We had two terrific action-packed days in Durango. We checked out of the Grand Canyon Lodge Sunday morning for our 6 1/2-hour drive to Durango. On our way out of the park, we saw a small herd of buffalo along the side of the road. As they were only a few feet from the road, we took this picture from the safety of our car.
About 2 1/2 hours after getting on the road we got to Page AZ where we found the Glen Canyon Dam. It was only a few miles out of the way, so we decided to check it out. It was a bit of a hike to get to the overlook (we would have never made it without the handrail and our walking sticks) but the view was worth the trip.
Once back on the road it was another 90 minutes before we got to the Navajo National Monument. Once we arrived, we realized we had seen it on our trip in 2019 but since we didn’t remember any of it, we enjoyed seeing it again.
After eating our lunch in the monument parking lot, we got back on the road for the last 3 hours of our trip. In Durango we stayed at a very nice one-bedroom house we rented on Airbnb. We are very happy to be able to cook our own meals as, even after just 3 days, we were tired of eating out.
On Monday we took a half-day trip on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. When I was here in 1988, I did the full-day trip to Silverton, but we only went about 2/3 of the way up the mountain to Cascade Canyon. We were in an open carriage and had a great time.
Click below to see a video I took on the trip. It wouldn’t embed like the other videos so I had to do a link instead.
Then on Tuesday we started our day with a 2-hour white water rafting trip. We don’t usually participate in activities with the word “Adventure” in the title but it looked fun, so we took the risk. It was actually a very calm ride as the Animas River is quite low. We ran into a couple of bigger rapids and on the last one our guide, Carson, turned the raft around and went “surfing” back up the rapid. Look at the pictures to see how that turned out.
Here’s a video I took earlier in the ride when I was still dry. For some reason I was able to embed this one…..enjoy!
After rafting we ran home for a quick lunch and change of clothes (mine were soaked) for our 2:00 tee time at the Hillcrest Golf Club. The course is beautiful and relatively easy with wide fairways. Neither one of played all that well but we still enjoyed our afternoon in the sunshine.
After golf, I changed clothes again, for our evening at the Bar D Chuckwagon. I had been to this in 1988 and thought Peter would enjoy it. A little history…in 1965 my family took a vacation to Colorado Springs. During that trip we went to the Flying W Ranch for a chuckwagon dinner. One of the performers was a guy named Cy. He was the comic relief of the group and a fan favorite. I saw him again at the Bar D in 1988. I asked about him when we got there tonight and learned he passed away just last year at 93 years old. I was told that he continued to perform right until the end.
We bypassed Durango in 2019 on our way to Glendale AZ. Now I wished we had stopped because we probably would have done the Bar D show and I would have had the chance to see Cy one more time.
The dinner was delicious, and the show was wonderful. Peter even bought a CD of their music. It was a terrific evening.
Here’s a video of the boys. They played the theme song from the old TV show Rawhide. It was my favorite show when I was a kid. https://youtu.be/Zc65yRFKo1s
It’s almost 10pm and I still have to pack. We’re leaving tomorrow morning for Telluride on our way to Montrose to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. It will be one more stamp for my NP Passport book. It might rain in the mountains tomorrow so I’m not sure if they’ll be anything interesting to tell you but if there is I’ll post again tomorrow night. Till then….love to all who follow.
Its so fun to travel along with you guys! Barbara
Thanks Barbara. So glad you’re enjoying it. Hope to see you soon.