Sunday, July 29, 2012

Durango, Silverton & Santa Fe







DURANGO & SANTA FE ROAD TRIP
8 – 16 July 2012
We wanted to attend the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, NM and decided to lengthen the trip by going to Durango, CO to ride the Durango-Silverton Train. We worked the travel dates around the market, picked a route, and made reservations at Marriott hotels along the way. Our route took us from Southlake to Amarillo via US287 and then to Albuquerque via I-40.

We took I-40 west as we headed for Albuquerque. Before reaching the New Mexico border we were amazed by two things: a huge feedlot with acres of pens of cattle that included its own grain elevator; rows of wind turbines that stretched for about 15 miles along the north side of the road. We saw some plowed fields that probably grew wheat; some cotton fields; some ranchland. The terrain changed from a virtually flat plain to one with a few hills and valleys and then to one with mesas. After stopping at the “Visitors’ Center,” just over the state line, we drove through the area known as “Mesalands.” Some areas are pretty in their contrasts: red soil; flat-topped hills [mesas] that jut perpendicularly from the flat land; wide valleys with stunted mesquite bushes and trees; splotches of grayish-green grass. Most of the area looked to be used for holding the Earth together but was probably ranch land. There were a few towns to the north of the highway and most of them touted their claim to fame, “on US Route 66.” Since we entered the Mountain Time Zone when we crossed the border, we lost an hour.

From Albuquerque, we drove US 650 all the way to Durango. The drive was somewhat monotonous as the highway was fairly straight for most of the way. The rolling terrain was somewhat interesting but arid. Hills, mesas, canyons and arroyos provided almost the only scenery from the time we left Albuquerque until we were almost to Bloomfield. It was a four-land-divided-highway with a speed limit of 70 almost all the way. A few places had slower speeds.  There wasn’t much vegetation except for scrub brush; stunted trees and grayish-green needle-like grass. It was mostly bare ground and/or rock. In some places, the sides of the hills and mesas showed strata of different colors of soil: gray; black; white red; beige and all variations of those colors.  We had been warned to watch for speed traps in Cuba, but saw no law enforcement on the entire drive. We did see the “Cattle Lack Feed Company” in Cuba. We crossed the Continental Divide and continued our ascent with some elevations over 7000 feet. The farther North we drove, the more gas wells we saw and some places only seemed to exist to be pump stations. Much of the land is reservations of various tribes but it’s difficult to tell which is and which is not. Most of the structures we saw looked temporary and dilapidated. We saw hundreds of mobile homes. Although we kept looking for livestock, we only saw about a half dozen head of cattle and a couple of dozen horses. When we reached the San Juan River, we saw some green pasture with more cattle and horses, and a bit of prosperity. Then we reached the towns of Bloomfield and Aztec which are situated less than ten miles apart along the Animas River. Here we saw lots of evidence of petroleum production with materials and equipment available to do everything from preparing the location to drilling the well and then completing the production and transport. Just outside Aztec, we saw lots of irrigation and hay and silage production on small tracts along the river. Once we crossed into Colorado, the entire area began to look more prosperous and there was more irrigation along with more livestock. Here the highway changed to a two-lane one.


DURANGO
We checked into the “Strater Hotel,” a historic structure on Main Avenue. Our room, which is on the front of the building, was wallpapered in what purports to be high-style-Victorian and contained all Victorian furniture: bed, marble-topped dresser; side tables; marble topped lamp table; marble topped stand to hold the TV; drop front secretary; marble topped coffee table; settee; uncomfortable chair. It’s somewhat over-the-top. The hotel claims to have one of the largest, if not the largest, collections of Victorian furniture in the US; it’s everywhere. We left the hotel and spent a while walking the street. There was a brief rain shower in the afternoon. We decided to have dinner at “Jean Pierre.” What a great meal!  A group of some 12 to 15 people and calling themselves the “Durango Barbershop Singers” came into the restaurant and sang a couple of numbers before walking on up the street. We caught up with them on the way back to the hotel and heard them a few more times. We walked around downtown for quite a while; it was cool and pleasant and we enjoyed being out. 

 


















DURANGO & SILVERTON NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD
We arrived at the train depot around 7:30 and got our souvenir train ticket; we already had the boarding passes which had come via email. We waited until they opened the door to the tracks at 8:00 and then boarded our car, “Cinco Animas,” the last car in the train. We had seats 3 and 4 out of sixteen seats in that car. We departed on time at 8:30 and the first half hour or so were rather boring as we made out way out of Durango and through a few other small towns; we had never seen so many manufactured houses and mobile homes. There was some irrigation and we saw some cattle and horses but the crop appeared to be hay. Sarah, our attendant, served drinks and a cinnamon roll. We made our way north via the narrow gauge railway and the old car really swayed, jerked and creaked. Fortunately, we were able to go onto a rear platform or to an open car in the front which wasn’t fully occupied; that gave us more viewing opportunities. Sarah was good at telling us when something would soon appear. We enjoyed seeing the terrain and the various trees. The tracks follow a river valley and we crisscrossed it all the way to Silverton. The bright, sunny day enhanced the scenery.  Water in the river tumbled and swirled around rocks in areas of rapids and flowed gently in others; a lower-than-average-rainfall provided a lower than normal water level. We saw some waterfalls, bridges, old mines and rock slides. We made three water stops as the coal burning engine requires lots of water to create steam. Black smoke pours from the funnel and some cinders fly but our car was enclosed. 




















After arriving in Silverton at noon, we walked directly to “Thee Pig ‘Again’ Barbeque” where we enjoyed lunch. Then we walked the town and made some photos. Only one street of Silverton is paved. There’s a city hall and the San Juan County Courthouse; it’s the only town in the county. Silverton’s elevation is at 9300 feet above sea level, and it receives 500 inches of snow annually. We were told that almost all the businesses close at the end of October and many of the residents leave. During the winter, the train only goes to Cascade which is about half way.  













