Leaving the Mountains

We spent our last day in Telluride in the park. Jo went back to the condo to take a conference call for an hour. The kids played in the playground for a while and then they played with Grandma's hair. We drank coffee and walked down Main street. Carol and the kids shopped for souvenirs. Then we ran into Evan and Vivian's friends and followed them to the swimming pool. The water was cold, the sky was cloudy, and eventually we had to get the kids out of the water - the chattering of Evan's teeth was just too loud to ignore.

The next morning we packed up and drove out of Telluride. Though we had a lot of ground to cover that day we stopped at the non-sulfurous (read: don't smell like farts) hot springs at Ouray. Carol stayed in the 103 degree F pool, while Jo and Evan ventured into the 96 degree pool and Vivian swam around in the 85 degree pool. She had to take a "deep water test" administered by a lifeguard - a 25 meter front and another 25 meter back stroke swim.

Jo had packed a picnic lunch. We ate by the pools and enjoyed the brilliant sun, the mountains all around us, and the nice soak as long as we could. Then we headed out of town along the Uncompahgre gorge and on the Million Dollar Highway - a 20 mile section of the San Juan Skyway. The most dramatic of the three passes was the one over Red Mountain, with the red Tolkienesque peak towering on one side and remnants of old mines deep down in the gorge below us.

After fueling up and leaving Durango we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. With the cruise set at 84 (only 9 miles above limit mostly) we whipped past mile after mile of rugged rocky terrain with an empty flat straight highway at 7000 ft above sea level. We passed ancient Chaco ruins, a few scattered ghost towns, a place called Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle, and pump jacks - sometimes the only other sign of movement for long stretches of time. Albuquerque was a brief interruption from this otherworldly passage. Then, in the final 140 mile stretch from Clines Corners to Roswell there was complete emptiness. Except for a dazzling sunset behind us and a spectacular electric storm in front. Even the kids got quiet and stared out of the windows.

Jumping

The good people of Mountain Village in Telluride had figured out ways to separate parents from their money. After all the gondola ride from Telluride town was free, as were the walking, scenery, and clean mountain air. So we paid to watch Evan and Vivian bounce on a trampoline while bungied to a harness, and roll around inside huge inflated beach balls in a shallow pool. They enjoyed it while we occasionally huddled in store fronts to let brief mountain hailstorms pass.

Water

Telluride is situated at the end of a box canyon. Which makes it a shoo-in for waterfall spotting. One morning we parked at the end of Aspen Street and scrambled along a creek to the base of the 80 foot Cornet Falls. I had to take tacky kids-waterfalls photos.

That afternoon we four-wheeled up to the top of the 365 foot Bridal Veil falls and to the lovely little house perched on the edge of the cliff - which also serves as a power generating station and provides about three quarters of the town's power. More tacky kids-waterfalls photos followed.

In this photo below - the one with the cliffs and the falls and the house, look carefully towards the left bottom and you'll see a purple umbrella. There was this lady in a sundress and sandals and a smallish dog on a leash and a cup of Starbucks in her hand. She hiked up while we drove and then hiked back down - all the time like it was a walk in the park. We passed her half a dozen times and the kids and she laughed every time.

The next day (I think, or it may have been that next evening) we drove up into the Uncompahgre National Forest to the Alta Lakes. I told myself that the next time I was here and it wasn't snowing I'd bring my tent.

 

I tried to take a nice photo of Carol, Jo and the kids sitting on a rock beside the lake but the camera caught Vivian stuffing her face with seaweed. I waited till she had finished and tried again. This time it was Evan doing the same. I gave up. Vivian drew some sketches of the lake. Evan horsed around. We walked the perimeter of the lake and headed back down to Telluride.

Vivian had better luck and she did get a nice photo of Grandma and Mommy with Alta lake in the back and the reflections of the mountains on the water.

Mountains

Jo and I had the upstairs room. We left the windows open. It got down into the forties. There was a babbling brook outside. Between the coolness of the air and the lovely sound of running water we slept like babies. The only way I could make it better was if we were camping. Vivian had her own loft with a ladder leading up to it. Evan and Grandma shared a queen bed and managed to not kick each other at night.

By the time I woke up and walked downstairs, Evan was up - sitting on the couch and reading Harry Potter. After a slow breakfast everyone walked into town along the San Miguel river trail.

Grandma and Jo walked off to get coffee and window shop and the kids and I walked around a beaver pond. We ended up at the town park and ran into Beck and Tuck - friends of Vivian and Evan's, at the skate park. Then we circled back to the gondola station and headed up the mountain to the St Sophia station and down into Mountain Village on the other side. It was only after we stepped in and sat down in the gondola that we realized that Jo and Carol looked slightly petrified. You can see the Mountain Village down below and the runway for Telluride Airport just above Jo's left shoulder.

By the time we rode the gondola back into town, Jo and Carol were riding like pros. We met Beck and Tuck's parents for an early dinner, the kids went away to play in the park, and the adults made sure that the good people of Telluride knew how to make a margarita. Or two.

At a certain time - somewhere between eight and eight thirty, the sun sets directly down west Colorado Street. You can sit the kids down on the giant planters in the middle of the street at one end of town and take a nice photo of them and the mountains behind and the glorious colors of the late sun on everything. You can even see the shadows of the dads' heads on the kids.