Telluride Summer: Not Just Festivals

14 Jun Telluride Summer: Not Just Festivals

Take a look at the Telluride Summer schedule: from Mountainfilm in Telluride over Memorial Weekend, now gearing up for Telluride Bluegrass, music and yoga weekends, on through Telluride Film Festival and Blues and Brews at the end of the Summer, one could be forgiven for believing that’s all there is to Summer in Telluride. That would be a mistake.

Palmyra Peak from above Rudy’s Trail

For me it starts first thing in the morning, checking out what’s going on down on the valley floor below our bedroom window. At this time of the year I’m seeing the small bands of mama elk begin to coalesce into a herd of over fifty adults, and soon the babies will be cavorting on the grass, oblivious of our human concerns. People-watching is a great sport in Telluride in the Summer, but no more interesting than watching the antics of the elk babies. That’s why my binoculars are right within reach when I get out of bed.

Paraglider ground training

A few days ago I spent the better part of an hour observing a guy put the blustery afternoon winds to good use: he was getting some ground training with his paraglider. The critters who inhabit the bottom land were otherwise occupied so the flat and empty valley floor was a great playground, and he was flying without even leaving the ground.

Gina, cooling off

Yesterday I declared a reprieve from my computer, grabbed Gina the Dog, and the two of us played hooky for a few hours in the hills right behind our house- climbed the steep canyon up to one of my many favorite sitting places on the canyon rim where I could watch the river meander, watch bikers on the flat trails on the far bank, watch the streams of traffic into and out of town. I was connected to, yet separate from all the life in the valley. Gina the Dog particularly enjoyed cooling off in Eider Creek, as a dog should. Then an exhilarating rush down to the valley to rejoin what most would refer to as the “real world.”

Telluride Farmers’ Market

Many days we are busy enough that our morning walk is on the bike path that borders the valley. I’d be the last one to diminish the beauty on that walk.  It is beautiful and satisfying, but my heart lives in the high country so I was pleased this morning that Sus was so easily talked into hiking up into the hills around Mill Creek. Back at home we both got a few more check marks on the to-do list. We extended our holiday later, going to town to shop at the Friday Farmers’ Market, chatting with many friends, being part of this strange and wonderful community we call home.

Mountains beyond my computer

A little while ago I looked up from my computer to see the last sunlight on Ballard Peak, realized once again I may just be one of the richest people in the world.