At 2:00, we reboarded the train for the return to Durango. Some of the people in our car made the return trip by bus, so we got a few new ones. We thought the most amazing portion was the canyon of the Needle River---deep with rushing rapids. At one point we saw some people in rafts but they weren’t in the canyon; the water level is too low. We stopped at one point for staff to remove some rocks from the rains to prevent derailment. It was about 5:45 when we arrived in Durango. After dinner at "Jean-Pierre," we walked up and down Main Avenue and made some photos. We had a great day and the train ride exceeded our expectations.  













 




























We left Durango and drove east toward Pagosa Springs on 160. We saw more manufactured housing today. The drive was through ranching country and we saw several herds of horses and of cattle. Even travelers can tell that less than normal amounts of rainfall are taking their toll on the vegetation. At Pagosa Springs we turned South on US 84 which we followed all the way to Santa Fe. The smooth two-lane highway undulated through mountains as we went up, down and around, and the driving was easy.  Surprisingly, the highways in New Mexico are better than the ones in Colorado. Much of today’s scenery appeared to be the reverse side of Tuesday’s. There are some beautiful ranches but they’re very isolated. We found a Tourist Information office at Chama. Then we headed on South. Espanola was the only town of any size on our route.

SANTA FE
 We reached Santa Fe about mid-afternoon. A huge clap of thunder announced a brief rain about 3:30. We ate dinner at “Zia Diner.” After eating, we located the parking lots for the shuttle bus pickups for the Folk Art Market.  The next morning we drove to the Historic Plaza Area of Santa Fe in time to arrive there about 10:00. After parking in a garage, we walked up San Francisco Street toward the Plaza. Some of the stores don’t open until 11:00 but most opened at 10:00. We window shopped a lot. Around noon, we were tired and needed to rest so we went to lunch at “Blue Corn Café.:” It had warmed some and we were done for the day, so we headed back toward the car. Then we drove back toward the hotel. We decided that we need breakfast tomorrow morning because we need to leave the hotel before it opens, so we stopped at “Whole Foods.” Imagine having to fight your way into and out of a grocery store parking lot! We returned to the hotel to relax until time for tonight. About an hour after we got back to the hotel a little shower of rain fell. 
 

 INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET
The “Market Opening and Party” of the International Folk Art Market began at 6:30 Friday night. The market provides a retail outlet for artisans---many of them cooperatives---in their native countries and provides scholarships to some artisans. Since there is no parking allowed on “Museum Hill” during the market, free shuttles operate from a couple of locations; we chose the “South Capitol” location because it was closer to our hotel. Information said the shuttles would begin operating at 6:00, and we were in line waiting for the first bus. We actually left the lot early and were in line at the market before 6:00. They opened promptly at 6:30 and we were fairly close to the beginning of the line; supposedly tickets were limited to 2000 on a  first-come-first-served basis and we believe every one of those was sold.  There should be a better way to allow entrance as this creates a rush at the gate and into some of the booth areas.  Upon entering the market, we made our way to the upper portion and worked our way through the 134 booths. Booths are numbered and arranged in rows under tents; most tents have 4 rows of booths. Each booth also has at least one volunteer to help the artisan and another to write up the purchases. Once an item is selected for purchase, the volunteer completes paperwork with the booth number, buyer’s name and cellphone number and then bags the item and staples a copy of the paperwork to the bag. The buyer receives three copies of the paperwork and takes those to a payment area. Once the items is paid for, the buyer receives a copy of the paperwork to keep and another copy stamped “paid” to be taken to the booth to retrieve the item. Tax is charged on all items.  We enjoyed seeing the high-quality products and the artisans, many of them in native dress. While there was a wide variety of items, we did not find nativities as we had hoped. We skipped the many stalls from Mexico, India and Peru as we already have a plethora of items from those countries. Items are not cheap; many are very expensive, at least to our way of thinking. There was free finger food and drinks---alcoholic with an armband. Basically, we shopped and did a little snacking. Although it clouded up and threatened rain, none fell. We managed to cover the entire market before catching a shuttle bus at 9:15.










We had “early bird tickets” for Saturday’s market and left the hotel around 6:30. That meant we had to provide our own breakfast in the room from yesterday’s purchases at “Whole Foods.” We returned to the same shuttle pickup area and boarded the first bus. We were a little farther back in line this morning but got in soon after the 7:30 opening. The market was not nearly as crowded this morning and items did not appear to be picked over. Also, daylight is better than artificial light for some items. We shopped the entire market again and made some purchases. Food and drink cost today. By 9:30, it was beginning to feel warm and we were ready to leave. We took a shuttle back to the parking area and returned to the hotel. Around noon we drove about 12 miles north of Santa Fe to Cuyamungue for lunch at “Gabriel’s.” Then we drove a few miles farther north to “Don Quixote Distillery” in Pojoaque, maker of “Blue Corn Bourbon.” The distillery isn’t easy to get to from the south and we had a scenic tour of a reservation---complete with lots of speed humps---trying to find it.
  JOURNEY HOME

We headed south from Santa Fe on US 285 and drove through more ranching country. You could get lonesome here very quickly. The panoramas are pretty but the up-close scenery is not. We did see some herds of cattle but saw no person except those in other vehicles. Traffic was sparse. At Clines Corner we intersected I-40 and headed east through the same terrain we traversed last Monday. There was more traffic today with westbound being heavier than eastbound. On that side, the ratio of trucks to cars was at lest six-to-one. On our side there were more cars than trucks and most of them sported license plates of states to the east. The entire trip totaled 1744.3 miles.