
Retirement just didn’t take for Mick and Linda Ward.
After moving to Durango from Chicago in 2000 with that intention, Mick relaxed for a few years but kept thinking about opening an Irish pub like the ones “back home” in County Galway, Ireland.
Purchasing the historic building at 920 Main Avenue (which now houses the Inn) as a possible pub location offered the couple other opportunities since there were four (bare) rooms on the second floor. Linda began exploring ways to offer something unique to travelers: a home-away-from-home, an apartment in the heart of downtown.
“My focus became, how can we offer style and comfort and also leave people alone! Mick and I always felt that time was so valuable and seemed in such short supply. When we took a vacation, we always wanted to spend time with each other -- not getting to know fellow guests, which sometimes is the outcome when you stay at a small inn (for instance, sharing a communal breakfast). I really wanted to create something that ensured privacy for our guests.”
So Linda settled on the concept of a self-sufficient Inn. There wouldn’t be a check-in desk let alone a bellhop. No concierge, no room service or daily cleaning service either. In fact there wouldn’t be any staff at all on-site unless you caught the cleaning lady at work in between guests.

“I knew it wasn’t going to appeal to everyone, but there are definitely other people out there like Mick and I who like their privacy!”
When it came time to decorating Linda got to do what she loves best: poke around for treasures. In the summer of 2006 she spent days driving around Colorado’s county and state roads hunting for things that caught her eye.
She stopped at garage and estate sales, consignments shops and antique stores throughout the state. Everything she found –1950s swim caps, bowling shoes, a Pullman railroad car coat rack, typewriters, silver – now decorates the inn.
Nobody’s Inn is named for one of Mick’s favorite novels, “Diary of a Nobody,” a satire of Victorian English snobbery published in 1892 (coincidentally, the same year the building was constructed) and because it plays so nicely on the concept of no one running the Inn. The room names – Somebody, Anybody, Everybody and Homebody – became entertaining choices afterward.

“I love each of the rooms for different reasons, but I think my favorite might be Homebody since my daughter named it after us since we’re such homebodies!”
Nobody’s Inn welcomed its first guests on September 17, 2006. Two years later Mick died of a heart attack while hiking in Silverton. Only one month before, he had finally realized his dream of opening an Irish pub next door.
On September 23, 2010 Linda sold Nobody’s Inn to Brenden Trujillo, a real estate agent at The Wells Group in Durango. Brenden continues to operate the Inn today.
Nobody’s Inn has proven popular with young couples who like the buzz of downtown, as well as with families, retirees and savvy travelers who are looking for something different.