Durango
Campground
Oasis RV Resort & Cottages Durango
Nice, clean campground with a pool, pickleball court, mini golf, a stream, and goats (yippee!). It is close to a highway but the noise didn't bother us as long as we had our white noise machine on. Pancakes! They have a little food building that serves pancakes on weekends BUT they were starting that summer service AFTER we left! UGH! Barb loves pancakes!
Things to see
Downtown Durango
Cute downtown with a lot of shops, restaurants and brew pubs. So many of the pubs had live music.
Durango Off Leash Dog Park
This was the best dog park we have ever visited. It is a huge area between a creek and a hillside. The dogs have acres and acres to run and a few areas to swim too.
Hiking
Biking
Sale Barn - South Rim - Carbon Junction Trails
We rode this intermediate trail that was about 3 miles from our campground. It is a steep trek up and then an easier ride on top before you descend back down to the frontage road to get back to the trailhead. The majority of the trail is smooth dirt but there are some areas with large rocks that is more difficult.
Food and Drink
Carver Brewing Co.
Great food (highly recommend the curry dish) and beer. Dogs not allowed on the patio.
Durango Diner
What a quaint little old-school diner. You can sit right there at the counter, interact with the great waitstaff, and watch everyone's food being cooked. We went for pancakes. Did I mention Barb likes pancakes?! There must be some connection to John Wayne because there were several pictures and posters of him. Our favorite had the quote "Chuck Norris - never heard of her".
Ernie's
Great place to sit, relax, and enjoy music. This is a full-service bar with a large seat area and several food trucks (Mexican, rice bowls, pizza, smoothies). Live music on the weekends. Dogs allowed.
Nayarit
Probably not our favorite Mexican restaurant but it was clean and satisfied our Margarita requirement on Margarita Martes. Dogs allowed on the patio.
To make a long story short ...
The sidewalk banjo player
Barb and I enjoy the occasional ice cream treat. As with most eating establishments, we try to find local haunts rather than chains. We walked downtown to a local ice cream shop called Cream Bean Berry. Both times that we indulged ourselves, eating outside on their little patio-on-the-street, a banjo player was out on the sidewalk. As I often do, I tossed some money in his bucket. As he played a few things, he engaged us in conversation since most people just pass him by without a glance. He said he was playing a John Prine song and we said we knew some of this work including the duet "In Spike Of Ourselves". Well, he launched right into that but we had to get him going with some of the lyrics. He played several things and then "Gentle On My Mind" in a much slower and more beautiful way than you might remember the Glen Campbell recording.
A good-natured soul just trying to get by.