Durango & Silverton Narrow-Gauge Weekend — Durango, CO

A round-trip on the Durango & Silverton Narrow-Gauge — 1882 line, original 1925 coal-fired locomotive, climbing along the Animas River through the San Juan National Forest's high-desert-into-alpine corridor. The bride's group books the Presidential Class car for the day — leather chairs, full bar, hand-stained mahogany walls, complimentary champagne service. Saturday afternoon in Silverton (a perfectly preserved Victorian mining town at 9,300 feet), drinks at the Bent Elbow Saloon, dinner aboard the train back. Stay at the Strater Hotel (1887, downtown Durango). Sunday is a slow morning at Mesa Verde National Park — walking the Cliff Palace tour, a picnic at the Far View overlook. Decompression at the Glenwood Hot Springs for a final mineral-pool soak before the drive to Albuquerque.