Preaching & Train Trip

This past Sunday we worshipped with our home church in Durango, Colorado (First Presbyterian Church). It was so good to be back in the midst of the church family that supported us when we got married, began Emrys’ journey of formal ministry, and during our three years at Fuller. It was Pentecost Sunday, and Emrys was given the opportunity to preach, which he enjoyed very much.
The pastor of that church is retiring next week, which is hard for all of us, but also marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the life of that community. It is good to see all the signs of how much the church loves their pastor—we hope that someday Emrys may have such a relationship with a church.
On Wednesday we rode the train from Durango to Silverton, Colorado. The train ride is perhaps the greatest distinguishing feature of Durango’s tourist trade. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad used to transport silver and workers from the small mining town of Silverton (some 40 miles north of Durango) down to Durango, from which a host of train lines ran to the other cities in the southwest. Now the mines have been exhausted, and Silverton is a tourist destination for train buffs (D&SNGRR is the last of its kind in the U.S., but has been operating continually since the 1870s), skiers, hikers, and river-rafters.
The train trip is a three-and-a-half hour ride—each way—through the beautiful Animas River Valley. Snow-capped mountain summits peaked at us from between alpine- and conifer-covered slopes. The flow of the Animas cascades between walls of grey rock, sometimes far below the train as it chugs along the narrow edge of a cliff overlooking the river. The smell of fresh, uncivilized mountain air gives way periodically to the clouds of cindery soot puffing out of the engine’s smokestack (part of the train’s allure is that it still runs on coal-heated steam, rather than electricity or diesel fuel). Passengers (ourselves included) lean over the side of the open-air gondola car to snap pictures of the train engine against the stunning scenery. We had never ridden the train during our three-year stay in Durango before we moved to Los Angeles, so we did it during this pass-through. It was fun (check out our pictures in the photo album to the right).
To finish out our ‘date-day,’ we went to Ken & Sue’s Place, our favourite restaurant on Main Street in Durango. The cuisine is always exquisite, and they still serve the ‘molten chocolate cake’ for dessert. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day of soaking up the San Juan Mountains.