I'm calling this trip the "appetizer" tour. Just a small sampling to know what to devour next time. Durango, however, is a town we have done in the past and have done well so yesterday's tour was just a brief meandering of its historic downtown.

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company formed Durango along the banks of the Animas River in September 1880 to serve the San Juan mining district.
Within a year of its founding in 1880, Durango had a population of 2,400 and really began to grow. People arrived from many countries to work in the smelters and mines and on the railroad. By the turn of the century, Durango had become a vacation destination, with the creation of the San Juan National Forest in 1905 and Mesa Verde National Park in 1906.
Meandering through town, one gets a glimpse of its heyday.
And its history through the decades.
As we strolled its main street, we found plaques that showed Durango in its "day". The history lessons were found everywhere and we really liked that about this town.
It was a brief but interesting place to call it a day on the road east!