Durango, Colorado

Durango. I could live here. I'm not exactly sure how serious we are, but as we travel, we look for a new town to call our own. Although we love Bainbridge Island, sometimes we think it's too expensive, a bit too snooty and most of all, too gray. Wouldn't it be fun to find the perfect small town? What we think is important:  
An exceptional natural setting, whether mountain, ocean or river. Not too big, not too small. A good food coop or natural food store. At least one bookstore. A farmers market. Some artists. Good dirt and climate for gardening. A good yarn shop. And, of course, lots of sunshine. Durango scores high all around. Plus it's a college town, which is also a plus. It gets a few demerits for too many condos and golf courses and what looks suspiciously like sprawl. And we'll need to check the weather a couple months from now, but it definitely makes the List. 

We drove north from Durango on what is called the San Juan Skyway. Wow. The fall colors made the drive all the more spectacular, but it would be a big wow at any time of year. We checked out two old western towns enroute, Silverton and Ouray (first photo), which were both very cute and incredibly situated in the mountains, but also a little too touristy and too mountainous to make the List. The road and the drive need to be added to your bucket list, though, no question.

Mark was tired of campgrounds close to major thoroughfares, so he took a chance on a road that said only "National Park Access" and after a seven-mile drive down a gravel road, we found paradise. A beautiful (and free) campground complete with a meadow and a creek, a trailhead and only a couple of other campers spread over many acres. As if we needed further evidence of the spectacular beauty of this spot, a surprising number of photographers came and went (how did they know - maybe it's in a book somewhere?) working to shoot the green meadow, yellow leaves, white bark, soaring mountains and the new snow on the rocky peaks. Again, my camera doesn't do it justice, but I'll remember.

Update: VanMan was evidently in the way of a perfect shot of Mt. Sneffels, so one of the photographers asked us to move In exchange for a 16x24 inch print of the result. Oh boy!