“Did you know that Colorado has diamond mines?” Sarah asked Nick as they made their back east toward Durango.

“I did know that,” Nick told her, “I think you read it to me when we were on our way to see Karen.”

“Do you think Durango, Colorado engagement rings are all somehow really earthy and natural looking?” Sarah asked.

“I’m guessing they have as many ways to set a stone as anywhere else,” Nick responded.

“Durango, Colorado,” Sarah said.  “Durango.  Dur-an-go.” She leaned over towards Nick.  “It’s sounds cool, Durango.  It’s one of those words that’s fun to say.”

They had chosen the Leland House B&B at 721 East 2nd Ave., Durango, Colorado 81301.  It was said to have “cowboy funky” d?cor according to its website.  That, and they could get a suite that looked like the inside of a luxurious cabin, even though it was in the center of downtown.  Even though the town was completely modernized, it still had an Old West feel to it.

As Nick and Sarah were taking their bags out of the Jeep, Nick told her, “There was a gunfight where we’re standing right now.”

“Really?” Sarah said.  “How cool is that?”

They checked in and barely sat down before Sarah announced that she needed food.  They picked up a map in the hotel lobby and walked to the Durango Diner.  Sarah had a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy, and Nick decided on the wild turkey sandwich, which had mashed potatoes and green chili. 

“I am so having a chocolate milk,” Sarah told Nick.

“I think I might, too,” Nick said, smiling. “It makes me feel like a kid again.”

“This is such a great diner,” Sarah gushed to the server, who smiled and brought them their chocolate milk with long straws.  Sarah slid her shoes off and put her feet in Nick’s lap while they ate.  They giggled like teenagers and ate until they could barely stand up.  Then they walked to 699 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81303 to see the Diamond Belle Saloon.  There was a player piano playing old honky-tonk, and it looked like a band would be coming on later.  The servers were all women dressed as 1880s Saloon Girls. 

“That takes guts,” Sarah said, taking Nick’s hand.  “Night after night.  But I bet they make good money.”

“I hope so,” Nick said, and they went to the bar.  The bartender was dressed up as well.  Everything was kept to look like it was in the late-1880s, which was pretty cool.  Everyone else in the joint looked out of place, in their North Face jackets and LL Bean fleece.  They stayed for a while, drinking a few local brews. 

“I know you love when people ask this,” Sarah said to the bartender, “but what cool Old West things happened here?”

The bartender smiled.  He knew she was playfully giving him a hard time.  He pointed to the stairs.  “Right above this bar is room 222.  When Louis L’Amour was writing a novel, he would stay in that room because he said the honky tonk music helped him to get into the Old West state of mind.”

Sarah nodded.  “Pretty cool,” she said. 

After another hour or so, they walked back to their hotel.  They had to get up early in the morning.

They had to be at the train station at 8:30am.  They got First Class seats on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  It was 52 miles roundtrip, in a train car that was right out of the movies.  It took them through the San Juan Mountains and by the Animas River.  The mountains were covered in snow at this time of year, and it was incredibly bright. 

“This is surreal,” Nick said.

“It really is,” Sarah agreed. 

When they arrived in Silverton, they had a few hours before their train left, so they walked to 664 Greene Street, Silverton, CO 81433.  They rented a snowmobile and went tearing around Molas Pass and the San Juan Mountains.  They weren’t noticing the scenery so much as seeing how fast they could go.  Nick learned to drive a snowmobile from the same Uncle who lent him his Harley in South Dakota.  They were giddy and covered in snow when they got back on the train, where they each had a cocktail to warm up a bit.  On the ride back, they pulled their seats together and stared out the window, watching the mountains go by, Sarah resting her head on Nick’s shoulder.

When they got back to Durango, they immediately hopped in the Jeep and drove to Hesperus, where they would be getting dog-sledding lessons and a guided tour at the Durango Dog Ranch.  As soon as they arrived, Sarah asked to see the “puppies”.  The guides were more than happy to introduce her to the dogs that would be pulling them.  She scratched them behind the ears and let them kiss her.

