Family recharge in Durango — Party Like It's 1995

Durango, CO

October is known as "leaf season" in Durango, CO and it is spectacular! The town and surrounding areas are painted a deep green with patches of fiery yellow from the changing aspens.

Our first few days in Durango were spent in our first stationary tiny house :) at my cousin, Jenny's place. Such a perfect space! Jenny and her family purchased property in Durango over a year and a half ago on 3rd Ave (think homes built in the 1800s) and decided to renovate their "front house" while staying in the tiny house out back. Somehow they (family of four) lived in the tiny house for over 14 months (whoa) and just recently moved into their amazingly beautiful new "front home" which freed-up the tiny house for us (thank you)!! We parked our trailer on 3rd Ave right in front of their house... BUT apparently trailers on not allowed on historic 3rd Ave (big thanks to Jenny's husband, Brian who talked the cops out of writing us a ticket one morning) so we moved to a side street which was super easy (and legal).

Another HUGE thank you to Brian for helping us saw our brand new Anderson Levelers that we were excited about (one couple we talked to referred to them as "marriage savers"... agreed)! If interested in the levelers, click here or watch them in action here (a tad pricey because you have to buy two but such a time saver for us).

Cutting our Anderson Levelers aka "Marriage Savers"

We checked out a few local spots... explore these by bicycle. Durango is super bike friendly! For your Durango bike needs, check out 2ndAveSports. And... our Durango recs:

El Moro Tavern - delish food and cocktails/drinks!!
Ken and Sue's - more of a dinner spot but we had lunch, Asian inspired menu, very good
Three Peak's Deli - quick and good sando spot for carry out lunch, fries are a must order
Grassburger - great veggie burger (and we hear even better beef burger), sweet potato fries were on point
Yoga Durango - never experienced a view like this from a yoga studio (check out their Florida Rd studio)... BONUS - grab a muffin from Bread for bfast (right across the street from the Florida Rd. studio).
Breweries: There are seven breweries serving a town of 18,000 people :) we tried Durango Brew Company - nice outdoor space and good beer and Steamworks - right downtown, lots of TVs (we watched the Giants WC game) and good food. Two others we wish we had time to taste were Ska Brewing - known by locals as the best brew in Durango and Animas Brew Company - right on the Animas River trail, decent beer and good food.

Part two of our time in Durango was spent with Kathy and Thom Connelly (yay!) and their friend Cookie, an anthropologist at Fort Lewis College. Cookie has lived in the Durango area for over 30 years, we were so lucky to have such an expert to explore with!

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is must stop if in the area, the cliff dwellings are easy to access and the ranger led walks are very informative. Check in at the visitor's center for available tour times and tickets (which are $4/each).

One day we took a drive on the "million dollar highway" from Durango to Silverton. Stopped to take in the views at Molas Lake (and if we had more time would camp at little Molas Lake) and had a quick beer at GoldenBlock Brewery in Silverton.

Oh and we had to stop at four corners! Who doesn't want to be in four states at the same time?! Well... I guess Dylan would rather hover :)