Location is up to you. Every place you are looking is great. I suggest narrowing down to a location or two and keep visiting it during each of the 4 seasons to see if there is enough enjoyment for your family year round. If Durango wasn't full, that would be my choice from your options.
We initially dreamed of a remote mountain home, but after looking at in town, remote and stuff in between, we realized that we did not want to deal with maintaining it from 2 states away. Get a good realtor that knows the area and will show you a variety of options.
You definitely need to plan on maintaining the property while you are gone. Condos/Townhomes are much easier than a free standing home. HOA will deal with roof/exterior maintenance and snow removal but you do have neighbors. For the most part, it will be lock and leave which is really nice. I like not having to spend my time up there fixing stuff every day instead of enjoying the area.
Smart home features can make things easier (cameras, leak detectors, automatic leak water heater shut off, wifi thermostats etc), but nothing replaces having eyes on it with snow, storms, animals etc. Someone above me had a hot water heater leak about two months ago. Thankfully, we caught it early. Get a trustworthy caretaker to come by at least once a month. It saved me from extensive damage.You also need to plan for outside lawn care and snow removal for a free standing home. It can really suck to drive up at night and and see a driveway full of snow.
All that being said, if they fit for you, it can be pretty awesome. Just make sure you will use it enough to make the headaches that will pop up worth it. If we weren't planning to eventually move up permanently I don't know that we would have taken the plunge. But so far, no ragrets.