The Tres Amigos Ride Again-Telluride Blues and Brews Festival And Conquering The Mountain

[Steve Williams]

It's been several years since the three Amigos have traveled together. Our latest venture started in June when Marty called me and Russ and asked if we wanted to go to Telluride in September for the famous Telluride Blues and Brews Festival that ran from Sept 13-15 and to stay with him in his beautiful condo high atop Mountain Village which is on the other side of the mountain from Telluride. I have been to Colorado many times over the years as my youngest daughter is an alum of CU Boulder and she loved Colorado so much she lives in Denver where she is an RN in the pediatric oncology unit of Children's Hospital Denver I have never been to Telluride and was up for the journey. It was to be short and sweet with us flying in on Sunday to catch the closing act of the show which was slated to be Phil Lesh .As fate would have it Lesh had to bow out at the last moment and was replaced by George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelics. The remaining three days was slated to be hiking and mountain biking.

I have never mountain biked in my life, nor have I even been on a bike in eons. This plus an overwhelming fear of heights lead to some anxiety on my part but I was up for the challenge and had some demons to conquer

Russ and Marty flew in from Newark and I flew in from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Denver. Both flights touched down literally at the same moment where we all met up for the next flight to Montrose followed by a one hour drive to Mountain Village. Ive lived in Southern California since 1978 having moved from Toronto as i hated snow, cold and winter all of which were my enemy as I was in practice as an Ob/Gyn. When I left Orange County it was mid 90's and arriving in Montrose it was now a balmy 48.

We were picked up by a van from Marty's condo complex in Mountain Village. The one hour drive was breath taking with nature engulfing us and mountains as far as the eye could see

Soon after we left Montrose Marty pointed out a very long and beautiful wood fence that went for 7 miles. This was the Double RL (Ralph Lauren's ranch) which is a 16000 acre spread that was so big that this was all we could see

 

[Steve Williams]

The story of that fence was related to us by Marty who said that initially the fence was built with the horizontal pipes of wood on the inside of the fence to strengthen the fence against animals trying to enter the property. Apparently Mrs Lauren didn't like the fence that way and ordered the entire 7 miles to be redone with the same posts on the outside at a cost of over a million dollars

We passed some amazing properties along the way and before we knew it we were in Mountain Village which is simply exquisite, filled with hotels, condos, shops, restaurants etc. In the condos next to Marty we were told that Seinfeld owned the Penthouse Suite on the top floor. Marty also pointed off to the hills beyond us to show us where Tom Cruise also had a home. Somewhere along the way we also passed Meg Whitman's property

Below are some of the views of Mountain Village

 

[Steve Williams]

 

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Off in the distance is the Telluride Airport which apparently is at the highest elevation of any airport in the USA. You literally fly off the mountain

 

[Steve Williams]

By now the time was 530 and we quickly changed to hop onto the tram which took us from Mountain Village to the top of the mountain and then over the top to descend to the valley floor into Telluride

 

[Steve Williams]

A view of Mount Wilson

 

[Steve Williams]

Looking down on Mountain Village from the tram

 

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[Steve Williams]

From the top of the mountain looking down on Telluride on the other side of the mountain

 

[Steve Williams]

we walked a few blocks through town and before you knew it were at Bear Field the site of the Festival. My initial guess was that there were at least 5000 people there all of whom were enjoying the outdoors, drinking beer and with a state that allows open use of cannabis the field was replete with the odors of beer and many different strains of herbal remedy with police walking through the crowds and enjoying the festivities as much as the people there. There was no rowdiness. Everyone was having a good time and many were dressed in strange capes and hats for reasons I didn't understand until George Clinton played the closing act. He and his band were all dressed in capes hats and strange make up

But I digress. The second to the last act wa by a band I had never heard of ...Anders Osborne

I was blown away as to how good he and his band were. he could sing and play the guitar and his band was superb. I gather he is a recovering addict as he commented between songs that due to the altitude this was the best high he has had since he was sober.......

 

[Steve Williams]

The closing act was George Clinton who at the age of 78 brought the house down with his 16 piece band. He was clearly affected by the altitude as several times he had to sit at the back of the stage and let his younger singers take over. Suffice it to say everyone was up dancing especially all of those in Capes and hats

As the sun began to set the rain started before the show ended. We left got back on the tram to Mountain Village

Below are some pix of the event

 

[Steve Williams]

 

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amazing sunset

 

[Steve Williams]

The next day we had an early breakfast and embarked on our first hike which was to walk from Mountain village down Boomerang Trail all the way down and around the mountain until we reached the valley floor and then hiked into the town of Telluride.It was a five mile hike but what a fun town . We walked Main street and had lunch and then went shopping for the proverbial souvenirs to take home

Looking in the window of realty stores I was staggered at the cost of homes and property there. There was nothing under a million dollars and these were essentially small dilapidated fixer uppers.

 

[Steve Williams]

Marty looking at the sites with a view into the Box Canyon

 

[Steve Williams]

 

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We also saw the first bank which was robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with the original safe inside

Here is the County Court House