A Pleasant Week in Durango at a New Campground

We have been staying at the same campground in Durango for years, in fact it goes back to the late 90's, hate to say that since it makes me feel even older:-)  More recently due to changes in management and several other items we had been more and more disappointed.  No I'm not going to name it, if it's important you can look back through previous posts and find it.  We had reservations there in fact when we learned of this new park south of the city called Durango Ranch RV Resort, so we cancelled those and made a reservation here.  The owners are 5th generation ranchers that go back to the late 1800's, and I guess they decided to carve out a small area and give it a go with a campground.  They did a lot of good things, large sites, all full hookup and 50 amp, easy to get around, community grill and gathering area, hot tub, laundry, etc.  Very accommodating, dark at night and quiet.  We highly recommend it.

So we got settled in, had cocktails and had a homemade fish dinner.

Jan's favorite hike is north of Durango, Spud Lake, she went solo the last 2 times and without me the last 3.  It had started to kick my butt, so I begged off.  We compromised this time and got up and left early as our new location added about 30 minutes to the ride.  I decided I would go at my own pace as far as I desired and hoped to make it at least to an overlook about 1/4 of the way in.  Jan went on her own.  It was a gorgeous cool day, crystal clear.

Jan leaving me in the dust

She was still at the overlook when I got there, took a selfie to prove it:-)

That's Purgatory Ski Resort in the background

So very soon Jan disappeared and I steadily walked along.  Took a few pics along the way.

All was well so I kept on going, meanwhile Jan had already arrived at the lake and took some pics of her own.

Then lo and behold I came on the scene before she left, feeling good and very happy with myself, amazing what losing 45 pounds will do for you.

And of course, another selfie to prove it.

What a nice day!

We tried a new restaurant for lunch and were very pleased, just a small place on the edge of a parking lot but delicious!  Akami.

Salmon poke

Pork belly buns

And a salmon, tuna, and crab poke

We have a favorite pizza place there, Fired Up, so we went for lunch the next day.

Yummy!

We followed that up with a nice ride.

The following day was windy, rainy, and very cool, we grabbed lunch at another favorite, James Ranch and then headed up the mountain to Molas Pass and Andrews Lake.  Even had some snow and sleet on the windshield.  Still pretty though.

Went by Haviland Lake on the way back, the last time we were there it was completely empty as they were repairing the dam.  All better now!

After we got back Jan made an awesome spicy shrimp noodle salad for dinner.

Then we lost a whole day, very windy, gusting over 30, cool, not out of the low 40's, so we hunkered down, watched a movie and chilled all day, made soup for dinner, actually very nice once in awhile.

That brought us to our last day and we had liked Akami so much we went back for another lunch, and it was just as good.

Pork ramen

Shrimp tempura udon noodle

Calamari appetizer

We took another ride around, ran a few errands and called it a day.

Off to Taos the next morning, beautiful ride to Taos Monte Bello Rv Park, one of our regulars, and very close and handy to visit Karen, Jan's sister.

We were driving as the annular eclipse was happening right over us, we did get a glimpse of it now and then, but we had neglected to get the special glasses, but we managed to get a pretty good idea of it.  We stopped at an overlook for coffee near the Brazos Summit, the highest paved road in NM, 10,481".

And then into our site in Taos.