As we drove out of Crested Butte on Tuesday, February 1, the weather was frigid but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun was shining meaning the weather was perfect for a drive full of the most beautiful scenery we have seen in a long, long time. Mom and Dad were supposed to ride with their ski club but with the car upgrade, we had plenty of space for them to ride with us. Best case scenario. We marveled at the scenery, chatted, listened to music, and kept our eyes peeled for wildlife.
Halfway through the trip. some clouds rolled in and we experienced a bit of snow and some slow vehicles. Luckily we got behind Fatboy who steamrolled those cars and we followed right behind. We pulled into the Telluride area around 5:30pm and began searching for our second vrbo condo. We found it nestled on a side street in the town of Telluride near the mini grocery store and a short walk from a bus stop and lift #7. We dropped our suitcases and loaded back into the Traverse to drive mom and dad over to Mountain Village to The Peaks, the beautiful hotel where they were staying in Mountain Village. We unloaded mom and dad's stuff, valeted the car and set off on foot for dinner in Mountain Village. We dined at a very casual bar but it was the perfect place considering two out of four of us were still in our ski clothes.
After dinner we realized that the car was safe in the garage of The Peaks and we were eager to test out the gondola at night-Telluride's form of public transportation. So we set off for the gondola and rode it up and then back down into the town. The one thing we didn't think through was how to get to our condo from the gondola station. We stopped in quickly at a nearby hotel and asked for directions. The woman at the front desk looked at me like I was crazy, told me it was a long walk, but pointed us in the right direction. Luckily, mom had given me a hat and some spare gloves for our journey and I definitely need them. I think the temp at that point was negative twenty something.
On Wednesday morning we woke up, got dressed for skiing, walked outside to take the gondola back over to Mountain Village to meet mom and dad for a day on the slopes. We quickly realized the temp was -15 and our boogers were freezing like never before. Even in our Sorel boots that are supposed to keep your feet super toasty, our toes were numb by the time we arrived at The Peaks. We made the reluctant decision not to ski that day and instead spent the day exploring Telluride and shopping. We hit all the stores, had a coffee at the historic New Sheridan Hotel and lunch and beers at the Smugglers Brewpub. We ended the afternoon with a drive out to the old Telluride mine.
On Wednesday evening mom and dad had a social with the ski club and we decided to tag along. They were offering free booze and pizza afterall. We had a grand time at the social and schmoozed with the other ski club members and Telluride employees. We left around 8:30 and took the gondola back over to town so we were home in time for Lisa Bartos and her boyfriend Andy to arrive. YEAHHH! They pulled into the condo parking lot a little after 9pm in their mini red egg car. Unfortunately for them, they didn't receive an upgrade. As you know Lisa is my DG big sis and I love, love, love that we have remained close friends over the years. We may not talk all the time, but I have such a good time with her when we get together. And Andy? The nicest most hilarious boy ever. They are such a great couple and traveling with them is super easy. Lisa and I look more like sisters than Ashley and I do and we happened to coincidentally be wearing almost the exact same outfit that night. So weird but I liked that too. We spent the next several hours chatting, laughing and catching up and forced ourselves to go to bed knowing the weather was set to be much warmer the next day and we all couldn't wait to get out on the Telluride slopes.
We were up early on Thursday morning because Brandon from Ski Butlers was delivering Lisa's rental gear. Ski Butlers is the creation of some very smart boys from Utah. It is a service that delivers your rental equipment right to your door and then picks it up at the end of your vacation. When they make the delivery, they have several varieties of boots in your size so you find the perfect fit and they do a little fitting for you. Brandon was so nice and very gingerly put Lisa's boots on her. The joke for the rest of our vacation centered around what else Brandon could do for us to make life easier and our vacation better. As soon as we were all set, we gondolaed (new verb, just made it up) over to Mountain Village, met mom and dad and hit the slopes. Telluride is a great mountain and we enjoyed exploring it for the next two days. We met mom and dad for lunch at the Hop Garden at the base of the mountain the first day and at Gorrono Ranch the second day. Friday was a beautiful "warm" day so we dined outside while listening to live music. I love ski days like this one.
Supposedly the mountains on the Coors beer label are in Telluride. I find this strange considering the slogan for Coors is "Tap the Rockies" and Telluride is in the San Juan mountains but whatev. We all took a few pics with our Coors bottle held up in front of the Coors peaks because we are massive tourists.
Dinner on Thursday night was at The Llama which is famous for live music shows. Let me fill you in on a little secret of our ski vacations. Usually after a full day of skiing, some apres beers and then full bellies from dinner, we rarely can stay awake after 9pm. Wednesday night was a late night because we didn't ski, but Thursday? All of us were in bed by 9pm-yeah, we didn't hear any live music. :)
On Friday night, Lisa, Andy, Jeff and I cooked in and then met mom and dad over at The Peaks for a drink before saying bye to them. They were flying out the next day from Montrose and we were flying out from Gunnison.
On Saturday morning we awoke sadly and prepared for our trip home. We really sadly said bye to Lisa and Andy. They were lucky and staying another night.
Jeff and I made the trek back to Gunnison and it was just as beautiful as the trip from. We arrived in time for lunch at the Crested Butte Brewery where we sampled their brews and bought a Growler. Perfect ending to a perfect trip.
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