Durango Silverton Train

Yesterday I relived my childhood and we rode the Durango/Silverton train, following the Animas River most of the way. Over forty years ago I enjoyed the same trip with my parents, my brother, Boyd, my Father's father and our cousin Dolph. And it was exactly as I remembered it - clackety clack, rocking open train cars, cinders in the eyes, the smell of steam and burning coal and SPECTACULAR scenery.Our locomotive was built in 1923 and used over 5 tons of coal for the round trip - and it was all stoked by hand by one man.
Hanging out the window afforded my many wonderful photo ops, but also resulted in cinders in the eyes. I WILL be painting mountains for quite a while when I return to the studio! And my mother promised to find the slides we took of the original trip years ago. With any luck, we'll get the projector working again and relive some fond memories!
Today we leave Durango and head out for southern Utah and Monument Valley. It's been uncommonly hot in this part of the country and even topped 100 two days ago in Durango. The nights have been nice though, and in the shade during the day, it is not unpleasant. I think Texas is actually cooler, though!