Day Four (12/5)

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail.
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This morning, we took the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango, CO to Canyon Creek.  It was a really cool ride with awesome views.  We had to limit the pictures we posted; Francis was a little camera-happy (he was around trains, after all!)  The ride was about two hours and then we stopped at a spot that pretty much just had picnic tables.  There was about an inch or two of snow on the ground (obviously a few days old) and we hiked a little bit to a neat footbridge to take more shots before having a picnic lunch.  The train also has a neat Polar Express ride for kids.  It looked kickass, but we were too old and weren't going to be there in time.

Most of the time, we had a car all to ourselves!
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When we got back from the train ride, we headed out to Mesa Verde, about 45 minutes away.  Francis forgot about the ride into the park which was about 15-20 miles of very steep, windy roads which, at this time of year, were often covered in ice.  It was kinda scary, but the views were great.  May we strongly recommend that you DO NOT go at the end of the day!  While you can kinda see a great sunset, trying to make your way back down that road in in the dark can be not-so-fun.  In any case, we got in too late to hit the museum or get any tours, but we got some really cool shots anyway.

"Francis likes choo-choos!"

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We're finishing the night in Cortez, about 10 minutes west of Mesa Verde.  Tomorrow, we shall head on out to Utah.