Durango, CO or Maggie Valley NC?

Stayed a couple of nights @Maggie Valley years ago and wasn't really impressed. Fairly scenic getting there and leaving. Been through but never stopped in Durango but it seems to me to be the gateway to some serious scenery to the North. Just an uneducated guess would be which is closer to you. Unless you live in the Panhandle you've got a lot of Texas and a big chunk of N. Mexico to cross going West. Going East you have all of Ark. or La. plus most of Tenn. W.to E. to get to Maggie Valley. Durango would probably be the coolest due to the altitude.
Flip a coin.

Dave

5thwheeleroldman wrote:
OK, Mockybird, that does it. Was going to Durango, but now I'm coming to NC to drink all the whisky, eat all the BBQ, dance with all the pretty women, and drive slowly and wobbly down your highways. If any energy left, might come back and go to Durango. Thanks all.

OK. Come on over. I personally like it warmer in my years now. August can be warm in Maggie Valley but it is up in the mtns. There are many things to do if you are looking for more laid back and not having to be on an adventure every day. Within short drives are rafting, gambling, site-seeing, watching elk up close and personal. I'll never get very far west so Maggie Valley works for us. As I said, come on over. There is plenty of room and BBQ for a few more good folks from Texas.
Skiing I believe is still there at Cataloochee but not in August.:C

PS: I know you were talking about last August but I bet you didn't do Maggie Valley so this August is open for you.

summertime means rockies or the great lakes.

try Ridgeway state park or the KOA Ouray.

Go higher than Durango. Quray is much better. Durango is just a dirty small town with drunks out on weekend.

Decide you want green and grass or dirt and dust?

Durango, or any part of western Colorado, has a better chance of being cooler than Texas, than any place you might go in August in the Carolinas. But that's just statistics, probabilities, no promises. It is continental climate, temperature might swing 40-80 F anywhere, any day of the year, so there's always a chance that the day you pull into Durango it might be hotter that day than where you had been in Texas.

On day in July in the mid 70s, a town in the U.P. of Michigan was the hottest place in the continental U.S. for a few hours, when a Gulf air mass got pushed too far north. Then it dropped 70F overnight as the storm came through. So anything can happen. I remember, because I was there that week.

Maggie Valley is, sadly, an older resort area without much new to offer. Most of the hotels, campgrounds and restaurants are older. If I'm not mistaken, the ski resort there is no longer operating.

Having said all of the above, this part of NC still has a lot to offer. Nearby Waynesville is a neat little mountain town. The city of Asheville and the Biltmore house are only 30, or so, miles away. The southern end of the Blue Ridge parkway is just outside of Maggie Valley.

We were at Vallecto Lake in Sept & it was almost dried up! Be sure you check this out before you go, the house boats were tied up to a dock & it really looked weird because the water was about 20 feet away.
If you do stay in Durango the nicest campground by far is Alpine Rose, a lot easier to get to & closer to town than the KOA.
Durango can get pretty warm, I would watch the weather & keep going north till it was under 75

5thwheeleroldman wrote:
Looking to get out of the Texas heat and humidity for a week or two in early August. Any ideas as to whether Durango or Maggie Valley might be best? Restaurants, things to do, etc.

Having been to both -- and having both in my top 5 -- if you are looking to escape the HEAT an HUMIDITY, no contest Colorado and the Mountains.



To have a view like this with lows in the 40's is just about Heaven.

One summer in Golden it got to the mid 90's every day for a couple of weeks to we headed up to Leadville -- 10,000 feet and had to wear a sweater to Dinner. That' what I call an escape.

If you go to chase the wild women of NC be sure to service the A/C in the 5'er and bring shorts, just no real escape in those mountains.

JMHO,

(photo is not mine - is a copy of one in a friends home in Colorado)

Durango. Stay at the Durango KOA

5thwheeleroldman wrote:
OK, Mockybird, that does it. Was going to Durango, but now I'm coming to NC to drink all the whiskey, eat all the BBQ, dance with all the pretty women, and drive slowly and wobbly down your highways. If any energy left, might come back and go to Durango. Thanks all.

remember our BBQ is PORK and its slow cooked for that fall off the bone eating(vinegar based or ketchup based BBQ sauce? Chopped,sliced or pulled?)...
NC is now fine wine country. Tenn is for the whiskey drinking. but Maggie Valley is close to Tenn.
Pretty women, well now??
Slow and wobbly is every country road in NC when you are in a hurry to get some where on time.
Randy