4-Week August Family Trip

mekkerl wrote:
US550 is definitely a road for us!
Thank you for those links Ken;

That train ride looks spectacular!
Okay, I will add the train to the list of possibilities.
If we forgo the train ride, is there other things to do in Durango to warrant a second day?
If not, we could add a full day to Ouray, or to the drive from Salida to KY.

You can walk around downtown Durango and check out all the shops, galleries, bookstores, old buildings, etc. The Strater Hotel is a beautiful Victorian-era building. Also, you can take a half-day rafting trip on the Animas River. And though it would involve more driving, the trip through Pagosa Springs and up to Wolf Creek Pass is gorgeous.

On long trips, I like to have a "layover day" when I just poke around an interesting location and maybe have a good meal. Durango's a good place for that.

Ouray will consume most of the day if you add another activity to the hot spring soak. I would DEFINITELY pop into Box Canyon Falls Park--that won't take long. If you're feeling adventurous, you could take a jeep tour into the backcountry and see some old mines. That's a lot of fun and gets you into some beautiful places.

But all the above aside--take the choo choo!* I recommend both ways as the bus ride back isn't any faster and the return train journey gives you perspectives you didn't have on the way up.

*It's not a train, it's a choo choo.