Want to see the "west’ like you see in the movies? Then head on down to Durango, Colorado home of the only national convention for the restoration and continuation of western movies. Many movie stars have their homes and ranches in the Durango area. The scenery is rugged, the climate is dry, and the elevation is high. Ranches abound as well as beautifully restored western hotels such as the Strater, the Palmer and the Rochester Hotel. All are original, but renovated, western settlers inns. All are bed and breakfasts for today’s travelers. The Strater has more carved wood than any building west of the Mississippi. It houses a real western saloon complete with costumed bar tenders, bar maids and piano player. It hosts a lovely restaurant and rooms where the windows can still be opened for fresh air.

Western movies today still film in Durango. Train scenes are filmed on the narrow gauge railroad that runs each day from Durango to the mining town of Silverton and back. This fine train has restored cars as well as original stream engines. It traverses through the San Juan canyon that will take your breath away. Like hiking? You can disembark the train at several places, hike for a day or overnight and catch the returning train back to Durango. Riding the narrow gauge train from Durango is the most sought after activity in Durango (besides shopping.) The narrow gauge train has a museum and workshop where all the cars and engines are maintained and restored. The museum holds cars used in many movies. You can even sit in a caboose!

Durango is the home to some of the first traders in American Indian goods. Art stores and museums not only display original works of Indian art, but also sell them. Toh-Atin Indian Art Gallery is one of the oldest and finest in town. The family’s history goes way back to the early 1800s.

Western clothes, camping, rafting and hiking gear are all available in Durango. Fine restaurants and grills abound in Durango. You can walk the downtown streets for half a day and never pass the same bakery, art store, and dress shop, restaurant or tourist guide twice. Bed and breakfasts from restored western buildings to modern mansions are all available in and around the Durango area. Some of the newer ones include the Appletree Inn, the Vagabond Inn and the Lightner Creek Inn. These are places where you can relax, drink a little wine, and enjoy an elegant Victorian room.

Durango is a 30 minute drive from the only U.S. National Park which is dedicated to human endeavors; ancient human endeavors. Mesa Verde National Park has restored and natural cliff dwellings which you can walk or climb through. Kivas can be entered and park guides provide escorted tours. Some of the sites can be visited easily on foot and some require ladder climbing and crawling through narrow rock ways – a real adventure for children. The ancient people built homes against the sandstone cliffs where ground water slowly leaked into the houses. Many dwellers were large holding families of up to 40-50 people. The tops of the mesas were farmed for food when the dry climate favored crop growth.

Durango has its own airport and is easily accessible by air from most major cities, especially from Colorado cities. You can drive to Durango but you can’t get there without going through a mountain pass – either Red Mountain pass via the million dollar highway from Ouray (great mountain jeeping town in the San Juan’s) or through Wolf Creek Pass filled with waterfalls, streams and lodges. From Denver, Durango is a 6-hour drive via Wolf Creek Pass. If you stop at the Royal Gorge and ride the train through the gorge, visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Russell Stover Candy outlet store in Montrose, and go jeeping in Ouray first, then the trip will take a bit longer via Red Mountain Pass. But each stop is a well-deserved holiday onto itself.