A Leisurely Visit to Durango (CO), 8/15/2019

We love Colorado and since we were only 45 miles from Durango, we decided to make the drive. One thing we both love about this part of the country…very little traffic.  What a sharp contrast to southeastern PA (where we used to live). 

Making a quick stop at the Durango Visitor Center, we picked up some information about local parks. The people in these places always have a lot of good information. 

John loves the Old West and this town has that feel. We wandered in and out of many locally-owned shops. 

The Strater Hotel is the oldest one in Durango (built in 1887 for about $70k). It is landmark in the historic district with period pieces throughout. Writer Louis L’Amour spent time writing some of his books here, always requesting Room 222 above the saloon. It remains a popular destination for visitors to Durango. 

Nearby is the Henry Strater Theater (looked interesting). And I loved this bronze statue, too. 

Santa Rita Park was our next stop. We had our girl, Sadie, with us, so we wanted to spend some time enjoying the outdoors. 

The Durango Whitewater Park is located here in the Animas River. Conditions (flow data) for rafting or kayaking is available online. Slalom gates can be seen over the rapids.

As we looked upriver, we saw several rafts making their way towards us. 

I snapped a few action shots of the rafters…looked like a great time! 

The Emma Sweeney is a full-sized model of a train that was the star of a 1950 movie, A Ticket to Tomahawk. The Durango Railroad Historical Society acquired and relocated it to the park in 2011. 

This steel sculpture, Parade Formation, by Mick Reber (2003) is located near the parking area. 

I made a quick tour through the lovely Santa Rita Park Garden. The Garden Club of Durango has participated in its design and maintains it (which is awesome). The pergola, perennial garden and roses were just stunning. What a peaceful respite from the hustle and bustle of life.

One of the most popular attractions here in Durango is a trip on the scenic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It continues to run on the narrow-gauge railroad carved through the mountains of the Animas River Valley over 100 years ago. For additional information about Durango, go to www.durango.org.

Every town has an interesting story to tell! 

The Barren Bisti Badlands, 8/13/2019

While visiting the Farmington Visitor’s Bureau, we obtained directions and a map to the Bisti Badlands. We had attempted to reach this place the week before when we ended up in the wilderness area many miles from here. A bit more planning was required!

Anyway, about 40 miles south of Farmington on NM 371 we took a left turn onto Rd 7297 for 1.9 miles, then left onto Rd 7290 for .9 miles to the parking lot. 

You will see the entrance to the Bisti Wilderness next to the parking lot. Be sure to have a map of the area. There are no trails here, so it is really important to have the GPS coordinates of well-known sights (and a GPS device or app). Or, you can just wander around, but be sure to keep track of landmarks for orientation. And we always carry a compass, because here you really just need to head west to return to your car. 

Here is a map of the notable sights here. A round-trip hike is around 5-6 miles, depending on how much “wandering around” you chose to do.

Pets are permitted here, so we were excited to do some hiking with our girl, Sadie. The barren landscape has little shade but a wide array of colorful rocks from white to red to black. 

We spotted the first landmark on our map, red hills with saddle top. 

But we had hardly begun our hike, when Sadie just laid down on the slickrock. It was very, very hot, and we knew this was not a good sign. We have attempted doggie shoes for hot surfaces, but she will not tolerate them. She’s getting older (9), but she normally loves the chance to explore new places. 

With some coaxing, Sadie continued along the route to Flat Top. After another half mile, she headed straight for this shady alcove. We took a break and drank lots of water. 

Determined to continue, we followed a wash towards another landmark, the double-top black hills. In the wash we came upon this wet area, that I swear looked like quicksand. We thought it might cool off Sadie’s paws, but she would not get near it. When I stuck my walking stick in the muck, it immediately sank about a foot. Yikes! We detoured it. 

When we reached the Flat Top, we decided to turn back. We were concerned that Sadie was not enjoying the hike. Or worse, that John may have to carry her back. 

We made our way back towards the parking lot (about 1.5 miles) checking out more unique rock formations along the way. 

I enjoyed seeing the contrast of the red sandstone on both white sand and black.

We should have attempted this hike either early in the morning or very late in the afternoon as the heat was intense when we visited (August). We were prepared with plenty of water, hats, hiking boots, GPS, compass, etc., but it was too hot for Sadie. Nonetheless, this is an amazing wilderness area with unique rock formations...definitely worth a visit. 

For additional information about the Bisti Badlands, go to https://www.blm.gov/visit/bisti-de-na-zin-wilderness.

A Day in Farmington (NM), 8/12/2019

About 15 miles west of Bloomfield, NM, (where we are staying) is the larger town of Farmington. We began the day with a stop at the Visitors Bureau. 

And, we were so glad we did. There are multiple exhibits here that were great! The first one was “Adventures in Wood Contemporary Craftsmanship” by Steven Barr. His work was incredible! We especially like his creative lamp designs, but all of the furniture was gorgeous.

Numerous quilts with creative and unique designs were displayed along the walls of the lobby. Here are some that I particularly liked. 

As we walked to the rear of the facility, we came to this expansive exhibit about fuel and motor oil. 

This Continental Oil wagon (1908) was used to deliver kerosene, white gas, and fuel oil to homes. 

In the next room is Stan, the T. rex. He was initially discovered by an amateur paleontologist, Stan Sacrison in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The fossils were excavated by the Black Hills Institute. The skull was nearly complete and perfectly preserved, a rare find. It is widely considered the best T. rex skull ever discovered (including 58 of his teeth). 

He was 42’ in length, 12’ tall at the hip, weighed 6 tons, and is 66M years old. Check out the size of his footprint compared to John’s hand (and John has pretty big hands)!

This is one of about 60 casts of the Stan’s skeleton on display in museums around the world. The original is at the Black Hills Institute’s Hall of Dinosaurs. What a surprise it was to see it here (although we have also seen Stan’s skeleton at the Houston Museum of Natural History). 

The staff at the Visitor Bureau gave us maps and brochures about attractions in the area. We decided to spend some time outdoors with our sweet doggie, Sadie, in nearby Animas Park. 

We parked near the Riverside Nature Center (closed the day we visited) and set out to hike a portion of the 8-mile Animas Trail System that runs along Animas River. And, of course, Sadie went for a swim.

We crossed the pedestrian bridge over the river and continued along the trail to the Animas River Whitewater Park. During spring runoff rafters enjoy Class I and II rapids from here to Boyd Park. During the rest of the year canoeing, kayaking, rafting and tubing  (depending on the water level) are popular activities on the river.

The All Veterans Memorial Plaza is a beautiful tribute to veterans. We spent some time exploring the plaza seeing the monuments to each war or conflict in the history of the US. Below are those for the Revolutionary War, WW II, and Vietnam. Also shown are monuments to New Mexico’s veterans awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Continuing to the second pedestrian bridge, we crossed to the opposite side. 

It was nice to see some Canadian geese and ducks in the river. Note the sign describing healthy food for them (NO bread!) 

The return trip through the park was lovely. We all enjoyed spending time outdoors. 

When we came to the prairie dog field, they were very alert to Sadie’s presence. She would just like to sniff them, but they were quick to raise the alarm to the rest of the community. This little guy had a lot to say!

This was one of those unplanned days that ended up being a lot of fun for us all. It’s always interesting to spend time in a new place. 

For additional information about the area, go to www.farmingtonnm.orgor stop by their Visitors Bureau.