A road trip through Colorado and northern New Mexico offers experiences that can take your breath away, scare you half to death, and teach you about little-known Jewish history.
Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park
The town of Estes Park, Colorado (population 5,800), northwest of Denver, is a popular jumping-off point for the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park.
The park covers over 1,000 square kilometers and includes 482 km. of hiking trails. The Alpine Ridge Trail is only one kilometer round trip, past alpine wildflowers and views of the alpine tundra, and it ends at an elevation of 3,660 meters above sea level. It’s called “Huffer’s Hill” because the thin air at this altitude can leave visitors huffing and puffing.
Salida
Salida, Colorado, (population 5,300) is about two and a half hours southwest of Denver, on the way to Durango. The Arkansas River flows through the town, and you can watch rafters and tubers float by from the deck of the Boathouse Cantina or rent your own floatable and join them.
With more than 100 turn-of-the-century buildings in downtown, it’s the largest National Historic District in Colorado and has dozens of artist-owned studios, galleries, restaurants, shops, microbreweries, and distilleries.
Ouray
There are two ways to get from Salida to Durango. The shorter way takes about three hours and 45 minutes and goes through Pagosa Springs, where you can stop for lunch at the “Two Chicks and a Hippie” café and buy a tie-died souvenir T-shirt.
The longer way takes almost five hours, goes through the town of Ouray, and is terrifying. Ouray has a population of under a thousand and is known as the “Switzerland of America” because of its alpine setting, surrounded on three and a half sides by steep mountains. It also has five hot springs, an ice-climbing park, and numerous saloons. Given what comes next, it’s important to have a designated driver.
The town’s entire Main Street is registered as a National Historic District, with most buildings from the late nineteenth century. The Million Dollar Highway Heading out of town toward Durango takes you on US Route 550, known as the “Million Dollar Highway” – which is where the terror begins.
The 19 kilometers south of Ouray run through the Uncompahgre Gorge to the summit of Red Mountain Pass, with steep grades, treacherous cliffs, hairpin curves, narrow lanes, and no guardrails. The two-lane highway is also prone to falling rocks, inclement weather, avalanches, and wildlife darting across the road.
The highway is No. 2 on FindMyPlate’s list of the most dangerous roads in the US. According to The Durango Herald, there are an average of 40 accidents on the road each year and about seven deaths. The origin of the name “Million Dollar Highway” is unclear, but some say you’d have to pay them a million dollars to drive it again.
The scenery, however, is spectacular, and once you’re past the white-knuckle section, you might relax enough to enjoy it – and maybe even spot a moose.
Durango and Silverton
Durango’s Main Avenue is lined with buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a college town of about 19,000 known for live music and blessed with seven bookstores.
The city’s most notable attraction is the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. During the three-and-a-half-hour trip from Durango to Silverton, the vintage steam train climbs from about 2,000 meters to 2,800 meters as it winds through canyons above the Animas River – sometimes with the rails only centimeters from the cliff’s edge.
The train passes through clearances so tight you could reach out and touch the yellow lichen growing on the rocks on either side. (The train does occasionally derail, but no one has died on it in its 136-year history, according to a railroad spokesperson.)
The train stops in relatively tiny Silverton (population 792) for two hours, which is just long enough to grab a bite to eat and see the sights. The downtown district is a National Historic Landmark, with many disproportionately grand buildings (including a history museum in the former jail), thanks to the town’s wealthy past as a center of silver mining.
Taos
Taos, New Mexico (population 6,500) was established as a permanent settlement in 1795, and it’s been an art colony and counter-culture mecca for visitors from D.H. Lawrence to Georgia O’Keeffe, Dennis Hopper, and Julia Roberts since the late 1800s.
Coming into town from the direction of Durango, you drive over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the sev- enth highest bridge in the US, and yet another source of unease for people not fond of heights.
You also pass the 243-acre Greater World Earthship Community, with off-the-grid homes built using passive solar technology, wind power, recycled water, old tires, car batteries, and walls embedded with glass bottles in a style that’s been described as “Hobbit-meets-Blade Runner.”
You can tour the outside on your own, or book online for a guided tour that includes interiors. Some of the homes can also be rented on Airbnb.
A much older community is the Taos Pueblo, an adobe apartment complex that’s been occupied by Native Americans for nearly a thousand years. It’s a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and another National Historic Landmark.
Los Alamos
On the way from Taos to Santa Fe, you can take a short detour to Los Alamos (population 13,000). The first atomic bomb was designed and built there from 1943 to 1945, under the leadership of Jewish physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Not surprisingly, tourism to the city boomed in the wake of Christopher Nolan’s 2023 movie Oppenheimer, parts of which were filmed on location.
A good place to start exploring is the Los Alamos History Museum, which is only $5, or free for veterans – including IDF ones! Walking tours are given most days, and maps for self-guided tours are available online.
We were treated to a tour focusing on the Jewish history of Los Alamos led by Rabbi Jack Schlachter, known as the “Physics Rabbi,” who is the former head of the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratory and now leads a Los Alamos congregation.
In 1945, of the 86 scientists in the Theoretical Division, 18 were Jewish – more than a fifth. Five of the lab’s eight divisions were led by Jewish scientists, and four of the lab’s Jewish scientists went on to win Nobel Prizes.
The city also has a hi-tech, handson science museum just a short walk from the History Museum.
Santa Fe
Santa Fe (population 90,000) is the capital of New Mexico. Founded in 1610, it’s the oldest state capital in the US and was the earliest European settlement west of the Mississippi. At 2,194 meters, it’s also the highest state capital.
Santa Fe’s known for its adobe architecture, great food, art galleries, and museums, including the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
Just outside of town is 10,000 Waves, a Japanese-style spa where you can rent a hot tub in your own private walled garden looking out at the Sangre de Christo foothills, then enjoy a massage or dinner at the Izanami Restaurant, featuring small plates and flights of artisanal
sake.
The spa is family-friendly, and the temperature of one of the tubs can be lowered to accommodate children.
Santa Fe was the first port of call for scientists coming to the then-secret town of Los Alamos during World War II. There’s a historic marker for the former lab office at 109 East Palace, just off the plaza, where you can have a coffee at Oppie’s Café.
The New Mexico History Museum has hosted events and exhibits on the state’s Sephardic crypto-Jewish (Marrano/B’nei Anusim) community, who practiced Judaism in secret after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Spanish Inquisition. For hundreds of years, some lit candles on Friday nights but put them under the dinner table so the neighbors couldn’t see.
The Museum’s bookstore has works on Marranos and more recent Ashkenazi Jewish pioneers.