Telluride, CO - Day 1
Monday, September 20
Around 9:00am this morning, Andi and I decided to make our way over the Dallas Pass from Ridgway to Telluride. It was a beautiful morning to drive along the highway and admire the fall colors. The aspen trees are just starting to change here, so there’s pops of yellow intermixed with green all along the mountainside.
An hour later, we arrived in Telluride to find a bustling Main Street. The annual Blues & Brews Festival happened here over the weekend, and clean-up was in full swing. Andi navigated our RV through downtown and pulled into the Town Park Campground entrance. There were trucks, tents and people everywhere. Wow! We were not expecting that. We knew there was an event here over the weekend, but we didn’t expect that the event was actually held IN the campground.
Andi told one of the people directing traffic that we had a camping reservation today and asked if we were too early to check-in. “Oh yeah, you’re definitely too early” she said. The woman allowed us to park our RV off to the side of the road, so we waited and watched the chaos happening around us for the next two hours. Luckily, we travel with our home so we pulled out the school books and did school & work while we waited.
Around 1:00pm, the circus of cars and people finally cleared out and we made our way to our reserved campsite. Now, you’d never have known that swarms of people were occupying this space just a few hours before. The Telluride town park campground was quiet and peaceful.
Andi’s friend Mike happened to be in Telluride today visiting his girlfriend Sadie, so the couple stopped by to say hello. Andi and I chatted with Mike and Sadie for a bit, then we decided to hop on our Rad Power Bikes and check out the area.
What a beautiful town! The mountains framing the city of Telluride looked like a painting behind us. We biked along Main Street and through town to join the paved bike path which led toward Lawson Hill. Along the way, we watched a group of prairie dogs popping their heads out of dirt mounds and sunning themselves on this gorgeous fall weather day.
Next, we parked our e-bikes near the gondola and decided to walk around downtown for a bit. We perused some shops, then decided to stop for a bite to eat. All the restaurants we considered stopping at seemed a little too fancy for the kids. Maybe a little fancy for us, too. Andi and I were dressed in casual, travel clothing and everyone we saw in Telluride looked a little more put together.
Eventually, we stopped into a bakery/deli to grab a slice of pizza to-go for Tory and Aden and then Andi and I picked a restaurant called Little House to eat. We ordered a charcuterie board, balsamic brussels sprouts and fries to share & sat on the patio outside to enjoy our food and cocktails. Luckily, no one seemed to mind that we brought the kids’ pizza into this other restaurant. I told Andi I have a hard time spending $30+ on fancy food for Tory and Aden that I know they won’t eat. When our food arrived, Tory just couldn’t get over that our cheese board (aka: charcuterie board) didn’t actually include that much cheese.
After a bite to eat, we walked back to our bikes parked at the gondola and decided to go for a ride up the mountain. The Telluride Gondola is the only free gondola in North America. It didn’t take long to hop on and enjoy the ride to Mountain Village. We walked around Mountain Village (the ski resort area in Telluride) for a bit. Every shop and restaurant were open, but the village was empty of people. I can imagine this being a really magical place to be in the wintertime.
From there, we hopped back on the gondola and rode it halfway to the top of the mountain. We considered getting off and walking down the 2.4 mile trail back to Telluride, but the air was getting chilly and I just didn’t feel like it. I was ready to go back to the RV, so we rode the gondola back to Telluride, hopped on our bikes and rode back to the town park campground. I can’t believe how quickly the air temperature dropped once the sun started to go down on the day. It had been 65 degrees and sunny mid-afternoon and now temperatures were dropping into the 40’s. Tonight, the temperature was forecasted to get down to 28 degrees — the coldest weather we’ve experienced traveling in Colorado this month.
Andi and I went on a quick walk-around the campground before bedtime. The Telluride Town Park is beautiful with a creek running through it, a waterfall and loads of things for the kids to do —playground, ball fields, and a fishing pond. Camping books out here months in advance, so we were fortunate to score a last-minute cancellation. We have to move campsites tomorrow night, but we’re booked for another night in Telluride.
When we got back to the camper, Tory and Aden shouted, “surprise!” They worked together to pick up, sweep the floor, and turn down our beds. Aden even set a stick of deodorant next to Andi’s side of the bed with two earplugs and a note that read, “I luv you.” The kids surprised me by writing about our day in the RV travel journal — something I usually have to beg them to do. All this thoughtfulness made Andi and I really happy — thanks kids!
Tomorrow, we’re staying another day in Telluride.
