Having the choice of several routes west that were all estimated at being between five and a half hours to six hours of driving time we decided to take US 40 to start. We had driven US 89 when we went from Sedona to the Grand Canyon so thought a new road would be more interesting.
I could feel Brian’s excitement build as we were going to be riding the Durango to Silverton steam train the next day. We had booked our tickets online and there were few spots left when we did that. It was hard to know what coach to book but the lack of choice settled that for us.
We had booked the Doubletree hotel and were delighted our room was overlooking the street and across to the train station and historic downtown of Durango. Normally, I would have chosen a river view as the Animas River runs directly behind the hotel, but in this situation the ability to watch and listen to the train was more exciting.
The train was arriving as we crossed to the station area. The wail of the steam whistle set my heart beating faster with excitement. I could see the plume of smoke in the distance.
“You go ahead and take your pictures!”
Brian raced off to find his vantage point filled with excited energy. I knew this was one of his lifelong dreams and a very special part of this vacation adventure. Thankfully, we live in a digital camera age when each shot can be viewed immediately and taking many shots is not more costly than taking one. Between our two cameras I knew there would be many great pictures and later trying to identify who took which one would be a challenge. We alternated the cameras from out larger Panasonic Lumix with the twelve time zoom to the smaller and lighter Canon that Brian carried in his organizer all the time. In this situation Brian had the larger camera. I was happy enjoying the experience of the huge puffing engine heading toward me. I knew our trip on the following day would give me lots of opportunities to take pictures.
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