“I hope you don’t expect me to kiss you now,” Nick told her. 

She chased after Nick and jumped on him.  She tried to lick his face but he was just a little too strong. 

“I WILL get you, Nicky,” Sarah said as she walked back to the dogs. 

They were given “mushing” lessons and began their tour.  Each of them was offered a turn to drive the sled, and Sarah drove twice.  They got to go places in the mountains that looked to different. 

“I guess,” Nick yelled over the noise of the sled and dogs, “that everything looks different when you’re traveling by dog sled.”

Sarah let out a howl and mushed the dogs onward until the guide took over.  During the ride, they stopped for a few minutes to have a snack and let the dogs rest.  The guide told them about the history of the area, and of dog-sledding.  Sarah asked questions about how the dogs were raised and treated, how long they were able to work as sled dogs, and what happened to them afterwards.  She was happy to hear all good answers.  After their journey back, Sarah rolled around with some of the dogs, stopping only because she started sneezing.

“Are you okay?” The guide asked.

“I’m fine,” Sarah explained.  “I’m just allergic to dogs.” 

He looked at her a little strangely.  “Funny thing to do, rolling around with them like that, then,” he said.

“I can’t help it,” Sarah told him.  “They’re so cute.”

They were both tired and cold after their day of snowy historical touring, so they stopped at the Durango Diner again for takeout and went back to the hotel, where they showered and collapsed onto the bed to watch television and veg out.  They curled up together, watching MASH reruns until they fell asleep. 

They had planned to go to the Durango Mountain Resort the next day to do some snowboarding, but they were feeling a little worn out, so they slept until noon and decided to spend the day in Durango.  Over coffee at the Steaming Bean on Main Avenue, Sarah looked through her guidebook.  A slow smile spread across her face.

“What?”  Nick asked.

“Nothing,” she said.  “Drink your coffee.”

When they finished their lattes, Sarah got two to go, handed one to Nick, and held her hand out for the car keys. 

Handing them over, Nick said, “Where are we going?”

“Ain’t tellin’”

They got into the Jeep and Sarah steered them west.  The whole ride, Nick nudged.

“Tell me.” He would say.

“No”

“Tell me, please.  Tell me.  Tell me.  Tell me.  Tell me.  Tell me.” He’d keep going, and Sarah just kept turning up the volume.

“I quite like 311 when I play it this loud,” she yelled over the stereo.  “Don’t you?”

After what felt like forever for Nick, on their drive through what seemed like the middle of nowhere, he saw a sign about the Ute Reservation and the Navajo Nation.  Sarah glanced at him.

She turned the music down and leaned towards him.

“I can hear the wheels turning,” she said.  “Have you figured it out yet?”

Then he saw the sign leading them to the Four Corners Monument.  He reached out and kissed her on the cheek.

“This is awesome.”

They walked over to the exact point where four states meet—the only place in the US where you can stand in four states at once.  Sarah stood in Arizona.

“Nicky, stay in Colorado for a second,” she told him.  She held out her arms and he grabbed her hands.  Taking a step to the left, she was in Utah.  Nick moved to New Mexico.  Then they started twirling like kids until they got dizzy.  Dropping their arms and laughing, they stood a state apart.  Then Sarah dropped backwards into a backbend, so she had one hand in New Mexico, One hand in Arizona, one foot in Utah and the other foot in Colorado.

Nick smiled.  “Your freakish flexibility is so perfect for this place,” he said.  “And, on a side note, the reason I will never play Twister with you.”

Sarah stood on her hands in New Mexico and Arizona for a few seconds, then let her feet down.  She took Nick’s hand and they walked back to the car.  Nick kissed her hand.

“That was a perfect surprise,” he told her.

“I had forgotten we were so close until I saw it in the book this morning,” Sarah said.  “Durango has many, many advantages and aspects of total coolness.”

