Durango and the importance of seeing things for yourself

Durango, Colorado is a beautiful small town nestled in a valley at around 6,000 foot elevation. Truth be told, Durango has been both on and off my shortlist of places I could live for many years. In fact, when I was in my mid-twenties I spoke with someone who had been to Durango and he said something along the lines of, don't live there, you'll be buried in snow. Sadly, I listened to him and thus never visited this lovely town until now. Whether I would have moved here or not is besides the point. The issue is, I had his opinion in my head for all these years and it unmotivated me from ever coming here.
   Now that I am here, and see this place with my own eyes I realize the error in my judgement. I should never have listened to him and that is totally my fault for being so naive. We have spoken with many locals here and though accounts of snowfall vary by individual, people generally agree that ample sunshine in the winter makes this place a stunning wonderland. Add nature's beautiful backdrop to amazing facilities like a hi-tech library, modern community center and meandering bike paths and you have a family paradise. The only problem we found here so far is the high cost of living and lack of high paying jobs.
  Durango is a desirable tourist town all year long and outsiders come in droves to have fun. Though the population is only 18,500, here, it feels double that because of all the hotels, condos and second homes. My wife said, "Durango reminds me of Asheville, NC but sunnier." This is a compliment as we both love Asheville, but feel we need more sunshine for our next place that we will call home. As we depart Durango on our quest for a new place to live, I am reminded of the importance of seeing things for yourself. Anyone reading this, I implore you to go where your heart wants. Make your own decisions on what's important, and take what others say with a grain of salt. Don't do what I did.

Beautiful hills in Durango.

Historic Main St. in town.

The valley walls comes right to town.

My daughter reading a book at our campsite.

Our RV park was just outside of town.

A family friendly bike path goes through town.

The historic narrow gauge rail line to Silverton

Main St. is party central.

   At the time of this writing, there is a major forest fire just north of Durango cutting off Silverton and highway 550. The fire spreads quickly with the afternoon winds and we see the firefighters zipping by in their trucks to stop the inferno. The helicopters and airplanes are dropping water and flame retardants, on the fire, from sunup to sundown. We have gained a new appreciation for how hard the firefighters and hotshots work, being dropped behind the fire lines, in hell's path.