Colorado - Durango to Silverton Train

One day the entire family took the train ride on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. What a day! It was July and they had overbooked the seats for sure. We chose to ride in the open-air cars to take in all the scenery and oh my, what scenery! It was absolutely beautiful! It was a long ride but we enjoyed every minute of it going up into the mountains to Silverton. We had been warned to bring along warm clothing because even in the hot summer months it could be very cold up in the mountains and we could possibly even see snow. As it turned out the entire day was hot and we lugged around heavy jackets all day. The seating was so tight on the cars that more often than not you had to stand up. Once we arrived in Silverton we had several hours to spend there visiting all the tourist shops and eateries before getting back on the train for the long, long ride back to Durango. They do offer a bus ride back and if we ever take that trip again we will know to take it for the return trip. Going back you see basically the same scenery and let me tell you, by the end of the ride we all had sore bottoms! Upon arrival we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant in Cortez, called Francesca’s. What an adventure!

this was our train ride on the way up into the mountains

David and Linda enjoying the ride and taking in all the scenery in an open-air car

the gang arrives in Silverton after a few hours on the train

the train waits for us to to explore Silverton

Silverton, Colorado

Silverton, Colorado

David and Linda cool down with ice cream cones in Silverton

the entire gang at Francesca's Restaurant in Cortez, Colorado... after a long day of train riding

Colorado - Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde National Park is a most fascinating place! Mesa Verde is Spanish for green table. Here you can take a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made this their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. You can actually go down on a walking tour with a guide but we opted not to do that on our trip. It was a full day just to drive around and take in all the sites. The lines were very, very long for the tours and you had to go up and down a lot of steep steps so we looked from the observation deck. It amazes me how the Pueblo’s lived and how intelligent they were to build these structures using the natural geography to shelter them. Entire complexes were built. I guess they knew just how and where to build in order to keep cool in this hot enviroment as well as using the geography to protect them from rain and other weather elements.

one of the major complexes at Mesa Verde

Linda and David standing at the overlook to the above photo

Linda and David at another overlook in the Mesa Verde National Park

4 Corners

In the summer of 2005 we had a family reunion in Colorado. It was my first time in Colorado other than a few brief plane changes at the airport in Denver. Aside from having a fun week with David’s family we also took some side trips. Today I will talk about the 4 corners. The 4 Corners is the only place in the United States where four states come together at one place. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet here. They have built it up now to where as you can see in the photos below you can actually stand in all 4 states at one time. It is located in the middle of nowhere on Navajo Nation land and is open for visits from the public for a small fee. The Navajo have set up a few little open air shops where you can buy trinkets and some refreshments. It was very windy the day we were there.

Linda and David standing in all 4 states

Kentucky

I should have posted this right after the Pennsylvania posts. I am a descendent of the family of Daniel Boone. Growing up I was always told I was a 7th generation decendent in the direct line of Daniel but in fact that is not the case. I am a direct line decendent of his brother, Israel. Israel had two sons, Jonathon (my line) and Jesse. It is reported that the parents of Jonathan Boone and his brother Jesse, died young and they were raised by their Uncle Daniel Boone, who is often mistakenly thought to be their father. I suppose this is how the information started and was passed down. On a visit to Kentucky a few years ago to visit David's brother who lives in Frankfort we made a special trip to visit the grave of Daniel Boone, the great American pioneer. If I remember my history correctly, he died in Missouri and was originally buried in a cave there, but his body and that of his wife Rebecca were relocated and buried in Frankfort, Kentucky. I have been able to trace my Boone ancestors back into the 900's to Humphrey DE BOHUN in France. It seems they migrated into England and Wales before coming to America in the 1700's, first settling just outside the Philadelphia area then later moving down into North Carolina.