Durango, CO
 

The Mrs and I will be heading there Labor Day weekend to check the Durango-Silverton train ride off the bucket list. We'll probably stay in the area a couple days so we're looking for other stuff to do, and also possible places to stay. We prefer a cabin type place over a hotel, but nothing fancy.

Anyone familiar with the area have any suggestions? I swear I've seen someone here with Durango as their location but can't remember who it was.


Also feel free to express your thoughts on the Dodge Durango in this thread as well.

Accustom yourself to the presence of cinders. ;)

I still have a 'souvenir' kerchief from the train ride from way back when I was a wee one.
Wish I could give you more specific info, as it was perhaps the family vacation I enjoyed the most. We spent several weeks, Royal Gorge, rented a jeep and drove around for a day in Big Boy Basin, recall a really nice RV park in Colorado Springs.

Of all, the best memory was parking the RV for the night just off the highway next to a mountain stream, and just taking a cup to the stream for a cup of the best water ever.

Garden of the Gods
Mesa Verde
Pike's Peak

Remember Cave of the Winds took forever to get to via switchbacks. The long drive stuck in my mind because some Asain tourists pulled into the parking lot way up in the mountains, and the ball joint holding the front wheel of the rental car promptly fell off. Can't imagine the tow out on that one.

Worst memory was Black Canyon of the Gunnison, but I'm sure it isn't applicable these days. When we camped there, the entire sewage system was FUBAR. The entire camp smelled like a Porta-Potty, with both the sewage smell, and the chemical treatment [blue goo] smell.

If you're driving through Kansas to get there, take a moment and savor the scene when the mountains first appear on the prairie horizon. Such a serene, beautiful sight.

I took the short steam train ride in Georgetown a few years back so I've had a taste of the cinders.

Been to Co Springs and the Royal Gorge and Pike's Peak, but not Cave of the Winds. We probably won't get back to that area this time around as we're heading to our favorite place in Estes Park afterwards.

Why did Dodge name a car after Durango?

See if you can find out for me.

Why do you think an SUV is a car?

More to your question, the Dodge Durango always seemed to me the closest in marketing to this

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I lived there for a short stint... Great town

Lots of fun things to do, whether it be booze cruising down the Animas, hiking up to some great views, and even just a stroll down main street would be fun for the wife

I don't know, but I always loved the styling of the 1st generation Durango. Can't find one that's not beat to shit or miled out anymore though.

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There's a store around there that sells special treats that taste amazing, but make you completely forget the name of the store a couple hours after eating them.

ROFL I go to Colorado every year...I've found those stores already.

Jesus Christ you literal douche.

If you can't say car in place of automobile these days, I'm very sorry.

NO FIGHTING IN MY THREAD

Now that's some thin skin.

Geez, if I knew it would end in tears I'd never have even started.

Buck up buttercup.

Just warn us if you plan on calling a hot dog a sandwich.

Ok.

Should I state the obvious about getting some weed while you're there or should I assume you've thought of that?

Because the Dodge Albuquerque's name plate was too big?

Certainly for that anemic motor they first came out with.

There is all sorts of cool stuff in the area. Check out Mesa Verde and wander up to Telluride. Ouray is quite pretty. You can pay the Indians five bucks to go stand on the Four Corners, too.

Durango is the biggest town in the area, but to be honest I find it the least interesting. I would recommend getting a cabin up near Ouray.

Durango is much further South West than the stuff up in the Springs. If I were that far west I would go to the 4 corners area. Maybe even take a ride down into New Mexico, Los Alamos is probably just as close as the Springs.

When we lived in Albuquerque back in the early 70's my dad used to take us to the reservations, not sure what they are like up that way some 40 years later but it stuck with me all these years. The high deserts were nice.

If you are there as a destination and to stay in one place ask the locals when you get there. We did that a lot on our trip last week and had lots of luck.

Take your time and enjoy, there is nothing like being on a vacation and taking your time not having to be anywhere at a set time and just enjoying being alive.

Had a great aunt and uncle who retired to Ouray. spent all of two days with them passing through on a road trip to Disneyland with grandma and grandpa when I was 5.

