We started the day in La Junta, CO, at an authentic small-town diner. The Copper Kitchen lived up to the Yelp reviews: friendly, efficient service, really good food, and a chat with Larry, the owner. It's the kind of place where the pictures and tchotchkes on the walls and shelves look like they were really collected over years, not selected from a catalog to look as if they were selected. A lot of the other customers were locals. Every town needs a third place. And La Junta has interesting art.
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| Railroads are important. |
We thought this would be a shorter day. It wasn't. It may have been fewer miles overall (I didn't check the trip odometer) but we left the plains and headed up into the mountains. The twists and turns and steep climbs slowed us down. We took a detour for lunch. It was a bit further than I expected. David had no complaints because we saw a spectacular series of radial dikes. I'm not the geologist and I still thought they were pretty cool.
Whoever named the Cuchara Yacht Club has a sense of humor. To be fair, it does overlook the water. My cocktail was delicious and my chicken salad was even better.
Larry (remember Larry? He owns the Copper Kitchen) said we had to stop at the Wolf Pass Overlook. Larry was right.
We spotted a waterfall from the overlook and as we were driving down the mountain David noticed a turnoff near the waterfall, and we hiked up to the base. Never mind that it was a steep climb at about 7,000 feet above sea level. Totally worth it.
Then we headed into Durango, wandered around the town for a little while, and had dinner at 636 Maine Avenue. I suspect our server is working there for the summer and I hope his career path takes him to some other line of employment. The drinks and food were delicious.
We're now settled in for the night in our condo a bit outside of town. Tomorrow: a train ride!
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