La Veta 

Tiny town with a huge residentail sector - La Veta, Colorado

(Pictures to be added soon)

La Veta is sweet. When you see it you can imagine an old cowboy town. One main street. One hotel. One general store.

And - the main reason for La Veta – one railway station. 

The La Veta to Alamosa railway departs from La Veta.

We stayed at the La Veta Inn. Quite a large hotel. Dark, though, and our room was dark too. A goof Margarita. 

Breakfast was American-type 'continental' that is, the very basics. Emergency breakfast..Coffee, bagels, cream cheese, hard boiled eggs, cereal, instant porridge.

La Veta Inn (La Veta is pronounced 'La Veeda') is right across the road from La Veta station. You walk across a road, a stretch of dirt, then you are at the old La Veta Town Hall – now the railway station office. 

La Veta Train Trips

Best to book in advance on the net. 

There are two main rides, plus a third, occasional, one.

The main trip is to Alamosa. It's nearly a 3 hour journey to Alamosa. Then a two hour lunch break, then back on the train. 

I considered this trip, but checking out 'historic' Alamosa on Google street view, it looked like a place to avoid – correct me if I am wrong!

The train, by the way, is very slow. From on board, it seems to run at about 15 mph. It might actually be a bit faster, but not much. Certainly its maximum is 36mph in a downhill section. 

You can travel 'coach' or 'dome'. Dome is up higher and is worth the extra $10.

The second trip is to Golden Sands National Park. To get there, you get off the train half way to

Alamosa, then a bus is laid on for half an hour to the Park.

The third trip, which we took, was to see a summer-only concert at Fir, an hour up the track from La Veta. The concert – by well-known 'cowboy' performers – was in a 'natural amphitheatre', in a scenic area. 

The hour's train ride from La Veta was quite scenic, if not stunning. There is the chance to see a little wildlife at trackside. The 'dome' car was very comfortable, and air conditioned.

Arriving at Fir, there is no platform – as at La Veta. No surprise there. It was nice to climb down to the ground, and walk along next to the tracks to... well a hut and some outside benches and tables with sun cover. 

The hut was serving some food. The main meal was barbecued, shredded meat, baked beans, potato salad (spelled 'potatoe') and a white roll.

We had bought a picnic of vegetable sticks, ricotta cheese for a dip, and berries. The shredded meat and beans might tempt me later, if there's any left. 

The cowboy music was as expected, really. Not a million miles away from country and western.

The 'natural amphitheatre' was a hill really with benches. But... in the open sun. 

We spread our blanket under trees a hundred yards away. The cowboy music in the distance was just about right..We had a lovely view of the fir trees on the hill opposite. Cicadas chirped, the occasional cricket rustled its way through the air, and brightly coloured butterflies suckled at nearby wild flowers.

All in all very relaxing as we enjoyed a few hours of reading, resting, snoozing under shady trees, with local cowboy entertainment in the background. A pleasant change from driving, rafting, zip-wiring, or big cities. Lovely. 

Final recommendation?

If there is not a concert at Fir you fancy, maybe check out other train rides in Colorado – there are many, on the old mining train tracks. They may well end in a more interesting town than Alamosa. For example, maybe Durango to Silverton? 

And... this state is crawling with National Parks – you don't have to get a train for one and a half hours, then a half hour bus ride to get to one.

Anyway, we enjoyed our da trip to Fir, a day of relaxing in beautiful Colorado.