Durango + a dash of NM

Collin and I went to Durango this past weekend. He met with a dentist for a possible associateship and I went along to check out Durango! Collin has been in love with Durango since setting foot there last year pre-move. Having never been there myself and knowing how Collin's dreamy mind works I wasn't really expecting to absolutely fall in love with the place............but I did.

I took this with my little point and shoot and it's still so beautiful but this doesn't even do it justice

Thursday evening we drove the 6 (or so) hours from the Springs to Farmington, New Mexico. Collin met with the dentist the next morning and afternoon, we had dinner, and then we headed 40 miles north to Durango. These next two pictures are the only ones I took in northern NM...pretty boring!

 I wasn't impressed with Farmington so I was really happy when we hit Main Ave Durango. It is just adorable and it helped that it was perfectly sunny and 85 degrees! It reminds me of a mix of Breckenridge (the way the stores/restaurants are set up) + Crested Butte (the cute little houses) + Boulder (relaxed vibe) + historical buildings, nice people, and lots to do!

One of the side streets

The main street has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco! And good ones at that. We've been severely deprived of good food and restaurants in the Springs and this totally made up for it... for a little bit anyway. Everything is just CUTE! It's very clean and has lots of flowers and greenery everywhere.

The streets behind Main are residential and have the most adorable houses. It looks like a little Pleasentville with perfectly manicured yards and gardens with little fences and porch swings....I was in heaven.
This picture is all that I got of the homes because Collin was getting embarrassed of my paparazzi-ness while we were strolling through the neighborhood.

For lunch, we ate at one of the breweries in town called Steamworks. Collin had the in-house smoked pork sliders and I had the "chopped salad."

The chopped salad with smoked salmon and a gorgonzola dressing ended up being more than amazing and the pulled pork was delicious too. We walked around for most of the day and went to a bunch of shops including a fly shop and an antique store. We also hit up a few bars because it was, after all, Cinco de Mayo...or cinco de drinko...which I now prefer.

One of the bars we went to was called Balcony and was, surprise, on a balcony...of sorts.

Sunshine and Ska beer! :)

We found a really cool but overwhelming bookstore.

That night we decided on dinner at Cosmo's.  They had outdoor seating on their roof deck and since it was such a gorgeous night (and day) we wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible. I had a drink called First Ascent which was white tea vodka + St. Germain + lemon...it was fabulous...so I had two! We ordered the sushi special for an appetizer and split the halibut special stuffed with lobster, topped with crab, with a side of lobster mashed potatoes, and an arugula salad. I haven't had food this good since Philly! Seriously.

Roof deck with sunset

Laughing while I snap pics

We went out for a little bit afterwards at the Irish Embassy bar and tried to find the boxing match with no luck. We floated back to our hotel at the Hilton which just happened to be overlooking the Animas River and fell asleep to it's sound.
The next morning we packed up and walked into town for breakfast at Jean Pierre's which is a french restaurant and bakery on Main. It was delicious too!

It was an amazing weekend and we didn't want to leave! Here are some mountain pics I took throughout town and on our way home.

Golf course

The gorgeous green pastures at the base of the mountains

Half of the Purgatory Ski Resort entry way...I missed it as we were driving. This resort is only 30 mins from Durango.

Lots of bikers on the passes

Snow capped peaks  in May

And it was freeeeezing up there!

We went through Ourey and Silverton on our way home...both tiny little mining towns.

Town of Silverton

I'm looking forward to going back...hopefully soon! But for now, back to reality! I've been working on my student loans and fun things of that sort all day while it snowed outside! Yes, I got a sunburn in Durango two days ago and now it has been dumping big, wet snowflakes all day. Thankfully I didn't have to leave...except we need dinner so I'm going to have to make the trek.

Hope everyone has a great week! :)