Re: Must have been a great trip!

I lived in Fort Collins, Colorado from 1952-1964.

I went on a Kiwanis sponsored "Color Caravan" in the fall of
1959. Rode the Narrow Gauge from Alamosa to Silverton and Return, Layovers in Durango (Strater Hotel, of course) at each end of the Silverton Turn.

I was a junior in High school at the time and drove my 1946 Ford
sedan to Denver. There was no Interstate 25 then, just the old narrow highway that went south through Loveland, Berthoud, Longmont, Niwot, past Boulder, Lafayette and into Denver. Old US 287.

Parked the Ford at Denver's old Stapleton Field, boarded a Frontier Airlines DC-3 to fly to Alamosa. No security gates or any of that nonsense...you just bought your ticket at the counter and walked out to the plane when your flight was called.
In those days they still had real Stewardesses..young single gals in neat brown uniforms.
You boarded the DC3 at the rear door and walked steeply "uphill" to your seat. My seat was at a window on the right side, where I could look out and watch things, (most notably the red-hot exhaust manifold on the right engine as darkness approached).

We flew Through (not over) LaVeta Pass. Pilot banked the plane so we could see a herd of elk running around near the top of the pass on the west side. That was the one and only time I ever flew anywhere in a DC-3. Flying commercially has lost a whole lot since then.....

Train trip was fun...still have color slides I took. Neat way to spend a long weekend.

That trip done hooked me on trying to get a job on the narrow gauge...
I finally succeeded about four years later....