# United States & Canada Vacations Forums > Ski Country Forum >  >  Purgatory @ Durango, Co. March 11-16, 2007

## fins85258

If anyone is heading for Purgatory next week let me know and we can try to arrange a meeting.

Gregg &amp; Karen

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## MIke R

what the hell are you doing going there with all the really great mountains another hour or two away?.....and if youre down there...Wolf Creek is the best of the bunch followed by Silverton

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## fins85258

Karen picked the spot this year. She has never been in the area so we're going to see a couple of things along the way, Mesa Verde, ride the Durango Silverton RR. 

We have done Telluride 3 times, Vail / Beaver Creek 2, Copper Mt. 1. Mammoth Mt was off the charts last year with 668 " of snow.

The up side is it's my turn to pick the Oct. vacation spot.

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## MIke R

well...enjoy...I'd come down and join you for the day but I am off to New Hampshire Saturday for a house inspection...my lovely, darling wife just purchased a circa 1845 ol New Englander farmhouse that we are supposedly going to live in.......I need to see this for myself so I'm headin east....

so things could be worse....Karen just picked a ski vacation....LMAO 

plenty of snow...you'll like it....go to Wolf Creek

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## bto

fins,

We have family who own a home in Durango and we've been there several times...love it, although Purgatory is not my favorite ski place, it's fun...There is a nice restaurant in town, great wine list...maybe MikeR knows...I can't think of the name but it's someones name...we went several times...right in the middle of the block...check out the old hotel that's in town...very cool place.

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## MIke R

dont know the restaurant bev...but when I head down there its not to go to Purgatory....its to go to Wolf Creek or Silverton.... I just wasnt impressed with Purgatory's terrain much... too much intermediate stuff

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## fins85258

Bev,
We found a fun looking Log Cabin B&amp;B called Logwood about half way between Durango and Purgatory.

Mike,
Karen is from New Hampshire and her mother lives up on the mountain in Gilford / Laconnia overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. Where are you moving to and which college are you going to be coaching at?

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## MIke R

Fins..well we have a place in the resort at Waterville Valley...but we re sick of living in a resort and dont want to raise the little one in a resort environment...so we bought this house in a very small town about a half hour outside the resort called Dorchester..population 346....very rural...a horse farm across the street from us and lots of organic farms near by.....very much right up our alley, and the house really does look cool but it needs some work, which Wendi at least is looking forward to doing...this is her baby...her project..Im just along for the ride but I do love the area we are moving into..I will be coaching at Plymouth State University about 20 minutes from the house and the midpoint between the house and the resort..Plymouth is a classic New England college town in every sense of the word..something right out of a Norman Rockwell painting 

its all about 40 minutes north of where Karen is from

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## fins85258

Soon you'll be enjoying the chowder festivel in Portsmouth.......what a great time.

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## bto

Sounds lovely to me....although I'm pretty close to done with home renovations after 5 years of it...I want to say the restaurant was Ken &amp; Sue's?  It was always packed and very good...

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## JoshA

> There is a nice restaurant in town, great wine list...maybe MikeR knows...I can't think of the name but it's someones name...we went several times...right in the middle of the block...check out the old hotel that's in town...very cool place.




Bev,

The hotel you're thinking of is probably The Strater - near the narrow-gauge train. Hold your ears when the whistle blows! There is a large Mexican restaurant called Francisco's nearby. It's a mountain biking mecca but I agree that skiing is better elsewhere in the San Juans. Durango has really exploded in population lately.

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## fins85258

A short trip report,

I like to drive and see the sights and the 8 hours from Snottsdale to Durango is full of things to see. It's also alot cheaper than the $900 + per person to fly in and rent a car. Durango may not be Vail or Beaver Creek or Copper Mt or A-Basin but it is NORTH TEXAS! My New Hampshire / Norwiegen wife was in culture shock for a day or so but she figured out that even though they "Taughlk Funny" they are nice people.

We found a great place to stay half way between Durango and Purgatory called the LogWood B&amp;B, I highly recommend it. Guess who owns it?????????? No, not him...... YEP, someone from Texas. I swear ya can't swing a dead or bar-b-qued dog(for AndyNap)around there without hittin someone TX. In short, the nice thing about Durango is it's laid back, short on the usual high dollar resort jerks and resonably priced. There a lots of great places to eat and not much of a wait tithout reservations. Besides, if it's dark I'm drinkin'.

Purgatory is generally a real nice 50% intermediate  mountain so if you like to cruise most of the day you can without a crowd. They keep things well groomed and give you a variety groomed and moguled stuff all over the mountain. If you head to the top of the main lift and then work your way west all morning you beat any kind of crowd. Ski from 9:00 to a late lunch around 1:30 and then work your way back for closing of the lifts @ 4:00. 

We took a rest day on wednesday and road the narrow guage train from Durango to about half way or so to Silverton. Also highly recommended. For the trip home, Karen and I took a side trip to Mesa Verde National Park to view the cliff dwellings on the Colorado Plateau and left the Meteor Crator for another time. 

All in all it was a great time but the snow was goin fast EVERYWHERE. It was a mirror in the morning and a snowcone in the late afternoon but so was Telluride, Vail, Bever Creek, Copper Mt., A-Basin and everywhere else in Colorado.

