Durango Attractions & Activities

1 - BAR D
CHUCKWAGON SUPPERS
County Road 250, Durango
970-247-5753 • www.bardchuckwagon.com
Great western stage show and hearty barbeque supper. Open Memorial weekend through Labor Day.

2 - D&SNGRR MUSEUM
479 Main Ave.,
888-872-4607 • www.durangotrain.com

3 - DURANGO ARTS CENTER
802 East 2nd Ave.
970-259-2606 • www.durangoarts.org
The place to be! Art programs for all ages.

4 - HEALING WATERS SPA
317 Hot Springs Blvd.,
Pagosa Springs
800-832-5523 • www.pshotsprings.com

5 - THE HENRY STRATER THEATRE
699 Main Ave., Durango
970-375-7160 • www.henrystratertheatre.com
Located at the historic Strater Hotel, The Durango Melodrama with its professional cast offers its summer Melodrama season June through September. Shows will be followed by hilarious Vaudeville routines. A wonderful setting for an affordable night of family fun and camaraderie.

6 - HONEYVILLE
33633 Hwy. 550 N.,
Durango
800-676-7690 • www.honeyville.com
Watch the bees make honey. Free samples.

7 - MESA VERDE
NATIONAL PARK
Hwy 160 West, Mesa Verde
866-773-5018 • www.visitmesaverde.com
Explore the fascinating history of this World Heritage site while enjoying dramatic high country vistas, fine dining and distinctive southwest shopping. Ask for code H40014. Hwy 160 West of Durango.

8 - MONTY'S TOWN
BIKE RENTAL
143 E. 13th St., Durango
970-426-2807 • www.montystownbikes.com
Rent bikes on your Durango family vacation and take a sightseeing bike ride on the Animas river trail.

9 - NATIVE PATH TOURS
975 Main Ave. Suite 1, Durango
877-217-2921 • www.nativepathtours.com
Follow us though the marvelous ruins of the Anasazi and experience the truths and fallacies of current archeology. Discover native view of this era in their past. Learn of the monastic heritage of Mesa Verde, of the religious and commercial centrality of Chaco Canyon to the ancient people of the San Juan Basin, and of the historical, cultural and physical forces that caused their ultimate dispersal. Our tours bring ethnobotany, climatology, archaeology, hydrology, history, common sense and sacred knowledge into your understanding of some of the most blessed places of ancient America.

10 - SOARING TREE TOP ADVENTURES
964 County Road 200, Durango
970-769-2357 • www.soaringcolorado.com
Ride the train and go Soaring all in one day. Enjoy a gourmet lunch in the trees. The longest, safest zip line canopy tour course in the world. This all day adventure is fun and safe for all ages.

11 - THE SPRINGS
RESORT & SPA
165 Hot Springs Blvd., Pagosa Springs
800-225-0934 • www.pagosahotsprings.com

12 - SOUTHERN UTE CULTURAL CENTER & MUSEUM
14826 Hwy 172, Ignacio
www.southernutemuseum.org
The Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum is to be the principle repository, conservator, and interpreter of our tribe's history, our people, our stories, our culture and its artifacts. We do this first for the Southern Ute Tribe, and second for the rest of the world to ensure that our people's stories will always be told and remembered. In programs and exhibitions, our mission is to accurately and vividly portray and preserve Southern Ute history, culture, and tradition.

All Aboard! Durango & Silverton Railroad Guide

Fun for Everyone in Durango! DAY OR NIGHT

• Bar D Chuckwagon
• Soaring Tree Top Adventures

Anyone who says there's nothing to do in Durango just isn't paying attention. Though set far from the hustle of the big city, Durango enjoys both a wealth of entertainment options and a rich social culture traditional of rural communities.

With the Red Rocks of the Animas Valley keeping watch, Gary Cook, Matt Palmer, Joel Racheff and Cy Scarborough-the Bar D Wranglers-entertain audiences of all ages with a fun-filled acoustic concert of traditional Western music interspersed with bits of good, old-fashioned humor. The evening includes a "chuckwagon" dinner under the stars, and ends with the feel-good warmth of a down-home family celebration. The Henry Strater Theatre, or "The Hank" as it is colloquially referenced, as well as the Durango Arts Center Theater, schedule a variety of live musical and theatrical performances throughout the year. This year The Hank welcomes the "The Pursuit of Happiness" and "After Dark," with DAC staging the musical "Greater Tuna." The DAC Theater is located inside the Durango Arts Center on Second Avenue, with The Hank set adjacent to its parent, the Historic Strater Hotel. Music is, indeed, a part of the fabric of the town. Local artists (many of whom tour the country but call Durango "home") perform nightly in various intimate venues around the town.

Enjoy everything from coffee hours rhythms at Durango Coffee Company, to contemporary singer/songwriters in The Office Spiritorium, to country-western crooners in the Diamond Belle Saloon. Find the "late night" scene at Steamworks Brewing Co., with live punk, reggae, ska and alt, or a favorite local DJ spinning the tunes. Additionally, the 600-seat Community Concert Hall, located on the Fort Lewis College campus, plays host to national touring performers of all musical genres.

To take some of the "sounds" of Durango home, keep an eye out at retailers throughout the downtown for "Rhythms of Durango"-a specially produced CD of the eclectic mix of music found in town.

