Durango, Colorado //
I’m in Durango Colorado this week to show my niece and her bestie what Christmas feels like in the Southwest.
Just three hours north of Albuquerque, you find yourself in the mountains. My office window offers a view of Engineer Mountain - a mountain formed by glaciers in Silverton through Durango. Ice was more thank two thousand feet thick in places, but at 12,968+ feet, Engineer mountain was high enough to stick out and become a “nunatak”. The glacier plowed south and carved tall cliffs and shaped the mountain sides. This is the beautiful aftermath of ice and water. It was named after the Army Corps of Engineers that surveyed the area.
Needless to say, it isn’t a bad place to set up shop this week. Skipti is at the focus of my schedule. We are building traction with retail partners and there is a lot of paperwork that will need to be done this afternoon.
While here, we are hanging with a Durango local that knows all of the hidden gems in the area. This hot spring isn’t on the map. It was just a short hike up the hill. The snow was up above our knees and the spot was worth the hike.
Later we will be off to downtown Durango to catch the train to Cascade Canyon where we will cut down our own Christmas Tree and load it on the train car to be hauled back to town. This is part of a program with the San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) has put together. By cutting small white fir trees growing in the understory, we are helping to reduce wildfire danger along the railroad corridor.
If you’ve never seen this part of the country put it on the list.
I wasn’t born in the mountains, but I got here as soon as I could. PS: We found our tree. It is..., big. See video for the action. #durango #griswoldfamilychristmas #christmastree #SJMA *
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