Vacation #4 And on our way to Silverton. CO

Vacation #4 And on our way to Silverton. CO

Our trip started outside Durango station as we decided to take the special bus to Silverton and come on the train back. The trip takes over 3 hours each way on the train with a 2hour stop over in Silverton so you have time to view the town and get lunch and visit some of the interesting places.

This statue was so beautiful I just had to take a photo. The station is a nice building with a great museum just behind it. More on that later.

Durango Railway Station

So after Mike had taken a few photos of the outbound train we caught the bus and were on our way.

Our bus driver/guide was very interesting and made the long journey up the mountain and through the mountain passes very interesting with all tales of the first settlers and especially miners and the  brilliant road builders of the past.  We stopped at Molas Pass for a view over the mountains before we began the descent into the valley to Silverton.

More photos on the next blog.

Vacation #3 Roswell to Santa Fe, Chama and Pagosa Springs

Vacation #3 Roswell to Santa Fe, Chama and Pagosa Springs

This in fact should have been vacation pictures #1. We left Texas stopped one night in Roswell ( no aliens in sight) and travelled through extremely dull, flat countryside to Santa Fe

Santa Fe is very pleasant city with lots of historical buildings, art galleries and wonderful flowers. Too many tourists at this time of the year for my liking.

Then on we went finally getting into the mountains and beautiful countryside in the mountains and travelled via Chama on to Pagosa Springs close to Durango.

First view of the mountains we would need to cross.

A quick visit to the small town of Chama noted for its railway- no we didn't take a trip but did check out the station.

And then we were on our way through spectacular mountain scenery on very twisty roads to Pagosa Springs for lunch.

I'm not sure MIke knew I was taking this photo!

Our Vacation #2 Vallecito Lake , CO

Our Vacation #2 Vallecito Lake , CO

While we were staying in Durango we took a trip up to one of the closest lakes in the area and it was just like you imagine a lake in the mountains to be, calm and beautiful.

All along the east side of the lake there are places to put in canoes , to fish and to swim although parking areas are limited but the weather was just beautiful and the puffy white clouds looked lovely. As you can see not crowded at all.

Then on we went to the other side of the lake where it is slightly more commercialized although you'd never know it by this photo.You can see that a few years ago a forest fire had burned a good part of the area around here and regrowth is just getting started.

At the time of the fire, sadly a firefighter was killed so to honor him, the local residents took some of the remaining trunks and carved all kinds of memorials along the road.

Here is another that I liked of a mother bear and her cubs. You can see the devastation that occurred to the forest in the background.

Then on we went to Lemon lake passing fast flowing rippling streams gushing over rocks down the mountain.I just love these kind of rocky streams.

Another beautiful lake but as we watched a storm cloud started to roll in.  We knew we had pasted some flash flood areas when we were coming up to the lake so we didn't stay any longer but headed back to Durango.

Our Durango , CO Vacation 2015

Our Durango , CO Vacation 2015

This is the charming B&B we stayed in in Durango. Just a lovely charming country just a few miles north of Durango.It was an incredible friendly relaxing place to stay.

View from the grounds,which cover 5 acres full of beautiful small streams, flowers and walkways.

This is the front porch complete with rocking chairs so yu can rest a while after a busy day.

This is our comfortable bedroom, with a feather bed, ensuite bath and shower and lovely views of the garden and mountains.

On the  grounds are 6 individual cabins, all charming with views of the house and mountains.

There is a small lake on the property and twice a day from the very back line you can see the vintage Silverton railway pass by.
Just incredible flowers are everywhere.

The roses were especially beautiful.

A holiday we will certainly remember!

We highly recommend this B&B for a relaxing and comfortable stay in an outstanding Place.

The Moor"s Account by Laila Lalami

The Moor"s Account  by Laila Lalami

This was a historical novel based on an account of the exploration of the first Spanish explorers Of America. 
The account is written by a black Morrocan slave. It starts with the tale of how Estebanico becomes a slave as a young man . His master is one of the conquistadors of the Narvaiez expeditions to Florida.  The first part of the story concerns the time around 1527 when the Spaniards are trying to settle the new country for the King of Spain and find gold. They become hopelessly lost and gradually are killed by waring tribes of native Indians and by disease until only 4 of the party remain.
 They eventually travel across the southern area of America  encountering various other tribes, almost starving and giving up hope but eventually meeting up with Spaniards at  another Spanish settlement.
This is obviously a well researched book and is interesting historically, but fairly difficult to read. It is not a book for casual reading.
I certainly became aware of history that I had never realized before by reading it. 

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

This turned out to be a thriller/suspense novel that I couldn't put down !!

Catherine, the main character in this story, has  a long-time secret that she has kept hidden for years from anyone. 
One day a book is sent to her and she finds on reading the book that it is telling her secret  and that the Book is specifically about her. Who is the author of this book? and why are they doing this? Only one other person knew about her secret and that person is dead.
As she tries to unravel the mystery and why this is happening, both her husband and son become involved and get to read the novel.  Eventually Catherine believes she knows who is at the bottom of this and intends to find out  and do something about it as her life fully unravels.

Much more complicated than some thrillers I have read and  definitely a page turner.

Challenge painting- Easter Bunny Dress-Up

Challenge painting- Easter Bunny Dress-Up

Water color 8"x 10"

I can't say I liked this challenge very much.I just couldn't get interested in the subject. The pose was good, the colors varied , but I found the composition complicated and muddling ( Is that a word?). 
I decided to close in on the subject to paint but even then I wasn't that happy with the result. But I did it .
I think the other artists on http://paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com/  must have felt the same way as there were only 5 entries this month.See the other entries on the link.

Original challenge photo

Then again, it might be it's summer and there are plenty of other things to do!