Adventures on Horseback
by Julianne W. Schultz
Visitors to the Durango area can get deeper into the backcountry than they thought possible with the help of a horse. An experienced and qualified outfitter can make a pack trip into the forest or wilderness possible in ways most people don't realize. Our family's adventure with Over the Hill Outfitters started at Lemon Reservoir and continued more than 15 miles up to the Florida River headwaters above City Reservoir. Deep in the Weminuche Wilderness -- nearly 500,000 acres within national forest lands -- the outfitters have a camp destination at about 10,500 feet in elevation. Our three-day customized pack trip included fishing at Lake Marie, scenic overlooks at Trimble Pass near Chicago Basin and hiking to the top of Sheridan Peak, just under 13,000 feet. A dozen well-bred, well-trained horses made some of the most spectacular backcountry in Colorado available to our family, most of whom where neophyte riders. Supported by a great crew of guides, our excellent adventure captured wonderful family memories.

Oige Kennedy and his Fort Lewis College Soccer National Champions
by Sven Brunso
Fort Lewis College is a Colorado public liberal arts school populated by some 4,000 lucky students and located on a mesa above Durango, a town in the southwestern corner of the state with fewer than 20,000 full-time residents. Over the last decade, Fort Lewis has become one of the most elite programs in collegiate soccer. The FLC Skyhawks won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II soccer championships in Tampa, Fla. on December 5, 2009. The win is the second championship garnered by the school in the last five years. At the helm of this achievement is an amazing first-year head coach, Oige Kennedy. He is the only coach in the history of the NCAA to win a national title in any sport in his inaugural year as head coach. One of the youngest head coaches in collegiate soccer, only 27 years old, his Gaelic name means "youth." Kennedy is from Ireland where he played for the Irish National Team. He is entering his fifth season with the Skyhawks in 2010, rebuilding his team after losing six starters from the championship team. Kennedy says recruitment is easy when you have a town like Durango to offer students, as well as the community support for the team. He says, "We average nearly 2,000 people supporting each game, which put us in the top 10 in the country for attendance." Oige Kennedy and Fort Lewis are a new force in collegiate soccer.

The Discovery Museum Opens this Fall
by Indiana Reed
Opening to the public in October of 2010 is the new Durango Discovery Museum located alongside the Animas River at the historic electric power plant. An interactive science museum for all ages, the unique destination museum offers visitors ways to explore the past, present and future of scientific innovation. The museum has ever-evolving exhibits, and on permanent display is the historically unique powerhouse equipment still at the location, including a 3,500-kilowatt generator and giant boilers used in the production of coal-fired electricity. Claire Bradshaw, the museum's executive director, anticipates some 30,000 people to visit during the opening year of the science facility. The plant originally opened in 1893 and is thought to be one of the first industrial buildings in the state to have been built in the unique Mission architectural style.

The Sopranos - Two Musicians Look at Life in Transition
by Judith Reynolds
Tall, alert and sweepingly elegant, Linda Mack Berven has sung at Carnegie Hall "seven or eight times" and she has prepared the Durango Choral Society and the Fort Lewis College Chamber Choir to sing there. In April of 2010, she made her conducting debut at the Carnegie in New York City. Gemma Kavanagh is a striking blond who moves like a dancer and could be taken for a diva were it not for her warm, engaging manner. She is Irish-born and San Francisco-experienced, having landed major opera roles including Pamina in The Magic Flute (Monterey Opera) and Butterfly in Madame Butterfly (San Francisco Opera Guild). The singers are professional colleagues of the same age who are planning future commitments. There's no stopping them now, with still a lot of music to learn, love and perform. And they both play golf. So on the golf course or on stage, in the tale of these two, anything is possible.

Growing Grapes - Local Vintners Master the Art
by Indiana Reed
Growing grapes in the Four Corners is perhaps as close to an art as a farmer can get, given the climate and varied conditions that influence the delicate vines and fruit. Indeed, the region isn't particularly kind to grapes. But, a handful of thoughtful vintners have mastered what a dozen years ago was just a vision, today establishing the roots for what could be considered a fine-wine enclave in the Four Corners region. Blazing the "vine trail" in the late 1990s were Sutcliffe Vineyards and Guy Drew Vineyards, both located in McElmo Canyon east of Cortez. Another winery, Wines of the San Juan, has vineyards nestled in the bosque of the San Juan River, south of the Colorado border in New Mexico. Fox Fire Farms is another addition, growing grapes south of Durango near Ignacio. Newest to the neighborhood is Pleasant View Vineyards, nestled among the old-growth pinon-and juniper forests adjacent to the Canyons of the Ancients. Visitors to these five boutique wineries are welcome.

