A week in Pagosa Springs

Several months ago, William's parents contacted him to ask if we wanted a discounted week through their timeshare association membership. One of the options was Pagosa Springs, CO and one of the available weeks was Oct. 11-18. This happens to be the week of a birthday of a friend of ours, who is a steam-train buff, and it turns out that there are a number of trains in that part of Colorado. Emails went out, the timeshare condo was secured, and we began making plans with four of our friends from California to meet up in Pagosa Springs. Amazingly enough, it worked and everyone got there on time and ready for a week in the mountains.

We stayed at the Wyndham Pagosa Resort, just west of the actual town. The first night (Sunday Oct. 11), we discovered the Pagosa Brewing Company and liked it so much that most of us went back two more times during the week. Monday, both people named Michael (D. and J.) went to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and the rest of our group (Nicolas and Miriam, and us two) went over to Treasure Falls for a hike. After that, we wandered around downtown Pagosa Springs for a while and ended up at the Bear Creek Saloon for a late lunch. That night, William and I made burritos for everyone and inadvertently created more leftovers than we thought possible. On Tuesday, Michael D. and William stayed at the condo and the rest of us drove to Aztec Ruins National Monument for the day. We stopped for lunch in Durango and I dragged everyone to Turtle Lake Refuge for lunch - surprisingly, everyone seemed to enjoy it even though it was all vegan, raw, and organic food. We looked around a bit and found a couple of art galleries: I particularly enjoyed the paintings of Albert Dreher and the gourd art of Roberto Rivera. Aztec Ruins is not a large site but it's incredibly interesting, especially for those of us who hadn't seen Pueblo/Anasazi ruins before. One of the first things we learned is that the name 'Aztec' is incorrect: an early explorer in the area mislabeled them and the name stuck. The drive one-way took almost two hours so it was fairly late in the afternoon when we got back. Lacking originality, that night we opted again for the Pagosa Brewing Company and, this time, tried as many of their beers as we could. Yum.

Wednesday was a day off for most of us. Michael D. went back over to the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad - not to ride it, but to follow the train along its route and take some photos and videos. I'm not sure what everyone else did - I think Nicolas and Michael J. went out hiking - but William had run into the owner of the Garbanzo Grill at the health food store on Tuesday and we were determined to check it out. Miriam came with us, and it was good. Again, William and I liked it so much that we had lunch there again on Friday and Saturday. I spent most of the day going over photos and, that night, the two of us tackled some of our leftovers while everyone else went to the Ole Miner's Steakhouse to pursue a non-vegetarian dinner. And then...we got out the angel food cake and the ice cream and the candles and the Thomas the Tank Engine balloon and wished Michael D. a very happy birthday.

Thursday was the day of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Up at 6 am to drive to Durango where we got slightly lost downtown and just made it in time for the train, 3 and a half hours up to Silverton (it's only 45 miles!), 2 hours for lunch, 3 and a half hours back. LONG day. The train runs along the Animas River most of the way and the scenery after it gets out of Durango is stunning. We had tickets for the open car, which was cold but great for photography - almost everyone there had a camera. The closed cars weren't full so we sat there whenever we wanted to warm up. It was a pleasant way to travel but...if you're not a steam train fan, I must say that it all gets old rather quickly. After lunch, William and Nicolas and I spent a few minutes roaming around Silverton looking for interesting photos and, just today, I found out that Silverton has inspired other photographers as well. On our return, we had tentative plans to eat in Durango but at least two of our group had cinders in their eyes from the train and wanted to go back to the condo to take care of them. (The next day, Michael D's eye was still bothering him and, before I had time to think about what I was doing, I got talked into trying to remove a very noticeable speck from his eye by using a Q-tip soaked in saline solution. And - I did it! In one try, no less.) I believe we ate at JJ's Riverwalk that night; they weren't able to serve alcohol, for reasons that were never adequately explained, but we had a round of non-alcoholic daiquiris and pina coladas and I think everyone was happy.

Friday and Saturday were fairly nondescript. We got our oil changed and the car looked at, we made dinner for ourselves with leftovers saved for the next round of camping, various people went off in various directions to hike, play miniature golf, and drive on dirt roads and through mud puddles. I dragged a small delegation to the local rock shop at one point...yes, I still collect rocks, although not quite with the fervor of my youth. Beer was drunk and the remaining angel food cake was eaten. Some episodes of Doctor Who and Black Adder were watched. Saturday night - you guessed it, back to the brew pub. And, inevitably, we had to get everything re-packed and prepared to go back into the car. Actually, this time we seemed to have a bit more space in the car than before, which we attributed to our superior packing skills.

I'm going to finish up with a slight tangent: The residents of Pagosa Springs were the nicest, friendliest people we have encountered so far on this trip (yes, even better than the campers at Shenandoah). The people at the brew pub were delighted to see us and happy to answer any and all questions, the Garbanzo Grill guy, upon realizing we had tried almost everything except the falafel, gave us an order of it on the house, the people sharing the waiting room with us at the mechanic's where we got the oil changed talked cheerfully about things to do in the area and their reasons for moving there in the first place. It's not the kind of place we'd want to live: the town functions on retirees, second-home owners, and tourism (golf and fly fishing in the summer, hunting in the fall, skiing in the winter). But...as they say, it's a nice place to visit. If another discounted timeshare week comes up there in the future, I think we'll be happy to go back.