After Pagosa Springs, the WINs moved on to Durango, CO. It's another cute little town, most famous for one thing, but we'll get to that later.
First, we went out to see Vallecito Lake. The water level is WAY down here and everywhere in Colorado, due to lack of snowfall last winter and lack of rain this summer.
Back in 2002, there was a big fire in this area. Over 70,000 acres were burned.
All around the lake are 15 carvings on dead trees celebrating the firefighters and the rebirth of the area. This firefighter is waiting for the slurry bomber to suppress the fire around her.
This doe and fawn tells the story of a six week old fawn found under a log and rescued by a firefighter.
"The Rebirth of Vallecito" shows the sun instead of flames and the return of animals, trees and ground cover after the fire.
One really interesting thing about Durango is that they have a Dumpster Beautification Project. You can take an alley tour and see art in unexpected places.
They also have deer right in town. These were right by the railroad tracks.
Which brings me to the famous tourist attraction here - the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Guess what I'm doing next!
The "dumpster beautification program" is kind of cool. So was the video. Enjoy your stay.
ReplyDeleteLove Durango.. That's the first place I ever tasted green chili anything. Started me on my green chili cookbook craze. Have a great time! Wish I was there too...
ReplyDeleteLove the carvings! Love the dumpsters!
ReplyDeleteIt's a passenger train - cool!
Ah, Durango! We spent a lot of time in Durango. And in 2010, Jack (my lab) and I went to a lovely restaurant on Vallecito after he swam in Lemon Reservoir. What a great day we had. The water was up.
ReplyDeleteOne thing Jack fell short on in the blog was details like the names of restaurants and campgrounds, but we were both half asleep after many full days. If you get a chance to go back, it really is a great place to eat. I had one of the best hamburgers I've ever had and the servers were just as nice as they could be.
I sure wish I could remember the name--it was such a pleasant place--colorful with Jimmy Buffet in the best weather on the most colorful deck right on the lake over a marina. Maybe you will recognize it by the pictures.
http://tinyurl.com/93p9num
Love hearing about people's adventures in this part of the country.
It looks more like a pond than a lake at the moment:(
ReplyDeleteLove those wood carvings.....was there years ago before the fire....makes me want to visit again.
ReplyDeletexo
Jo
I LOVE those tree carvings and the dumpster project! Both are such good ideas. That train is really long. They must be doing quite a business.
ReplyDeleteI love Durango! It's such a cool town! Hubby and I were there in 2010 and 2011. One of my favorite things was Soaring Tree Top Adventures which is a zipline. They take you to it on the Durango & Silverton train. There's no other way to get there. It was awesome! It takes all-day because there's over 30 ziplines and they serve lunch too. I want to do it again! Our little icon pic was taken on that train on our way to zipline.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful time tomorrow and throughout your stay in Durango!
D~~~~
Hmmm! When was just a young boy I loved cowboy movies. After the movies I would gallop around with my mates (buddies, pals)on our imaginery horses. We all took on personas of our heroes.One of the characters of a movie was the Durango Kid. He was my hero and I called myself Durango Kid. Well, at least until Audie Murphy came along and he became my new hero followed by Glen Ford and my final hero, John Wayne. Perhaps The Kid is mentioned somewhere around town as being famous.
ReplyDeleteGuess what you're doing next? Umm, dumpster diving???
ReplyDeleteI always say Im gonna take that train ride when Im out there but so far have not...it sure looks like FUN! LOVE the tree carvings how creative and what a great tribute to the regrowth of the community!
ReplyDeleteGreat video of the train. But did you take a ride?
ReplyDeleteMy summer stomping grounds while I was in college. For 6 summers straight I came to Durango, hopped on the train, but got off at Needleton and hiked up into the Weminuche Wilderness. I then either caught the train at Elk Park or back at Needleton, or hiked out down Vallecito Creek to Vallectio Reservoir. Sure miss those days.
ReplyDeleteDurango and the train have been on my list for a long time. One of these days it's actually be at the top. Loved the video.
ReplyDeleteWe missed Durango this trip, but plan to stop next year on our way back from the Pacific Northwest. It looks like a great place. We will definitely do the train ride.
ReplyDeleteYou're in beautiful Durango sharing beautiful pics and I choose to comment on the dumpster. LOL. Go figure, but that just struck a chord with me. Dumpster Beautification - I love it. :) I wish it would catch on across the country.
ReplyDeleteWe saw a couple of "beautified" dumpsters in Seward, Alaska a few years ago ... would be nice to see this project take off across the country. Love the wood carvings; a neat way of telling the story.
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