Downtown Chama!

Yesterday we decided to take in downtown Chama!  Downtown is about a mile long.  There are shops and galleries, one bank, a post office, a drug store and several very old hotels. The population is 1,199 and the elevation is 7850'!  Chama became an important site on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad just after 1880.  The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad is the remnant of the narrow gauge line which once served the mining areas of southwestern Colorado.  The railroad was abandoned in 1969 but the most scenic part of its route, equipment and buildings were saved and today is the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  The train carries passengers 64 miles along the New Mexico/Colorado border.  It is America's highest and longest coal fired, steam operated, narrow-gauge railroad!

After looking in the shops we walked down to the depot to look around.

We met a couple other couples in town and had lunch together.  After lunch we finished our shopping and found a $5.00 string of red hot chili peppers made out of cloth.  Jack (one of the traveling supremes) loves his peppers and made pepper poppers several times while we were here.   We bought them and hung them on his 5th wheel.  It took all day but when we came back from dinner he finally noticed them!  I don't think he's figured out who put them up there but he sure got a kick out of them!

Today we got some errands done and had our last group dinner.  Three couples (including us) are leaving for different directions tomorrow.  We are going down to Santa Fe and spend a few days there.  It will be a little warmer in Santa Fe.  We've enjoyed the coolness at Chama!

Enjoying a week with some of the "Traveling Supremes"..."Ain't Life Grand!"