Actually, the only things I really remember about a vacation THAT long ago was;

breakfast at a different Stuckeys every morning, including the hot chocolate with extra whipped cream on top.

the drunk indians passed out on the sidewalk when we took our evening walks around the motels from west CO on into CA.

I'm pretty sure the early 1st generation was available with a 318 V8 and the RT version had a 360. Later on they switched to the 4.7L V8.

Sorry if I besmirched in error. I've only been in a couple, but they gave off a roomier PT Cruiser vibe.

That's almost a 2 hour drive to Durango.

Maybe just go smoke weed and find some good food?

I had a 99 Dakota with a dog-ass 3.9 V6 in it but I'm not sure they put that in the Durango. They may have, and if so I feel sorry for anyone who bought one.

That's my plan for our 3 days in Estes Park. Very solid suggestion though. :)

I just did a loop through the three Colorado National Parks that I hadn't hit (aside from RMNP) over the 4th of July weekend. On the way to or from, you could hit Sand Dunes National Park and/or Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Both are probably only worth 2-3 hours at most, but are pretty cool to see.

Durango is a cool town in that it has "stuff," but it's more of a base for other stuff to do than a destination in and of itself IMO. Cool downtown with some good restaurants and shopping, a few breweries, etc. Mesa Verde is worth the trip. I didn't do the train (sounds like fun for about an hour, but would then get pretty old). If you do, consider going up one day, staying in Silverton, and coming back the next day. The drive from Durango to Ouray is one of the prettiest our state has to offer.

I agree with Rain Man, Ouray wins the prize as the prettiest you'll find out there. There's a lot of hiking in the area, quaint downtown. There's brewery there called Mr. Grumpy Pants Brewery (aka Ourayle if you look it up), and it really is just a grumpy old dude making beer.

Telluride I have a mixed review of. Seems like a nice ski town, but it was pretty crowded when I was there and not really much to do, so I wouldn't personally say it's worth the effort, but I know a lot of people like it there.

We had a 2nd gen with the 5.7 liter Hemi. It was a dealer demo deal. Didn't need it after my dad sold his boat but it would move.

Replaced it 12 years later with a 3rd gen 6 cylinder. I love the 6, we drove out to DC from Chicago on a tank of gas, it gets better mileage than my 3 series BMW and still has enough power to get up and down switch backs on the Lincoln Highway in Penn. My wife misses the power of the Hemi but I am happy with the 6. Didn't have any room to work in the engine compartment, will only need 6 plugs instead of 16. A year later still getting used to the auto shutoff at a complete stop, now have to hit a switch as we pull out of our suburb as it shuts off at the stop sign there. I leave it on if I am on a road with a lots of traffic lights but if I am just driving around our town I shut it off.

We will have a few hours to kill on the day we drive in so we could actually hit one of these places.


Yeah, riding the train the entire day might be a be much, so we're thinking about doing a ATV tour/train package deal that will only be the return trip from Silverton to Durango on the train. I don't need to see everything twice.

Sounds like Ouray will definitely be the place to go on our second day out there.

Is that the 3.7 V6? I have that in my 2011 Dakota and it is light years better than the plodding 3.9 in my old one.

I remember getting hit with a lot of soot and coal smoke on the Durango - Silverton line. You might research the best place to sit - also which side has the best views. I think you want to be as far back from the engine as possible to avoid the soot. Or maybe it was the other way around. Still it was very cool. I think we took the train up and a bus back or something.

Mesa Verde is awesome - Chaco Canyon is really cool too if you make it down that far (4 corners trip).

Random "not even trying" shot of Ouray from the deck of the Ouray Brewing Company.

http://i.imgur.com/Lbi1jM9.jpg

And the sign outside Mr. Grumpy Pants for good measure.

http://i.imgur.com/3FL84RS.jpg

Uh, yeah. I could see myself hanging out in that place for a while.

Also, Otter's profile says he's from Durango.

Soo.. coincidence.

I will be in Durango area vacationing the 5th/6th/7th and plan to do the silverton train thing too.

We got a really kickass little yurt on AIRBNB but we planned way ahead

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Ill be in Fort Collins a few days before, and Colorado Springs area a few days after, opportune time for this thread to pop up as we just booked our colorado springs airbnb last night~

Aww...you guys could be vacation besties.

u jelly

It is actually a 3.6. I think it is new to line.

