Happy ThrowBack Thanksgiving to all! As Beavis and/or Butt-Head once said, this is the holiday when “you can burp and poop all you want.” And since I intend to spend a lot of time on those two activities, I will try to keep today’s post brief. So, let’s get started, shall we?

Today’s post is a continuation from last week’s ThrowBack Thursday. After an overnight stay in the town of Alamosa (not pictured), I continued southward to the town of Antonito, Colorado. Antonito is the eastern terminus of the longest, highest, and most authentic steam railroad in North America: the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic railroad (C&TS). I had been told by many that this was the most scenic of Colorado’s scenic and/or historic railroads. I was not disappointed. This is an all-day affair that takes you through several types of scenery from desert buttes, through narrow mountain chasms and lush aspen forests, to high mountain meadows. To be honest (as if the rest of this post were bullshit), the desert portion dragged on a bit long, but the rest was amazing!

The C&TS runs two trains a day. And I don’t mean they have one train that they operate twice a day. I mean they have two separate trains that both operate at the same time. One starts in Antonito and ends at the western terminus in Chama, New Mexico; the other starts in Chama and ends in Antonito. A bus ride (included in the price of the rail ticket) is needed to complete a full circuit. I opted to park my then-NEW CAR at the Antonito station and take the early morning bus ride to the railroad depot in Chama, to board the train that would bring me back to my car in Antonito. So, my first few pics were taken at the Chama, New Mexico railroad station…

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At this juncture, I feel the need to tell you that when I embark upon an experience such as this, I make it a point to just take it all in. In other words, I focus on ENJOYING the experience, rather than photographing it. Thus, I only took pictures when the train was stopped, and thus the pics I have from the C&TS don’t include the scenery along the route. But I am serious when I say: if you are ever in Colorado or New Mexico (and it isn’t winter), you MUST set aside a day to ride the Cumbres & Toltec!

Roughly halfway through the ride, the eastbound and westbound trains meet. Here, everyone disembarks for lunch (also included in the price of the rail ticket). They schedule plenty of time for this stop, so after I ate, I was able to roam with my Good Camera for a while…

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Upon my return to Antonito, I began the drive to my next overnight stay. The first leg of this drive actually crosses the C&TS, so contrary to what I said above, I actually did get a few shots of the scenery along the route. This next set of pics comes from Cumbres Pass, at just over 10,000 feet in elevation…

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I then drove to Durango, Colorado, where I spent the night. The next morning, I made an unplanned stop just outside Durango, as I spotted something I didn’t know existed: Pinkerton Hot Springs. Well, OK, I didn’t spot the springs themselves. Rather, I spotted the mineral deposits built by the springs. Stop being so pedantic.

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All righty! Time to start burping and pooping. This trip will resume next Thursday – be there and/or be square!