Excursions
D&SNG Named Top U.S. Train Ride - by Kristi Nelson Cohen
Durango's famous narrow gauge railroad was named one of the world's top train rides by the Society of American Travel Writers in 2009. Named number one in the United States, and number three in the world, it's no wonder; the historic coal-fired, steam-powered line runs through some of the most remote and scenic mountain landscapes found anywhere. A visit to the historic D&SNG depot at the south end of Main Avenue in downtown Durango is a destination in its own right. At the depot, visitors find a unique gift shop and bookstore, and a museum in the railroad's working roundhouse that displays train cars, a model railroad layout, historic documents and railroad art.

Top Picks
What's New to See and Do
Some best bets for this summer and fall of things to see and do are the musical play Always...Patsy Cline playing every weekend through September 18 at the Durango Arts Center. This tribute to the legendary country singer includes some 27 of her hits. The Smokin' Fourth barbecue cook-off downtown hosts more than 40 teams competing for cash prizes and raises funds for the Kiwanis Club which supports local youth organizations. Virtuoso fiddler Natalie MacMaster performs with the Music in the Mountains' concert orchestra July 13 at Purgatory's festival tent. The poster (left) entitled San Juan Flowers depicts the original oil painting donated this year by Toh-Atin Gallery to be auctioned at the festival's Pops Night on July 21. Summer at the ski resort is fun for the whole family with favorites like the scenic chairlift, alpine slide, bungee trampoline, climbing wall, mini-golf and more. Special events from June 19 opening day's Dog Day of Summer and Coca-Cola Triple Crown Race to the Mushroom and Wine Festival and Mountain Man Triathlon in August are perfect getaways from the heat and hassle of the big city. The Community Concert Hall features twin sons Matthew and Gunnar Nelson performing a tribute to their 1960s American heartthrob father in Ricky Nelson Remembered. The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College has a new exhibit opening this summer. Treasures Unveiled offers glimpses of unique and rarely seen items from the center's archived collections. Blue Lake Ranch hosts the Women's Resource Center fundraiser Extraordinary Women on September 10. The mission of the WRC is to advocate for the personal empowerment and economic self-sufficiency of women and girls in La Plata County. This year, Fiesta Days celebrates 75 years of tradition and fun with the region's largest rodeo, a traditional queen contest, tractor pull, street dance, musical jamboree, kids' rodeo, barrel races, team roping, parade, chuck wagon cook-offs and cowboy church. For authentic Victorian entertainment, don't miss the Durango Melodrama & Vaudeville Tuesday-Sunday evenings from June 11 to August 21. This summer's offering is George M. Cohen's classic The Tavern. The melodrama has been a Durango tradition for 48 years.

Getaways
Day Trips in Any Direction
Day trips - adventures from your Durango base - may include a visit to Silverton, a National Historic Landmark and the summer terminus for the D&SNG train; the high-mountain town of Telluride, Colorado's summer festival capital; Farmington and its many Native American archaeological sites including Chaco Canyon, Aztec Ruins and Salmon Ruins; the 52,000-acre Mesa Verde National Park, a World Heritage Site housing some 5,000 identified ancestral sites; or Ute Mountain Tribal Park which offers full-day, guided tours of well-preserved ancestral Puebloan ruins.

Diversions
Things to See and Do Around Durango
Highlights of the season are detailed here, from the summer-long Bar D Chuckwagon Supper and Great Western Stage show to Animas River Days, the La Plata County Fair, the San Juan Brewfest and the annual Durango Cowboy Gathering.

Galleries and Goods
Eye on the Arts Scene
This department offers a listing of shopping options in Durango that feature fine art or unique accessories plus events in the world of arts and crafts.