When they got back to Durango, they went to a very funky jewelry store that caught Sarah’s eye when they were walking around earlier.  It was a small place, and every piece was clearly hand-crafted.  A man walked out from a back room and introduced himself as the owner and artist.

“As you can see,” he explained, “I am very much influenced by Native American culture.”

“We’re looking for something unlike anything we’ve seen before,” Nick said.

The man smiled.  “You’re in the right place.  Are you looking for any type of jewellery in particular?”

“An engagement ring,” Nick said. 

“I haven’t made anything that meets the normal expectations of an engagement ring,” the man said.

“But,” Sarah interrupted, “you’ve created rings that are so beautiful that an exceptional woman might prefer them to the standard ring.”

“Exactly,” he said.

“You make all of these yourself?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, of course,” the man explained. “Any ring you see can be set with a different stone.  I have a pretty large inventory of gems.”

“So,” Sarah said, “I can choose one of these rings that is set with one gem and you can put any other gem in it?”

The man smiled.  “As long as the stone you pick suits the shape of the setting.  I can always reshape the gold for you to accommodate a different size of stone, but, as you can see, some of the settings are built around the center stone to accentuate its shape.”

“And how willing,” Nick asked, “are you, as the artist, to sacrifice your artistic vision?”  He smiled to let the artist know that he already knew the answer, and that it was fine.

“I create each piece around the way a gem speaks to me,” the artist said.  “All diamonds, or lapis, or carnelian, or any gem lets me know how to set it based on its shape.”

"Well," Nick said, "You certainly don't have to drive all the way to Denver to find amazing jewelry."

Nick and Sarah were both completely charmed.  They chatted for a while about the Native American influence, about native cultures in general, and a few other things.

Sarah cleared her throat.  “Would you like to join us for dinner?” She asked.  “We’re going to the Steamworks Brewpub.”

The man smiled and held out his hand, saying: “I’m Andy.”

After Nick and Sarah shook his hand, he grabbed his keys.  “This is one of the best parts of this business,” Andy said.  “Meeting people.”

They walked together to 801 East 2nd Ave, Durango, CO 81301.  Andy immediately ordered a Backside Stout.  Sarah liked the image of the guy meditating on the Third Eye Pale Ale, and Nick got the Ale Diablo, which was supposed to go well with spicy food.  Nick and Sarah split the Cajun Boil for Two.  After her first bite of one of the sausages, she coughed for almost five minutes.  Nick and Andy laughed equally long, and Andy was nice enough to hand her a nice cold beer. 

“You’re face is bright red,” Nick told her, still laughing.  “Your new Indian name is ‘Girl With Face Like Lobster’”.

When Sarah caught her breath, she told him: “And yours is ‘Boy Who Sleeps On Couch’.”

The three of them sat for hours, with Andy asking them about their travels and what they had seen and done.  They only left out the part about the diamond engagement ring hunt.  They each felt a little guilty, but that washed away with each passing beer.

As they ordered their fourth round, Sarah announced that she could sense her third eye. 

“The beer is magic,” she told them.

Andy laughed.  “The brewers are all really good guys,” he said to Nick and Sarah.  “We’ll probably see one or two of them around.”

They talked and talked, feeling like locals.  As they walked back to the hotel, Sarah snuggled up against Nick.

“I’m glad we took some time to chill here,” she said.

“Me too,” Nick responded.  “I have now not only stood in four states at once, but I know that Durango, Colorado is a great place to just completely chill.”

“And don’t forget those rings,” Sarah said.  “Durango has amazing engagement rings, even if they aren’t designed to be engagement rings.”

Arm-in-arm, they walked back to the hotel and snuggled under blankets.

“The only thing I really love about the cold,” Sarah said, “Is snuggling up away from it.”

Nick wrapped his arms around her and they fell asleep, this time with only the sound of the fire crackling away in the fireplace.

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