Telluride Hotels: 2008

"Pay no attention to that man behind the green curtain!" --Wizard of Oz
So who is behind our Green Curtain? Not All Powerful, but it is a fun & dynamic team. So I'd like to introduce everyone to some of the players.

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Let's start with our most recent addition to the sales crew, Wynn Hurd. She was Wynn Allen when she moved into reservations from the front desk role in November 2007. Then she went and got married!

Here's Wynn in June.

Originally from Louisiana, Wynn went north to Boston University for her degree in history with a minor in theatre. (Later, she'll tell you how she found Telluride.) She returned to New Orleans for The Big Day. But when the newlyweds got back home, she confided that if she did it all again, she would rather have had the wedding here after all. Tell us more, Wynn.

Liza's right, I should have gotten married in Telluride just for the mountain views.

I met my husband, Brandon, in Atlanta. He was already a resident of Telluride and tried to convince me to move to Telluride too. A little weary of this place in the Rocky Mountains I had never heard of, I told Brandon that I would visit, but I was not going to move. The view of Ajax my first morning in Telluride was breathtaking. After about an hour of wondering, I found myself applying for and accepting a job offer and moved to Telluride just three weeks later. I blame my spontaneity on Telluride's unmatched mountain views, and their persuasion has served me well. Brandon and I are homeowners in Norwood and have two dogs, Zippy (a Jack Russell) and Raven (a Lab/Pitt). January 1st will be the first day of my third year in Telluride. My favorite time of year to go for hikes is October. The weather is perfect-not very hot and just enough breeze to keep you cool. Fall storms in Telluride come with plenty of warning, and the golden leaves of Aspen trees are stunning.

Welcome to our BLOG
So the wise have thought we should have a blog. And since we don't want to be left in the dust (though being stuck in a dead-end hanging valley on the Western Slope of Colorado definitely qualifies as being Out Of The Loop), here goes! And we really don't know where it will go. So just follow (or lead) for a while.

FALL FOLIAGE is the current excitement here. The first heavy frost for the Telluride Valley Floor was last Thursday (9/4), so the clock is now ticking for those buttery golden aspen leaves. We've started an office pool, picking the "peak" foliage date, and then the "drop" date.

Since "peak" is relatively subjective, we appointed Frank Ruggeri (with his decades of Rocky Mountain Leaf-Peeping experience) to be the final judge of this year's most brilliant display date. This is a photo from Sept. 27, 2006:

(I took this shot while driving through the horrendous Keystone Hill construction on our way to a wedding. What a gorgeous weekend for a wedding!)

So here are the dates picked for PEAK so far:

David (native, accounting): Sept. 16
Frank (keen aspen observer, owner): Sept. 29
Liza (ex-river rat, sales): Oct. 4
Wynn (recent transplant, sales): Oct. 10

I'll let you know what the rest of the crew picks later this week.
-- Liza T.

9/17/08 I keep meaning to grab a photo of the color-changing progress each morning, while the sky is crystaline September blue (it kinda shimmers this time of year), but then the clouds pop up by lunch time, and I've missed the shot. ...Tomorrow. Fer Shur.

Days seems to be hurdling by right now, careening ahead toward ski season. One little voice says, "No! Summer can't be over already." Another counts days (71) until the lifts are running again. Meanwhile, there's a little alarm clock going off somewhere in the gut warning of the need to get things done. I think it's an old (really old - like Cambrian) clock sculpted into us by eons of harvest seasons. And did you see that full moon the other night? Wow! It made the festival feeling seep right out of town and soak all the mountains and mesas around.OK-photo, tomorrow (or check out the webcams at visittelluride.com and tellurideskiresort.com)

Taken 9am Sept. 18, 2008. Looking across the main street from the front door of the reservations office toward Lift #8 (Oak Street Lift). That's Needle Rock on the far left horizon.

9/24/08:
The reservations staff just returned from Snowmass, where they attended a conference put on by the company that makes our reservations software (Instant Software). The drive over on Thursday was quite nice. But the drive back on Sunday was quite amazing. In those 4 short days, the amount of yellow blazing across the hillsides and down through the valleys doubled!

Box Elder trees are phasing out deep green and becoming powdery pale yellow; willows and narrow-leaf cottonwoods are sporting tweed of green, brown and gold. Here are the photos from Monday, when the sky turned blustery:

This is the stand of aspens near Lift #8 (Oak Street Lift) that always turns first. Right on time.

As we look toward another ski season, have you checked out "Dave's Blog" on the Telluride Ski Resort's website?

http://blog.tellurideskiresort.com/blogs/davesblog/default.aspx

The summer crews are working like mad to get all their new stuff built before the snow sets in. And it's alot of new stuff -- the San Joaquin Lift, avalanche control guns, new signs. Go Dogs, Go!

9/29/08: IT'S HAPPENING!!!!

Do we live in a great place, or what?!!

I took these yesteday, and today there's even MORE color! For my personal taste, the PEAK FOLIAGE day is going to be tomorrow or the next day. We'll get Frank's opinion, though he's on vacation today and may have to defer to a consensus of staff.

The Pioneer Day Parade and family games were held in Norwood this past weekend. The weather couldn't have been better. Homemade floats (hay wagons with log cabin scenes recreated on them), horses & riders all decked out, Colorguard of local veterans, candidates 'pressing flesh' as the parade made its way down main street and back -- you really can't stage anything more authentically down-home. The games are hosted by the Historical Society, with age-group heats: dash, 3-legged race, gunnie-sack race, shoe toss & shoe relay, egg toss, and nail-driving. The chuck-wagon style BBQ kept energy up throughout the day. And the sound of backyard cook-outs rang across Wrights Mesa well past dark. All this, just 35 miles as the crow flies from Telluride.

10/6/08

OMG!!!!

The Colors are Brilliant! The mountains are on fire!

Here are the most recent photos:

Last Thursday --