorge
This is the Chapel at San Luis
Somewhere in this alcove of the chapel is a plaque for Uncle Tom (Thomas Knight) memorializing a donation to the chapel made by our family from his estate. The light at that time of the day made it impossible to find the plaque. Looking back, I think I could have photographed all of the plaques in the room and we could have picked it out later.
The man on the far right I recognized as Bob Sheaffer, currently running as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
The chapel is famous for the Stations of the Cross which lead up the lane climbing to the chapel.
A vew of San Luis from the chapel
Mount Blanca near Alamosa. Dad worked at the Mount Blanca Drug Store.
We stopped at Homelake to visit Uncle Tom's grave
We took a room for the night at the famous Best Western Movie Manor and watched a movie (Get Smart) from our room - note the reflections in the window.
The railroad tracks at the bottom of the picture are part of the old D&RG,, and now the scenic Cumbres and Toltec route, approaching Cumbres Pass
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad approaching Cumbres Pass out of Chama
Vince & Cary's house at Dolores
This boulder is in their yard
This old house is also on their property, and Vince has researched proof that it was the original homestead in Dolores. He has found an old photograph in the public library with the big rock in the picture. The original part of the building is on the right, and the two-story addition came later (but not much later).
The greatest single attraction to Vince was the opportunity to own his own climbing wall.
This picture gives you a better sense of scale of this pebble.
We drove the Paradox area for a chance to see the Hanging Flume
Amazing Hanging Flume. Started in 1888 and finished in 1891, the 13 mile long hanging flume delivered water to a mining operation.
One of the man made wonders of the world, the hanging flume extended for some 5-1/2 miles suspended from the canyon wall
We drove from the Paradox / Hanging Flume Canyon on a dirt road, often very narrow, that was called the “Old Montrose Highway”.
It was another unbelievably beutiful drive on a dirt road that we just took a chance on.
Wild Rose
Wildflowers in Abundance
Beautiful aspen groves were large enough to be called forests
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
It is said that some parts of the canyon never receive direct sunlight.
Blue Mesa Reservoir as we neared the town of Gunnison