Dining Profile 
Cosmopolitan - by Indiana Reed
A cosmopolitan individual lives both a "local" and a "global" life - retaining deep cultural roots by enjoying the sophisticated pleasures the world has to offer. Durango's Cosmopolitan restaurant is thus aptly named. Exquisitely prepared dishes feature influences that span the globe, but since its opening in 2007, "Cosmo" has also taken on a personality that is quintessentially Durango. Sister to the popular Telluride establishment, Durango's Cosmopolitan has been structurally carved out of a historic space downtown, with subdued lighting enhancing bared brick walls that date back to Durango's origins. Warm woods, copper accents, original artwork and a layout that encourages easy conversation complete the package. The rooftop patio is its latest renovation, providing outdoor seasonal seating, views and soft summer breezes to enhance your dining experience.

Dining Guide
A complete listing of restaurants in Durango.

History | Art Collection | Dream Homes | Giving in Style

History
Durango's City Reservoir
by Jill Seyfarth
One fine day in 1903, Durango's residents opened their faucets to find -- for the first time in years -- miraculously clear water. In the 1890s, the once-clear Animas River had turned into a flowing sewer line. Everyone dumped waste and mill tailings into the river, which flowed to the city's pump station where it was sucked out and delivered to the faucets of the roughly 3,300 people who called Durango home. In 1901, the Florida Canal Company devised a plan to dam the Florida River above 10,000 feet. Supplemented by three higher lakes, the new reservoir would allow sufficient storage for the company to sell water year-round. The "City Reservoir" was finished in 1902 and the next year an enclosed 10-mile-long wooden flume was constructed and water started flowing to city users. The innovative gravity-powered system today still delivers "the purest of the pure."

Art Collection
Life Wall
by Lisa Montierth
On permanent display at Durango's new 43,000-square-foot public library is a collection of 40 portraits cast in bronze of influential performers, dignitaries and artists called Life Wall. Artist Willa Shalit and her partner, Dean Erickson, created Life Wall to celebrate the flow of life and the diversity of man. It features casts of people who have made an impact on the world, from the Dalai Lama to Clint Eastwood, and a few more personal portraits like the artist's elderly grandmother and a newborn baby's clasped hands and feet. The piece, created in the 1980s, has toured American museums, and selected masks have been displayed at the United Nations and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Though some of the masks have been created several times and there are versions owned by individual people, in its entirety the Life Wall is the only one that exists in the world.

Dream Homes
Mountain Craftsman at the Glacier Club
This 4,238-square-foot classic mountain craftsman-style home built by Mantell-Hecathorn Builders, Inc. has the distinctively warm appeal the builder has become known for. In a private setting overlooking colorful quartzite cliffs in the Glacier Club, the home maximizes the views from every window and all three patios. Built to the highest standards of quality and energy efficiency, the home received a "five-star plus" rating as an Energy Star home. Mantell-Hecathorn Builders has more than 35 years of design-build experience and was named by Built Green Colorado as 2008's Custom Builder of the Year.

The Estate at Keyah Grande
A Spanish-inspired jewel on 100-plus acres, situated within 4,000 private acres of the greater compound, the estate at Keyah Grande is a grand 22,000-square-foot home offering stunning views, multiple decks, pavilions and patios. The estate features eight elegant bedrooms with full baths and furnishings from the owners' travels. On the ground level is a game lounge, conference room and a wine cellar which holds 3,000 bottles. The workout room and spa features a soaking pool with heated swimming pool outside. There is access to an extensive trail system and streams and ponds for fishing. The furnished estate is currently listed for sale.

Giving in Style
Concert Hall Benefactors
by Indiana Reed
Durango's beloved concert hall, the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, is located on the mesa above town at the college. But it's the word "community" that speaks to the mission of the facility, as well as to its ultimate longevity. In September 2009, the concert hall's staff and directors saluted corporate sponsors, who annually help keep the hills alive with the sound of music, at a special dinner reception held by sponsor Kennebec Cafe. "Our sponsors are vital to the survival of the Community Concert Hall. It is wonderful to bring everyone together to celebrate the community's unified effort to provide a diverse offering of cultural and musical performances to our region," says concert hall director Charles Leslie. With limited funding for the concert hall from the college's general fund, most funding comes from community support -- especially corporate sponsors.

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