Durango Colorado - July 16th, 2020

From Mesa Verde National Park to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, our destination for the day, we stopped in Durango along the way to stretch our legs. We walked up and down Main Street to take in the view of the historic store fronts, shops and hotels. Even though we've been there before, it is always a pleasure to admire the historic architecture.

Durango is another Colorado old mining town. Its Main Street is a Nationally Registered Historic District. The town is known for its heritage railway, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. The train depot for the historic train is at the south end of Main Street along with the train yard and museum. It looked like they were running a shortened two hour route from Rockwood to Cascade Canyon. Rockwood is 18 miles north of Durango.

Durango bars, cafes and restaurants had tables set up in the street, just like several of the other small, touristy towns we’ve stopped in this summer. All the shops had signs indicating that masks were required to enter. The banner spanning across the street indicated that free masks were available at the Welcome Center.

We’ve stayed before at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango. It is an interesting hotel built in 1887. It is definitely worth a peek inside if you get the chance. As we walked by, the eateries at 11th Street Station looked like the exciting place to be in town.

When we were in Durango, it was a little early for lunch, so we continued driving. We had a picnic lunch in the Town Park in Pagosa Springs. The Town Park is on the San Juan River in the heart of downtown. The town was hopping with people that day. Many of them were wading or floating in the San Juan River. There is a River Walk that follows the river through town. It looked like people were having a good time.

The drive along US 160 from Pagosa Springs to South Fork over Wolf Creek Pass is gorgeous. Rocky mountain peaks surround you in every direction. After Del Norte, we took some county roads to make our way over to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We passed by quite a few farm fields. We couldn’t figure out what some of the crops were. One of them could have been alfalfa, as it is one of the major crops grown in this region.

Revisiting great places helps bring back the fond memories of being there before. Durango was no exception. What places do you like to visit to refresh your wonderful memories?

Check out our related video: Durango Colorado

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