Step Skip Leap: The Durango to Silverton Colorado Train Experience

If our road trip were to have a destination in mind, Durango would be it. Family had gone before and raved about how wonderful it was, so of course we had to go, too! Everyone that had been to Durango highly recommended the train ride that goes between Silverton and Durango. Tickets are a little pricy, especially if you are trying to do things on a budget, but I believe the experience was worth it!

The whole trip was a surprise trip. The boys knew they were going on a camping road trip, and the night before we would tell them all about our surprise adventure for the next day.

My absolute favorite part of our train trip is that half of the gondola was filled up with a tour group. These wonderful people were from all over, including England, Australia, New Zealand, and some other European countries! I was in love with all of their accents!

My heart just swooned during the whole trip because two sweet ladies, Pat and Susan, temporarily adopted our boys. Anytime there was something interesting to see, they invited them over to their side of the train. By the end of the train ride we had gotten to know each other and were easily going from train side to train side for the views. Making new friends helped make it magical!

Even though we brought snacks, the boys were eyeballing the popcorn. I might have been too, so we went to the snack car. No pictures - sorry! Walking on a moving train with kids to get the food was enough multitasking! (Remember to bring cash with you on the train - all concessions on the train are cash only. )

Pulling into Silverton was incredible! The train pulls up in the middle of the street, which was a dirt road. There is only one paved road in all of the town. It was so quaint! We had about an hour and a half to roam the town - perfect for pizza and a stroll.

We look a little like vagabonds! Being in the open air gondola we wore sunglasses for eye protection from the soot, but it still got all over us. Family and friends recommended to wear something we were okay with getting a little dirty (NOT white!). So glad we did. They boys hands looked filthy!

I wouldn't trade being soot free for a cabin. The time or two we went in to use the restroom, it felt a little stuffy, and a little quiet. I loved completely experiencing the changing temperature, the smell of the woods and water. Totally worth a little soot on your clothes!

Instead of taking the train back, we opted for the bus. I may or may not have almost fallen asleep on the bus. We were pretty tired at the end of the day! Because of my point of exhaustion - scenic pictures were resorted to little video clips on my phone, which were still amazing! To check them out, here's our full youtube video of our trip: