Tuesday, July 10, 2012

telluride v.2

Telluride.

charlie and i knew that we were going to try and get away for a few days the week of july 4.  we figured we'd take advantage of the holiday in the middle of the week and  take some time off without missing an entire week of work.  we debated about where to go as this would be avery's first trip and i was a little worried about how she would do in the car for an extended period of time.  charlie was pushing for telluride and i couldn't come up with a better alternative.  it was a long drive, 6.5 hours, but we both loved it there and knew it would be easy to get around with the baby and the dogs.

Parked puppies.
yes, henry is staring at the wall.

we made reservations at the same place we stayed at a few years ago, which is actually in mountain village, a town just up the mountain from telluride.  we knew the place was nice and dog friendly and there's a free gondola that connects mountain village to telluride so we didn't have to drive anywhere once we got there. we actually got a pretty decent deal on a room and then got upgraded from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom when we got there since they had overbooked the 1 bedrooms.  
Mountain Village.
where we stayed.  i miss that view already.

He loved those stairs.
henry loved the spiral stairs.

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he also loved the view from the balcony.

we left late on saturday after charlie drove his mom to the airport.  avery did pretty well in the car.  we stopped once for me to feed her and get some gas and this was about the same time as her normal, before bed feeding.  she screamed for about a hour after that before passing out and sleeping the rest of the way there.  

random side note:  we were talking with some people in telluride and they asked how she did on the drive out.  when i said 'pretty good, she only cried for about an hour' they said "you know you're a parent when you consider an hour of crying 'pretty good'".

we got there at about 11 pm on saturday, which was probably harder for us than avery.  and she didn't sleep well at all that night.  i think the long car ride combined with being up in the middle of the night once we got to the hotel was hard for her.  she spent most of that night in our bed and was completely up for the day at 6 am, which was not that fun.  we dragged ourselves out of bed and took the gondola down from mountain village to telluride and went to the butcher and baker for breakfast.  it's amazing, local, organic food and we got a spot outside so the dogs could sit with us and beg for food.

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we went back to the hotel and avery and i took a three hour nap, which was much needed.  of course i could happily nap every day unlike my baby.  that night we went to brown dog pizza, another favorite from our last trip.  

Baby in a bar.
yes my baby is sitting on the table.  she was helping me decide what to order.

luckily avery slept much better that night.  our plan was to hike bridal veil falls the next day.  i blogged about that hike two years ago here.  we picked it again because it's a pretty easy hike, close to town, and really pretty.  this was avery's first hike in a backpack.  i thought she would love it because she's in the ergo all the time and happily stays there for hours and easily falls asleep.  she didn't like the backpack nearly as much.  i think it was a lot more bumpy then the ergo is, impossible for her to sleep in because there's nowhere for her to rest her head, and not as snuggly.  

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Just like old times: just me and the pups
the falls are in the distance.

anyway, she did fine for most of the hike although we did take her out a few times just to give her a break and even walked a bit, just carrying her.  that is quite a workout.  a backpack on your back, a baby in your arms, and two dogs trying to pull you in opposite directions.  

Base of bridal veil falls.
all of us at the bottom of the falls (a little more than halfway there)

we hiked up to the house at the top of the falls and then turned around to come down.  at this point avery was completely done.  she was super tired but couldn't sleep and no amount of singing 'the wheels on the bus' was going to keep her happy.  it was also looking like rain and the clouds were moving in pretty quickly.  we took her out of the backpack and she fell asleep almost instantly in my arms as we walked/ran down the mountain as fast as we could.  when were about halfway there a guy driving a tour jeep (the trail was also a 4x4 road apparently) asked us if we wanted a ride saying he couldn't let the baby get wet.  we gratefully accepted, not many people will pick up 2 people, a baby, and 2 large dogs and got down the mountain just as it started to rain.  overall i consider it a successful trip and we passed quite a few people who said that their kids didn't do so well in the backpack as infants but did much better once they got older.  


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about halfway there. taking a break from the backpack.

First hike!
me and my girl.

after the hike we went back to mountain village, grabbed some lunch from the market and ate in our hotel.  that night we went back to telluride and got some ice cream from the sweet life.  they have homemade ice cream that changes daily.  it was delicious.

the next day was our last full day.  our plan was to walk around telluride a bit and then check out a free concert later that day.  we had breakfast at baked in telluride, a spot that i had really wanted to try the last time we were here but it had burned down and wasn't rebuilt.  this time it was back and quite good. we ate breakfast outside on their porch, looking at the mountains.  i've had worse mornings.  :)

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coffee, donuts, and a pretty decent view.

after breakfast we walked the neighborhood a bit and then walked on the path that runs along the san miguel river, which runs through town.  the path was shaded, which was really nice and we saw a few people tubing down the river.

Sleeping baby, a back carry, and some daddy love
i tried a back carry for the first time and avery fell right asleep.

we headed back to mountain village when it started to rain.  relaxed for a bit and then headed down to the concert.  we didn't stay too long but headed back to the hotel to take avery to the pool and get some dinner.


Rain!
i had to cover avery with a tshirt since i didn't have anything else.  it was pretty fun running from one gondola to the other when the rain was pouring down.  

Free concert.
it cleared up for the concert and we had a fun time just hanging out.

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she loves the pool.

we were leaving on the fourth but were planning on checking out of the hotel and then taking the gondola into telluride to watch the annual parade.  when we got to the gondola the line was so long (over an hour wait) that we decided just to grab some breakfast and head home instead.

we had such a great time with just our little family and i'm sure we'll be back again.  it's a pretty small place but there's so much to do and see.  and obviously we were pretty happy just eating and walking around.  avery did great the whole trip and was in a fabulous mood the whole time.  i think a lot of that had to do with the fact that she was being held or in the ergo24/7 and slept about a foot from me at night, when she didn't wiggle her way into our bed.  it was my favorite way to spend my time, too: hanging out with my two favorite people and the dogs.  life doesn't get much better than that.

San Juans
san juans on the way home.  

1 comment:

Emily said...

I didn't know you were blogging again! So glad to see this - I just quickly looked back at the archives and now I can't wait to have a little more time to read about your latest adventure!