Travels with haRVy

I realize that most of my readers probably think my entire life is a vacation, but living on the road does not always feel that way. Besides the usual drudgery and time-consuming logistics one has to deal with in a permanent home, many additional travel and vehicle related chores must be tended to daily. I’m not looking for any sympathy as we are (mostly) having a great time out here. I just wanted to mention this to help explain how much we enjoyed staying in one incredible location (Telluride, Colorado) for ten whole days and nights! It really felt like a vacation to savor all that this historic mountain village has to offer.

In my opinion, Telluride provides the perfect blend of natural beauty and civilized comforts with a bit of funkiness thrown in to make it interesting.

The natural beauty can be taken advantage of by hiking or biking a variety of trails, paddling or tubing the San Miguel River, reading a book under the shade of Cottonwood trees, or pointing your camera lens in practically any direction.

The civilized comforts include an AT&T 4G connection all over town, great restaurants of every sort, good grocery stores, yoga studios, a weekly farmers market, a variety of interesting stores with merchandise to fit every budget (there’s even a block-long free box to which we contributed a few items), plus historic saloons, hotels, Victorian homes and more!

 Bikes are the preferred mode of transportation for locals as car parking space is scarce and expensive.

Then, of course, there are the people. From the hippies who “discovered” the place in the 60’s, well after the mining boom went bust, to the wealthy skiers and celebrities who began buying up condos in the 80’s, we found everyone to be unusually friendly and accommodating.

It truly is a fascinating place. If you care to learn more, the Wikipedia link at the top of this post connects to a thorough overview of the geography, demographics, and history.

Tibetan prayer flags fly everywhere!

Beautifully tended gardens practically flow out into the streets.

Creativity is on display throughout town, even in the alleys where I found this back fence.

License plate siding on an updated miner’s cabin.

Elk’s club where we attended a riotous Buccaneer’s Ball.

The water was cold and the rocks hard, but we just had to try tubing (once!).

Invited artists from across America took part in the Plein Air Festival.

Their work was displayed and sold both outdoors in the park and inside the historic Opera House.

Even the market’s produce person is creative.

For days, it literally snowed seed pods from the abundant Cottonwood trees.

Let us not forget that Colorado is the first state to legalize the sale of marijuana. However, a few rules do apply.