Travel

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Part II

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Debora

We spent our two-hour layover in Silverton looking around in shops and enjoying local barbecue and ice cream.

And then we headed back to Durango.

Moth on the window looks like a hang glider.

This is a really nice way to spend a day. Recommended!

Categories: Family, food, Life, Travel, trees | Tags: Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Silverton | Leave a comment

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Part I

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Debora

In early October of 2024, we took the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango to Silverton and back. It’s a gorgeous ride and I would recommend it to anyone, especially in the fall.

We drove into Durango with plenty of time to spare, so we started off with a delicious breakfast at
Jean Pierre’s French Bakery.

Then we walked to the depot…

and checked out the D&SNG Museum.

They called for boarding around 9:30 am. We found our reserved seats and the train departed at 9:45, following the Animas River north. The views are soul-nourishing.

Since the line uses a steam locomotive, we replenished the water supply at an old tower along the way.

At about 1:10 pm, we rolled into Silverton for a two-hour layover.

Next up: Silverton and the return trip.

Categories: environment, Family, food, Life, Travel, trees, Weather | Tags: D&SNG Museum, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Jean Pierre's French Bakery | Leave a comment

Luke Visits Alaska, Part II

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Debora

This story seems to be best told via our conversations on Messenger. So without further ado, we return to our philosopher-vagabond as he sets out to explore Fairbanks.

Fairbanks Ice Museum:

Carillon Clock Tower:

The Chena River runs through Fairbanks.

Critter near Luke’s hostel:

Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum:

You can see a sliver of the Arctic Ocean in this pic:

And that was Luke’s trip to Alaska. He did, in fact, start making computer games and things after he came back. I’m glad he got to experience all of that.

More to come!

Categories: Animals, environment, Family, Life, maps, Travel, Wildlife | Tags: Alaska, City of North Pole, Fairbanks, Fairbanks Ice Museum, Fort Yukon, Kaktovic, Pioneer Park | Leave a comment

Luke Visits Alaska, Part I

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Debora

I almost forgot to write about Luke’s trip to Alaska last year! I’ve probably forgotten a lot of the details, but let’s see what I can piece together.

He flew out from Denver International Airport on August 23, 2024. Delays caused him to miss his connecting flight, so the airline rescheduled him for the next flight. That takeoff was also delayed, due to technical issues.

The next morning he took a walk through downtown Anchorage.

I’m skipping all the messages where he’s complaining about freezing his ass off. Apparently 45º and overcast feels a lot colder in damp Alaska than in dry Colorado.

He drove his rented Jeep to the nearby Glen Alps/Flattop Trailhead, and hiked the overlook trail.

He spent the second night at Base Camp Anchorage Hostel. Then he dropped off the Jeep and boarded the Alaska Railroad for a scenic eight-hour journey to Denali.

He spent the night at a hostel in Denali. In the morning he took a shuttle into Denali National Park, and did some exploring in the wilderness.

This post is getting kind of long, and we’re only about halfway through, so I’ll pause it here. To be continued!

Categories: A Plethora of Parks, Animals, environment, Family, Life, Travel, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: Alaska Railroad, Anchorage, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Fort Yukon, Kaktovic | 1 Comment

Pikes Peak by Rail

Posted on July 19, 2025 by Debora

Luke keeps asking when I’m going to update my blog. He says the easiest way to keep track of his road trips and other adventures is by looking them up here. I keep meaning to, but between work, house projects, recreational reading and getting into political arguments on Twitter, there never seems to be time for blogging.

But next month will mark a full year of unblogged adventures. I need to either catch up or admit that I’m never going to. So I’ve made a new rule for myself: every time I finish reading a book, I can’t start a new one until I have written and published a new blog post.

So where were we? Last August a friend I’ve known forever (since middle school!) flew out to spend a week with us. I think my favorite thing we did that week was take the Broodmoor Cog Railway to the summit of Pikes Peak.

That was on August 13th of last year. Elizabeth had the Tuesday off and came with us. Luke was saving up PTO for a solo trip to Alaska, so he was at work that day.

The Cog Railway Depot is lovely. The current cog trains were shipped out from Switzerland, and the depot embraces that Swiss aesthetic.

The depot sits roughly between the foot of the Manitou Incline and Barr Trailhead in Manitou Springs. As we rolled out of the station, the first views were green and lush.

The views get more rugged as you get higher.

This majestic marmot was hanging out above the tree line, up in the tundra.

At one point we rolled off onto a side track to let another train descend.

The tundra gets rockier near the top.

There is an active gold mine in the background of this photo, on the top right:

It takes about an hour and ten minutes to reach the summit.

The new visitor center sits next to the ruins of the old visitor center from the 1800s.

We went in and ate lunch and got some famous Summit House donuts.

The peak was cold and windy, but we walked around and took in the views.

There’s also a road you can drive up. I think it would be fun to take a car or train to the top and then ride a bike back down.

After about 40 minutes we were called to reboard. The operator relocated to our car, which had been at the back of the train during the ascent, and was now at the front.