Southwest Tour Saturday Night and Sunday

We had been in Durango a few times, including twice to ride the famous steam train they have there. So we knew the stores and area. I did not need to do any shopping, but we rested and then went downtown to walk among the crowds…and there were plenty of those. We drove around for nearly 30 minutes before finding a place to park and made it on the made drag of town. I did spent some time in tee shirt stores as DH had not packed enough clothes! He did not want to spend money on shirts, but I found some nice ones on clearance.  

 

Then we headed over to the Stater Saloon. Now this was fun. We were a little hungry as we had had no super, but neither wanted much. So we got potato skins and a drink while we listening to some great honky tonk piano. The saloon was old and with a history. The outlying ranchers of the old days often came into the hotel part for the winter while weather was unbearable. Louie L’ Amour and his wife often stayed in the hotel room while he wrote his novels. He said that the saloon music floating up through the floor boards inspired him.

 

A very good night’s sleep and then back to a road coming down into Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We had been in this lovely town before for fishing. It was Sunday and the streets were quiet. We filled the car, ate a light lunch, and made the decision to take a road back into New Mexico again. It passed us through Chama, where we had taken our favorite steam train ride. We looked around and moved on. The land again became flat and drab and dusty. We rarely saw cars.

Then we came upon the Rio Grand River Bridge with the same thrill as we had the first time we saw it. You drive along a flat land and suddenly it drops to a unfathomable and cavernous black ditch with the Rio Grande at the bottom. Lots of tourists here so lots of Indian vendors too. I bought a load of Anasazi beans. These are heirloom beans that the cliff dwellers ate. They are softer and sweeter than other beans when cooked. They are less gas-producing as well, and they have a lovely burdgandy and white coloring reminding cooks of a nice pinto pony!

Just before coming into Taos we began to see Cattle Crossing signs with space ships on them. Weird. We were to learn that there had been a lot of cattle mutilations in the area and some group had decided travelers should be warned they were entering a possible alien visited area!

                                                                                      

We also saw a new housing development of earth homes. Some looked like alien ships themselves. They were sustainable housing using recycled and reclaimed goods with their own sewage system etc. Very interesting looking homes.