Has plenty of power, I think the way the 8 speed trans is geared is why my wife misses the instant gratification of the Hemi. I don't mind it and love the saving on gas mileage.

very cool,

we are thinking about checking out ouray and telluride on the way to check in, since our second day will be a drive up to silverton and train ride back~

Just note that Telluride is a fair distance out of the way. It doesn't look like it on a map, but it's probably an hour or so off of your route to Ouray. If it's worth 2 hours driving, great, but just know they're not as close as they seem.

We had one that very color for quite some time. Nice one, totally loaded up with running boards, third seat etc.

Learned my lesson not to **** with the factory exhaust on it. With the salt up in Chicagoland I was replacing it almost yearly after that.

Only picture I have of it is in the background.

That cuda gotta Commando?

Almost. We'll still be there on the 5th but leaving for EP on the 6th.

I test drove another Dakota with a V8 and it just seemed clumsy. The V6 was way smoother, had decent power and yeah...gas mileage. I'm not stupid enough to believe gas prices will always stay as low as they are now.

My first ever trip to Silverton was a business trip. I'd only lived in Colorado for a year or so and went all over the state on a project for the governor's office to listen to economic development ideas and concerns.

Keep in mind that there are less than 1,000 people in this county, but the county courthouse is a nice-sized building that was built back when it was a booming mining town. I went into the county courthouse to meet my appointment, and one of the workers in there was really into missing people. The walls were full of missing person posters from all over the country.

Now envision how creepy it is to go into a big old building in a tiny county of 1,000 people up in the mountains, in a town of 500 people, and then you see a couple of hundred missing persons signs on the wall.

The 360? They ran fairly well. The 318 wasn't too bad either

You have a nice yurt.

Pretty sure there wasn't a 5.7 hemi option in the first generation.

Glad you're still with us.

I love Durango Co. Grew up had an Aunt and Uncle live there and we would spend a week vacationing. They lived 50 yards from the river and my cousin and I would walk a path down and trout fish to high heaven. That would be my dream home to live.

Surrounded by mountains just beautiful and elegant.


If you get a chance go to the Great Sand Dunes it's like Gods sand box it's pretty cool. It's where they filmed Return of the Jedi desert scene.

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CW McCall The Silverton Train nice pics in this video

You will have fun Bugeater

Breaker 1-9 for the Rubber Ducky

Yeah, that's a big ten 4 ther, Pig Pen, yeah we definitely got the door, good buddy

Murcy, Sakes, Alive, Looks like we got ourselves a convoy..

Hey good lookin' we'll be back to pick you up later!!

Mercy sakes alive, Pig Pen, I think your coming on to me

Not that there's anything wrong with that

This here is the Rubber Ducky I'm out

I was mashing up these two references.

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****, FOX made sure this was only available in Spanish. Plus it cuts off before the 'back to see you later' he says to Marge.

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ROFL never seen those commercial or Simpson episode

I'd go to Pagosa Springs and take a dip at the resort there. The water is incredible.

It does now. It came with a 273 two barrel and I put a 340 with a 750 Edelbrock on it. Headers, cam etc. :D

Correct. Daimler put it in the "rock em sock em robot" version.

Estes is really nice. One year - 2009 - I was doing some work in Fort Collins and I was going to (possibly) be held up over Christmas. On the 23rd My Wife calls me and tells me that she is coming to pick me up. Hell, I thought she had driven to Colorado to take me home...

She flew into DIA, rented a car, came and picked me up and we headed West. She had reserved a cabin in Estes for Christmas. One of the best Christmas I ever had! Beautiful country - and once you get away from the city - the scenery is breathtaking.

This.
I remember on the way to the Great Sand Dunes I was a little pissed. I was like, "Why do we want to go see a big pile of Sand?" Started seeing the Dunes from 100's of miles away. The place blew my mind!

Well...no. You can maybe see it from 10 miles away.

But it's still cool to see.

I think the bigger things may have been mountains.

Last year we went to Estes and did some horseback riding in the mountains etc. We want to do something different this time i'm gonna have to get on groupon and see what the hotness is~

Your right, my bad I meant 2nd Gen, it was a 2004. We have owned 2nd and the current 3rd gen's. Doesn't take much to confuse me.