Planning Notes - Family Vacation

I would love to have a family vacation or even a family reunion up there next year. 

When to go:

• When - We enjoyed being there the first week of Oct. The scenery was beautiful that time of year with the Aspens changing colors and the weather perfect. Crisp mid 50's mornings, sunny days in the 70's, campfire or fireplace evenings. 
• When - Near the end of the tourist season, fewer crowds. School had started back and their weren't many families with kids. Mostly older. However some of the restaurants on the lake closed Oct. 1st.  The Big Corral riding stable just down the road was resting up their horses and changing gears from trail rides to hunting season but there are MANY other stables in the area. The last part of Sept might be a better time. 

Getting there:

• Air fares seem to bounce between $250 and $400 from Houston Bush to Durango with a Denver stop over. The weather is sketchy then and we got delayed for hours when the Denver airport shut down intermittently due to icy fog.  
• I see flights that stop over in Dallas instead which would remove the risk of delays due to weather but more expensive when I checked. Needs to be looked into better though.
• If we fly we'll need to rent a car.
• Also I need to check into flying to Albuquerque and renting a car from there. It's only 4 hrs from Durango. 
• We considered renting a car and driving but the cost for the 2 of us was more than flying. If we want to pitch in together and split the cost it may work out cheaper. Of coarse you could drive your own vehicle and split gas depending on who all goes. We would lose time traveling though. It's apx 1000 mile or 18 hr drive. We could stop in Las Vegas, NM to see family and spend a day in Taos or Santa Fe if we wanted. 

Cabins:

• If we go in the fall we get a 20% discount at PRL and probably other places too. If we stay a week we get a 30% discount. So how many days depends on if we fly or drive.
• We could stay together in a large cabin and split the cost or there are less expensive 2 or 4 person cabins. We could still gather in the biggest cabin.
• I don't know much about the other places around the lake but they are close and we might find a better deal. 

Mark's Place Cabins

High Season Rates

15- May to 15- Sept.

$200.00 per night (minimum) for first four persons, then $30 for every additional person over 2 years per night up to the capacity of the particular home.

Low Season Rates

16- Sept to 14 – May.

$120.00 per night (minimum) for first two persons – then $30 for every additional person over 2 years per night up to the capacity of the particular home. For my family of 7 that comes to $210 per person for the whole week.

ADD $15.00 charge for pets upon approval.

Hertz Rent-A-Car

Search it yourself. I'm finding 4WD/AWD Chevy Suburban for $254 per week. 8 passenger.