As any local will attest, living in Durango is about "quality of life," and that includes great food. The town boasts dozens of excellent restaurants, and many surprised visitors favorably compare their meals at these independent establishments to the finest eateries in urban environments. Indeed, Durango has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco. Cuisine is farreaching, ranging from progressive and ethnic to the more traditional eateries that embrace the area's ranching heritage.

Downtown gatherings are also part of the fabric of Durango, and diverse festivities can be enjoyed throughout the year. From events such as the Cowboy Gathering, the Durango Heritage Days Festival, Fiesta Days and the Homegrown Festival, which celebrate the region's heritage, to celebratory events such as Taste of Durango and Oktoberfest, to a focus on children with the Father's Day Fest, Day Out with Thomas™ and more,Durango offers something for everyone. Fourth of July features a daylong list of events, beginning with a pancake breakfast in the park to the fireworks display and street dance after dark.

To learn more about all Durango has to offer, stroll by the Visitor's Information Kiosk in the 700 block of Main Ave. and pick up a Downtown Visitor's Guide/ locator map, or visit Durango on the Web at www.durango.org or www.downtowndurango.org.

Bar D Chuckwagon

The Bar D Chuckwagon has served over two million guests during their 42 seasons. Located under the majestic red cliffs in the Animas Valley a few miles north of Durango, the Bar D has been open every summer evening since 1969, offering a live stage show and chuckwagon supper. The show lasts nearly an hour and is fun for the whole family. The Bar D Wranglers perform songs about the Old West in the style of classic cowboy movies. The show blends tunes with three-part harmony, high-energy instrumentals and comedy.

The show starts right after a delicious barbecue supper with a choice of roast beef, chicken breast, or rib-eye steak, including homemade biscuits, foil-wrapped potato and baked beans. The line can serve 700 guests in less than 30 minutes, using metal plates and cups reminiscent of those carried by the chuckwagons in the Old West.

The show is performed outdoors under the Colorado sky. When the weather is rainy, the eating area is covered. Supper is served at 7:30 p.m. sharp and the show finishes around 9:30 p.m. There are several souvenir shops with the feel of a frontier town, an authentic reconstruction of an Old West chapel and a miniature train for the kids to ride around the Bar D spread.

The Bar D Chuckwagon is an established Durango area attraction and offers a favorite experience for visitors and locals alike. Pick up a Bar D brochure at the Durango Visitors Center or find details atwww.bardchuckwagon.com. Reservations are required, call 970.247.5753. Tables are assigned from the stage back as guests arrive and buy their tickets. The ticket booth and shops open at 5:30 p.m. daily.

Soaring Tree Top Adventures
by Dionne Beggrew

Soaring® Tree Top Adventures Adds Three New Zipline Spans in 2011 Soaring®

Tree Top Adventures, the largest, safest zipline tour available anywhere, has just gotten larger. In 2011, three new spans will open to the public, making a total of 27 ziplines in the ecofriendly course. Two new spans are over 600 feet, traveling side-by-side, allowing guests to race as they travel through spectacular old growth forest.

Soaring® Tree Top Adventures is an all-day ecological thrill adventure for all ages. Open to the public in 2004, Soaring® Tree Top Adventures is an all-day ecological thrill adventure for all ages. Open to the public in 2004, Soaring is the first of its kind and scale in the U.S.

Guests ages 5-91 traverse across cables that make them feel like they are gliding through the air like birds from tree to tree, on a network of lacy stainless steel platforms nestled high in the Ponderosa canopy. Gliding through Aspen forests and mountain glens, over the crisp, frothy waters of the Animas River, while traversing over a mile and a half of cable through spectacular scenery, Soaring provides a day of adventure long remembered.

The course, with spans ranging from 56 to 1,400 feet, is designed for excitement that is safe and accessible to all ages, with the help of friendly Sky Rangers (guides). Soaring's patented system is completely non-invasive to the old-growth Ponderosa pines it uses to hold the lacey stainless steel platforms to the trees, without a single bolt, nail or screw penetrating the trees.

Soaring holds a second patent: a unique, non-braking system using a formula that takes the braking issue out of the equation for guests. Guests do not need to use a glove to slow themselves, as they arrive to each platform perfectly, and with the aid of guides handling all of the guest equipment, guests ages 5-91 have been able to experience the Soaring adventure.

Soaring® Tree Top Adventures has been rated the #1 Attraction in the United States, Colorado and Durango on TripAdvisor.com, a consumer website for posting unbiased reviews of places visited.

Soaring guests travel in their own private First-Class train cars to and from the zipline. A Soaring train attendant greets guests at the Tall Timber Legend train car, where "ticketless travel" and open car seating await. Boarding is available at the downtown train depot or at the Rockwood station. Non-zipline guests just wanting to experience Soaring's First-Class train car and enjoy the ride to Silverton can call Soaringto reserve seating on the Tall Timber Legend. In 2010, Soaring expanded its Ecological Tour segment of the guest experience. Ecology specialists, or Eco Rangers, provide information in a real-time, teachable moments setting, sharing with guests a wealth of knowledge about the unique, old-growth Ponderosa forest where Soaring resides.

The all-inclusive cost for the 5-hour zipline adventure, including equipment, expert Sky Ranger guides, Eco Tour specialists, a four-course gourmet lunch served in the trees and round-trip train transportation in Soaring's First-Class train cars to this full day of adventure is $439/pp. Advance reservations are required: please call 970-769-2357 or reserve online at www.soaringcolorado.com.