Hey all!  Hope your still reading.  I haven’t gotten to post my blogs for several days.  Maybe I can get them posted soon.  

Well today was a lot of fun.  Nikki and I got up from our hotel early so we could be to the train station in time.  We had ordered our tickets over the phone on the trip from Monument Valley to make sure we could still get a seat.  I dropped Nikki of at the McDonald’s next to the train station so I could go get the tickets.  I would recommend you get your tickets in advance.  We couldn’t get seats together in the open air car so we opted for the traditional coach car.  This may have been a blessing as it was cold and damp outside.  The train is pulled by an old fashioned coal burning locomotive and is completely different from a diesel train which I have been on before.  The cars are old too, the conductor sad one of the cars was from 1886.  Ours was a reproduction of that type of car but was made in the 1960‘s.  It was like a step back in time.  Among us were some Texans in traditional western wear that could have been period with the stetson’s they wore.  Very cool!  Fortunately once the train gets moving you can go from car to car except the premium cars.  So I went and got Nikki and I some hot chocolate from the concession car.  It was very good hot chocolate and not watered down like you get with the packets in the store.  You can also get spirits on the train or get spirits put in your coffee or hot chocolate. 

I didn’t shoot a lot from our car but I did go back to the open air car to take some shots.  There were places to stand and photograph.  We arrived in Silverton about 3.5 hours after departing Durango.  We stopped in at the Brown Bear Cafe one of the many restaurants in Silverton for lunch.  I recommend the french onion soup!  After lunch we shopped a bit for some extra clothes to keep us warm.  Nikki and I both got pullovers for the trip back because we planned on spending some time in the open air car on our return.  A lot of people ride the train up and take the bus ride back.  It costs more to do this but takes a lot less time then the 3.5 hour ride back.  We got to stay in Silverton about 2 hours before we loaded up back on the train.  After getting our tickets punched the conductor told us there were some seats in the open air car so we moved back to that car and I had free reign to photograph as I wanted.  I haven’t looked at them closely so I hope they turn out as I didn’t have a tripod with me.  I hope having a high ISO will stop the bumpy motion of the train jerking as I snapped away.

We got back in to Durango about 5:45 p.m. and we spent some time getting souvenirs. We headed out of Durango headed for Silverton and ultimately Montrose where we had a booked a room for the night.  If you’re in Durango I would definitely recommend the train ride.  It was probably the best extra activity we did on the trip.  Nikki would rather do that then see Cirque De Soleil again.  By the way in the fall they offer Photographer’s trips were they stop the train at certain locations an let the photographers off to photograph the train and the aspens turning color.  They also offer a “Polar Express” trip later in the fall.