Beyond Telluride

 

Pclmaps-topo-co-telluride-1894cropped 
1894 Map of Telluride

You are cordially invited to a presentation on mapping and the launch of a Community Mapping Project by Dan Collins on Monday, May 9th, at 6 pm in the Wilkinson Library project room. 

Dan is working on a set of maps that fold into the Institute’s ongoing efforts surrounding watershed and environmental education.  The central project involves creating an online map of local “artworks” (with the broadest possible interpretation of what that might involve) and linking it to a webmap that Dan is developing using some interactive mapping software...kinda like Google Earth, only better! 

 By Emily Shoff

Tidepooling at Puako at Sunrise There’s a little trip Andy and I like to take with the girls when we’re on the Big Island of Hawaii. We drive over from Puako, just north of Kona on the dry side of the island, to Hilo, the wet side.

Mornings in Hawaii usually start early. The near-equatorial light and the trumpet of bird sounds call us out of bed by 6 a.m. But on our Hilo day, we leave the condo at first light. There’s a lot to see and the earlier we start, the more time we’ll have. Besides, sunrise is a great time to be out in Puako. Guava pinks and mango oranges swim across the sky, while just off the fringing reef in the water, humpback whales travel north.

by Jon Lovekin

(Editor's note: One of the pleasures in publishing Telluride Inside... and Out is getting to know new  [to us] writers. Susan and I independently ran across Jon Lovekin on Twitter. She took the next step, checked out his writing, liked what she saw and asked if he would be interested in contributing to TIO. Herewith, another article from Jon.)

Snow shoe tracks
My snowshoe tracks

It was May and early for a fishing trip but we went anyway. No one was in the campgrounds and we backpacked from there in to the lakes at the base of the cliff. Once we got setup and started exploring we came across deep paths in the snow with large paw prints in them. We were curious and at first thought it must be a mountain lion. The deeply worn path ran along the base of the cliff. We gave up fishing for the moment and started snowshoeing along the path. Eventually we came to an area beneath a broken region in the cliff face and the path, and tracks went up there. We climbed to where fresh snow melt was cascading through the rocks at the base of a small cliff. My buddy had enough at that point and was content to stay there for the view but I wanted to keep going, for now my curiosity was at fever pitch. These tracks were unusual and this didn't fit what I knew about cats. The large animal had gone up and down this path all winter. Might still be around.

By J James McTigue

Hotel afar The Mountain closes, we tie up loose ends, pack the bikes and flip flops, head west. That has been our family’s off-season routine the last few years. This year we got an added bonus -- that super-generous offer that never actually works logistically. The reasons are multiple:  The timing is wrong, travel is too expensive, we can’t get off work. But this year, when the phone rang and friends invited us to Deer Valley for two days of skiing, we were all in.

I didn’t think to google where we were staying until we were 30 minutes from our destination, partly because I didn’t have time and partly because I didn’t care. I’ve never been a ‘hotel’ girl. Growing up, we camped on family vacations. Apparently this bothered my sister, because when she was ten she put on her list to Santa “to stay in a condominium when we go on vacation , like my friends do.”

As we approached Park City, I got out my smart phone to figure out where we were going. “What’s the name of the place?” I asked my husband, Jake.

The Montage,” he replied.

  

J. James McTigue

In school we learn about the four seasons, the ones everyone knows about. But in life we learn that the weather, or anything really, just isn’t that neat and tidy. There is a lot of in between. Different places have particular seasons unto themselves. The ‘other’ season may be the rainy season, harvest season, or hurricane season. In Telluride, it’s Off Season.

Off Season is the time when the lifts close and skiing on Telluride Mountain is officially over.  Residents have two basic choices—get out of town or embrace the quiet. Some eagerly head somewhere warm, excited to exchange their ski boots for flip-flops. Others stay in Telluride to embrace the quiet lull after a frantic ski season. Still others opt for choice c -- make it up as you go. Walking down Main Street on Tuesday, there was evidence of all of the above.

 

We are in Denver with Kid #1 and family. Yesterday Kimm, Michael and Matthew went "walking in the sunshine", temperature hit 81 F., definitely t-shirt weather. Today's primary event was a baseball game at Coors Field, Rockies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Still Summer today?...

 Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth. But it is not your mother's Ringling Bros. Or Cirque.

Thanks to a big thumbs up by Telluride Inside.... and Out's regular Denver writer Tracy Shaffer, last night we all headed with our family to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to catch a performance of "Traces," a production of  "7 Fingers." The evening proved beyond a shadow of doubt that "7" is a very  lucky number.

"7 Fingers" (for the seven founding members of "Les 7 Doigts de La Main" or "the seven fingers of the hand") is Everyman's circus, eschewing elaborate and fanciful Big Tent production values to create circus on a human scale  –  but with a sexy urban edge.

Japan Children Air - JDMcDuff - web Talk about living your dream.

Travel to exotic locations, her day job, has fed longtime Telluride local and artist Nancy Craft's passion for color: over the years, Nancy's work for Esprit travel has been all about creating and leading art tours, mostly in Asia. Especially Japan.

For 20 years, Esprit Travel has sent travelers to Japan to explore the country's culture and arts.

"The hallmark of our cultural tours is the introductions we make to Japanese people," explained Nancy. "Our travelers, therefore, have profound, often life- altering experiences with the people of Japan and hold them dear in their hearts. In fact, because our colleague, Steve Beimel, lived in Sendai for many years, we have taken many groups to north eastern Japan, not normally on the tourist path."

[click "Play" for Susan's interview with Lin Schorr]

 

 

Mosaic art for auction kicker: Bidding helps doctors on the ground in Japan

Telluride local  and mosaic artist Flair Robinson, a regular instructor at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, is part of a group of artists participating in an online auction to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose extraordinary efforts have been showcased in the past locally at Mountainfilm in Telluride.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Eliza and Tina]

 

 

BIDDER70newtext They are not your run of the mill filmmakers and he is not your Average Joe. Or Tim.

We are talking about Telluride locals George and Beth Gage, who are at it again, making another documentary, "Bidder 70," to make a difference in the world. The protagonist of their latest celluloid adventure is none other than Tim DeChristopher. (Talk about making a difference in the world.)
 
For those unfamiliar with his story, Tim threw a giant monkey wrench into a BLM auction, bidding nearly $1.8 million to win 14 parcels (22,000 acres) of pristine Utah wilderness land surrounding major national parks and at risk of being plundered in the name of almighty gas and oil. For his peaceful act of civil disobedience, Tim faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of $750,000 – despite the fact the Obama administration deemed the auction itself invalid. Sentencing is June 23, 2011.