Day TWO of the big vacation

Day two of our vacation was the Durango Train ride to Silverton.

I cannot say how much fun this was! It really was one of the best things we've done as a family.

We arrived at the train station in the morning and get all settled in. We hit it on a day that the train was half empty. So we ended up being able to spread out a little. The train pulled out and you could honestly hear the chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-choo-choo! The train jostled all the way. It was all we could do to walk up and down the isle when we needed to. We were throughly shook up when the train finally stopped. We purchased a mug for each of the boys. The mugs were insulated and had a picture of the train. It also had a map printed on it. There was also unlimited refills of hot chocolate and sodas for the mugs. Considering James filled it up 4 times on the way up and 3 times on the way home, it was a good investment of $6.50 for each mug. They carried it everywhere for the next few days and even now they love those mugs.

The drive up was BEAUTIFUL! The Colorado Rockies are something sacred to behold. They were so majestic. The Animas river was beautiful as well. I love Utah's mountains, but Colorado seemed so grand.

On the trainride--with my four boys--it was very hard to contain my Ben and James. James made a friend on the train. An elderly lady talked and talked with him. I tried to pull him away but he really wanted to point everything out to her. Then Ben got in on it. And they all looked out the window together. Sadly, part of me was embarrassed. James has no shame about talking to people and telling everyone everything. However, recently I have become more ok with it. He is comfortable with himself to talk with whomever he wants and doesn't let the fear of talking to other stop him. Should we all be so lucky!

When we arrived in Silverton we had about an hour and a half to have lunch. Here is where we splurged and went all out for the tourist traps. We had lunch at Grumpy's (i think that was the name) It was a western theme place. There was a piano player playing saloon music. Very neat. --Just don't look at the nudes on the wall....thats another story.

We also walked around and looked at all of the fun old buildings and quirky shops. It was so much fun! When the train arrived back in Durango we walked through the train museum. The boys swam that night and we all went to be exahsted!!! Seven hours in a train could wear anyone out!





Day three on its way!