Destination: Silverton, CO.
Early this month found us on another road trip, this time bound for Silverton, CO.
Silverton, (pop 638 from 2010 census) grew up around gold and silver mines and now seems to entirely survive on tourism, much of this in the form of a twice-daily steam train excursion into town lasting only a few hours. Many of the shops only bother to open during these few hours each afternoon.
Silverton
Even more than the mines, Silverton seems to have a lot of pride for the bustling bordello scene that used to operate on "Notorious" Blair Street cutting through the town. It's said that at one point there were as many as 40 saloons and brothels on Blair Street and many of these buildings are still standing. Now largely having been turned into hotels, each makes claims such as being the oldest, first, or otherwise special brothel.
While shooting a themed photo session, one of the train conductors told us that the place we were staying in used to "belong in the family". We were pretty tempted to inquire as to the many things that implied, but decided to leave the subject alone.
Throughout the week, we spent the majority of our time driving up and down the mountain roads and paths. While exploring we found abandoned mines, run down shacks and campsites among the colorful mountains, changing leaves and beautiful views.
We opted against using this bridge...
If you decide to visit, be sure to eat at Mattie and Maud's Cafe and say hi to Spike Bond for us. This was seriously the best food we had all week.
While this is technically a road, it sure didn't feel like it as we drove up to an elevation of 13,000 feet for our last Silverton sunset, but boy was it worth it.