Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

After leaving Montrose, Colorado we drove south on highway 550 - part of it is called the million dollar highway. One section had some really tight turns - slowing to 10 miles per hour. But, it was really pretty. There were lots of golden trees and beautiful mountains.

From Silverton, where we spent 1 night, we drove up the valley to an a ghost mining town of Animas Forks. There were some old homes and mining structures from the early 1900's.

From Silverton we drove to an RV park near the entrance to Mesa Verde National park. On Friday, we drove to Silverton for a trip on the steam locomotive that runs from Durango to Silverton. We chose the bus/train combo as the train ride one way is 3 1/2 hours. We were bused to Silverton where we had lunch and looked around the shops. It rained the whole time we were there. At 2:00p.m we boarded the train for our ride from Silverton to Durango. About 1 hour from Silverton the train stopped and eventually a train conductor came and told us that the train had run into mudslide. We were able to make our way up to the front of the train and were able to see the mudslide. So, the train had to back up out of the mudslide. Evidently, we were just at about the next place where the train would normally take on water. So, since we hadn't made it there, the train was almost out of water. The train eventually backed up 4 miles and was met by another engine carrying some water. They took about an hour to transfer the water and the train backed up some more. Finally another engine came from Silverton to take us back there. It was a long wait and it was about 7:00p.m. before we arrived back in Silverton. We went and had quick dinner at the Handlebar resturaunt where we had eaten lunch. They had a nice toasty warm fire - we were freezing. The manager of the restaurant even drove us back to the train depot twice to find out the status of the buses that would return us to Durango. Finally at 9:00p.m. we headed back to Durango on the bus. We arrived back at our fifth wheel at about 11:00p.m. What a long day! We did stop by the train station today (Monday) and asked for a refund. They have refunded the price of the trip which was great. We didn't really get a train ride out of this.

On Saturday, we had lunch with a couple that we had met while travelling back from Alaska last year. They go to Mazatlan every year and after talking with them we have decided to go there in February.

Sunday we visited Mesa Verde National park. We did two ranger led tours - the Balcony House and Cliff Palace. We also visited the Spruce Tree house area. They were all fascinating. Especially when you consider that they were constructed 800-1000 years ago. Connie had visited these ruins when she was 16 years old and had always wanted to view them again.

Monday (today) we left Colorado and headed south towards the balloon festival. We are now about 30 miles south of Sante Fe, New Mexico in a casino RV park for 3 days. We move to the balloon festival grounds on Thursday. Should be some great pictures in our next blog.