April 19, 2015. Park clean-up in Durango

CAMPGROUND: Best Western Durango Inn.  5 stars!

LOCATION:  Durango, Colorado, in SW part of state

WEATHER: Sunny. Highs in 50s

We drove about 50 miles from Cortez to Durango.  Each month, we stay in a hotel one night and have our mail delivered.  It seems like such a luxury, spreading out in a hotel room.  

We had seen a poster yesterday asking for volunteers to help clean up the river. Earth Day is this week. We thought this would be a great way to meet people, so we met up with the volunteers in one of the city parks.  We were the only non-college aged volunteers.  There were about 50 young adults.  We split up, riding  a rafting company's old school bus, to the city's dog park.  Others went to other sections of town. We picked up garbage for about 2 hours in glorious weather.  Then our group walked back along some of the city's bike trails.  We had to walk, as our bus broke down!

Back at the main park, all the volunteers ate bowls of delicious soup, donated by a brewpub.  Many of the students came up to thank us, and the organizer even gave  us a gift certificate!  They were so appreciative and surprised that visitors would help with this activity.

The city of Durango is really cool.  Lots of young people.  We stopped by the preserved Rochester Hotel for a look.

Then, we stopped by a different brewpub along with some of the other clean-up volunteers.  There are 6 brewpubs in Durango!

We sat next to a couple that were rafting down the adjacent Animas River.  They just stopped off at the brewery for a beer, then continued on. 

We got settled in the hotel, and ate fajitas at the nearby Mexican restaurant.  The evening was topped off by watching my favorite PBS show, Call the Midwife.