Colorado - 2

Driving into Colorado through La Junta is driving from desert into desert

Taking the Walsenburg exit and traveling to Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Is a very pretty and changing drive as you leave the plains and climb into the mountains

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Up and down Summit Peak is fun as you pass RV camps where hoards come to party

From Pagosa Springs, Chimney Rock is a stone’s throw so to speak

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Pagosa Springs is kind of a place to stay rest and explore from

Durango allows you to go two different ways

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Mesa Verde NP is one of the most spiritual places I have ever been

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You climb a long winding road to the Visitor Center and then even further

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You drive around a rim where you can plainly see communities built into the side of the mountain

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We were not healthy enough to actually take most of the tours but we saw and felt so very much

North out of Durango you drive next to the Durango Silverton Railroad up to the community of Silverton

A small touristy town not unlike other similar towns we have seen many times

The drive there and also to Montrose was mountainous with incredible views and thrilling drop offs

There was a particular flowing almost orange colored stream near an old mining area

It was both beautiful and haunting and we took pictures

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Somewhere on the road past Montrose we cut across on a narrow gravel road

This connected us with a highway 149 in Lake City and we continued through scenic country

We drove through Creede and went to a local somewhat famous theatre there

We drove to Chama NM from Pagosa Springs and took a bus to Antonito Colorado

From there we boarded a wonderful narrow gauge train and rode back to Chama

For one brief hot long day we really felt as though we were back in the old west

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From Pagosa Springs we headed back to Denver but not the way we had come

We drove through Fairplay and toward Mt. Evans over a very high mountain pass

Colorado has so many different features from desert, to the tallest of mountains and more

Tomorrow I will talk about Rocky Mountain NP, Dinosaur NP, and the wonderful Poudre River

John