Day 4: Durango to Silverton

Today was one of the two days I was looking forward to on the trip . . . one of two activites I planned in advance!  We started by taking a bus on the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Silverton.  We saw miles and miles of this . . .

We drove through San Juan County which according to the driver was the highest county in the United States.  I will take his word.  When we arrived in Silverton we were met by a tour guide from San Juan Backcountry for a 4x4 jeep tour.  I was looking forward to having someone else doing the driving around the area and just soaking up the beauty of the area.  It was about 65 out and the air was nice a crisp!  We stopped at Animas Forks which was an old abandoned mining area . . .

We had a nice picnic lunch with this view . . .

Colin was hoping to feed some more chipmunks!

The problem was my dad was taking a little too long exploring and a couple of chipmunks found the basket with his lunch.  Guess where Colin went with his lunch?  We loaded back up in the jeep to explore more of the backroads in the Silverton area.  You definately needed a 4x4 jeep to explore these roads.  Our tour was over and we spent a little time walking around Silverton before we caught the train to Durango.  It was a very beautiful 4 hour journey . . . very glad we only did the train one way!

As we approached Durango Colin managed to snap a photo of some prairie dogs on side of road.  I was not as successful.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Old Tymer's Cafe and had a yummy cookie from Jean Pierre Bakery before heading back to the hotel.  We rode on a bus, a jeep, and a train and do you know what was the best part was?  I did not have to drive today!