According to the historians, the ride into Telluride was so hair-raising, this is what the Drivers said when they were headed down the steep canyon sides into town.
Once in a while, we like to "play tourist," and I hadn't been to Telluride since 1977. Don had never been there, so he was glad to go, too. We'd been given a heads up about the free gondola ride as a way to avoid trying to find parking in town. Up above the town is the resort--condos, swanky hotels and shops, and the beginning of the gondola. Constructed in 1997, the gondola takes you across the resort, then up to the top of San Sophia, then down to the town. The parking is $7 for the whole day.
Here we're just taking off from the first part of the ride.
You have fabulous views of the resort, the town, and the valley.
This is the view back up from the end of the ride in town.
This is the terminal in town, in a small park right next to the San Miguel River.
The river in town is pretty small--but apparently the fishing's still pretty decent.
On Fridays, Telluride has its Farmers' Market--lucky me! The walk up to Main Street takes you right through the vendors, so I was able to see everything available and plan what to get when we came back through.
Lovely view. But this is why we chose to take the gondola and not try to find parking.
We spent the next couple of hours doing our tourist thing--visiting the shops. I ended up buying a beautiful t-shirt embroidered with colorful dragonflies and a popsicle maker. (Yeah, I know it's not a souvenir, but I'll be able to easily make all kinds of popsicles from things like juice, yogurt, coffee, and more.)
We settled on Chinese food for lunch--lots of it at a good price.
As we made our way back towards the gondola, we went back through the farmers' market. I picked up yellow beans, zucchini, cabbage, and a couple of chocolate shortbread cookies. I'd thought about some beef or lamb, but Don convinced me we really didn't need any (yet).
These young men played some mellow folk music to entertain the shoppers at the farmers' market.
Don patiently waited for me while I did a little more browsing.
On our return gondola rife, we got off at the top to stretch our legs and see the views. This one is of the mountains near Lizard Head Pass. That's Lizard Head on the far left. The tallest three peaks are all fourteeners: Mt. Wilson, El Diente, and Wilson Peak. The large mountain just to the right of Lizard Head is Sunshine Peak.
This is Lone Cone, the farthest west mountain in the San Juans.
Next to the ski routes map is a placard about the mining history of the area.
Looking east and down to town.
I really wish I could figure out how to look better in these photos!
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1 comment:
Makes me feel like I'm there with you, except I don't get to eat your great cooking!
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