Life on the High Plains

 We were in Durango a couple weeks ago and got to the ride the narrow gauge train. Due to some track damage the train leaves from a depot about 18 miles north of town and only goes into Cascade Canyon and back for about a 2 1/2 hour ride. The views were amazing.  The train runs alongside the Animas River in the San Juan National Forest. We stopped for several minutes and this helicopter kept making runs back and forth through the canyon.  We decided they must be making a new promotional video or something. The fall colors weren't quite at peak yet, but they were still amazing. The color of the river was a beautiful turquoise.  My first thought was that it was glacier water, but after thinking about it awhile I remembered a mine spill that affected the Animas River a few years ago.  Initially the water was orange due to the high metal count in the waste water.  There's still a lot of orange along the river bank.  Perhaps that explains why the river is s...

 We had a mini family reunion in Durango after leaving Yellowstone. Mini because two of our family members weren't able to join us. Jillian and Brian made us some lasagna in the Dutch over over charcoals.  Colorado has a state wide burn ban so no campfires were allowed. My dad was an expert with the Dutch oven.  He could could biscuits to perfect golden brown.  I've had a Dutch oven for years and I'm so happy Jillian is continuing the tradition.  The lasagna was delicious and every morsel was eaten. There was lots of chatting, drinking, and even some.... ...debate watching.  Jillian and Brian have an outdoor TV jack on their trailer so we got to watch the debacle live.  Best part of the evening..."would you shut up, man?" Most of us would like the opportunity to say the same thing to the orange man. It wasn't a vacation for everyone.  Little Miss G had to keep up with her online studies.  Yes, even kindergarteners have distance learning. Dana...

 It has been 17 days since I left Yellowstone.  What a whirlwind it has been.  My last day was September 27th.  It snowed that morning, but that didn't deter people.  The plan was to close my booth around lunchtime then I'd do my final money drop and we'd be out of here.  The only problem was that the park was packed.  When it came time to close my booth, the line to enter the park was literally a mile long so there was no way I could close my booth. Anyway, my supervisor got someone to come in a work for me so we got on the road about 2:00. Luckily, we had planned a short day and had reservations at a Utah State Park campground.  It was nice to sit around the fire and enjoy the beautiful evening and each other's company. We even had a "cheers" to the end of summer.  Me with my sangria and Irv with a coke that one of my visitors gave me. We even cooked our dinner over the fire.  Potatoes with shrimp and tilapia.  It was especially y...