Eat your words MikeR.......and tips or fins up )(~~^~/\~

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## MIke R

> It  was a mirror in the morning and a snowcone in the late afternoon but so was Telluride, Vail, Bever Creek, Copper Mt., A-Basin and everywhere else in Colorado.
> 
> Eat your words MikeR.......and tips or fins up )(~~^~/\~



yeah but if all things are equal...and in this case I mean equally bad..LOL...the higher up the better, and you cant get any higher anywhere in North America then in Summit County ....the donwside to that is this place is turning into Disney on snow....LOL

glad you enjoyed your trip....it is beautiful down there for sure....and I have done that drive to Arizona and it is as you said, a pretty ride.....

this is not the way I wanted my 7 year stay out here to end but I cant control it so I'm not going to worry about it...it just would have been nice to have a great spring skiing season to end it all out here for us, which is highly unlikely at this point in time....but hey.....I have had ski days out here to die for ( some almost literally..LOL ) and have skied in places and gone to backcountry spots in my time here that most people will never experience in their lives.....so for that I feel lucky.... New England skiing isnt all that bad if you are there everyday and can ski the handful of blissful days which occur in the course of a typical winter...


next time give Wolf Creek a look...lots of nice cabin rentals near by and it is an ol school mountain for sure

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## bto

Any good restaurant reports?  I loved Mesa Verde...a very cool side trip...and Purgatory was a fun mountain.  Glad it was a success.

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## MIke R

yeah what about grub reports???


6th driest March in 150 years.....4th warmest

gonna be a bad wildfire season this summer  at this rate


suppose to get a storm over the next few days.....we'll see

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## fins85258

> yeah what about grub reports???



This one is for you Bev,

Haha Mike,.............I'll bet you can strike terror in a buffet line.

For a Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally great meal and atmospher ya need to hit Sweeneys at the north end of town across from the Iron Horse Inn. Lots of hanging plants, old barn wood, cigar lounge, great bar and super food. A little bit closer in down the road heading into town is the Aspen Cafe, a great Tapas style restaurant with good vino list for the wine snobs. You know me, Mr. ThreeBuckChuck or anything from California; although the Chateau Mouton Rothchild 1967 is nice if ya like um Red , Heavy and dry as the desert. The Steamworks Brewing company speaks for it's self, brew pub chow and hoppy brews. Farquahrts Pizza Mia would give l'Entrante a run for its money, and Fransisco's downtown had a pretty good margarita and a few transplants from SoCal to shoot the breeze with. 

The fact is the choices were almost endless and the Trout Bums can bring your Flyrod and waders for some trout fishing right in town in the Anumas River.

Ladies want restaraunts and shopping, guys want a good good bar and a place to wet thier line.

Fins Up
~~^~/\~

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## bto

Sounds great...thanks!

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## rivertrash

Nice report.  You had at least an equal amount of snow as did Vail and Beaver Creek the last two weeks.  Wife and I just got back from there -- she was there two weeks and I one -- and there was NO snow worth skiing on.  As MikeR said, it is a really bad spring season.  But aren't we lucky to get to go to those great places?  I sometimes forget that until someone says, "Are you always on vacation?"

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## fins85258

Lets seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, She got 2 weeks and you got one. I'd say she married well.

oloolol

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## fins85258

Oh Ya PS:

Karen spotted a deal at COSTCO and we bought our lift tickets there in advance and saved $15 a day each! I always love a deal.

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## rivertrash

Mike R will tell you I stepped up in class when I married her.  But she does get to spend a lot more time in Colorado than I do.

We heard about the Costco lift tickets earlier this year but never did try them.  With Beaver Creek's peak season tickets running $85 this year, we should have done it but it just never worked out.  Glad to hear they really work.  We were a little skeptical.  Thanks for the info.

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## MIke R

RT...buy a season pass in August...you'll pay roughly 300 bucks or so for it....you go 4 times you break even...anything over that is bonus....and the pass is on you all the time so you dont have to spend time hunting the bargains down...Roy and Dee bought a season pass and they were only out here for a couple of weeks...and they saved money doing it that way....its the best kept secret out there that is slowly getting realized by the masses

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## rivertrash

Thanks for the tip.  I have never heard of that one.  Vail Associates does not want us to know about those kind of deals!  If everybody did that it would mess up the little party they are having.

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## MIke R

no they dont want you to know for sure!!...just go online in August/September..you will see great prices on Vail Resorts Combo passes..grab one..and you're all done for the season

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## fins85258

ASPEN CAFE   (Karens 2 fins up)
A Tapas Resaurant

CHRISTINAS GRILL &amp; BAR
Local Upscale Eclectic Food

THE DIAMOND BELLE SALOON
Strater Hotel
Disneyland dining in Durango

FARQUAHRTS PIZZA MIA    (a fins favorite)*guys only have 1 fin
Look out l'Entrante

FRANCISCO'S CANTINA     (a fins favorite)
If the food in the dining room is as good as the appetizers in the bar ya can't go wrong.

GAZPACHO CANTINA    (the one that got away)
Traditional New Mexican Food &amp; 50 premium Tequilas

HIMALAYAN CUISINE
Daaaaaaaaa, Food from Nepal, India &amp; Tibet

LADY FALCONBURGH'S
The european Cheer's of Durango. 38 different handcrafted beers on tap.

THE MAHOGANY GRILLE
Fused international/american cuisine martins and art.

MAMAS BOY
Traditional Italian from "da Bronx"

MAY PALACE
Mandarine, Szechuan and Harbor Bomber (Japanese)

OLDE TYMERS CAFE
The locals favorite burger hangout

P IS FOR PEANUT
Peanut butter sandwiches, wooden toys, boooks and chalkboards

SCOOT'n BLUES CAFE' &amp; LOUNGE
Finest American cuisine, cold brews and great jazz

SHANGHAI PEARL
Fresh from Shanghai, 100 dishes mild to HOT and vean too, NO msg

SU****ARIAN
Think about it............Sushi, beer wine &amp; Sake

SWEENEY'S     (Karens 2 fins up)
Great Bar, Great atmospher, Great ribs seafood steaks and cigar room.

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