Telluride Blues and Brews

The Telluride Blues and Brews festival kicks off today with quite a lineup. The gates opened at 11:30am this morning and the first artist to hit the stage was Carolynn Wonderland. Her amazing vocals set the tone for what is to come for the weekend. After Carolynn Wonderland, Jason Ricci & New Blood hit the stage, and here is a picture of the band setting up. If you have children, you may be thinking that they won't be allowed into a festival called "Blues and Brews" and this would be a reasonable assumption. Of course, this festival takes place in Telluride, and people who love the town know that the normal social rules just don't apply here. Kids are not only allowed in the park, they are welcomed into the park with open arms. The park puts up a HUGE jumping castle , climbing wall, and plenty of food for kids and adults alike.


Who doesn't like music, beer, and corn dogs?
Telluride is a very eco-conscious town, and anytime you increase the population of your town by 200%, there is a lot of extra impact involved. All of our festivals, Blues and Brews included, work very hard to have as little negative impact as possible. Not only is there a recycling bin, compost bin, and trash bin on festival grounds, but the festival itself has a goal of being 100% carbon neutral. To help achieve this goal, festival goers have the opportunity to "green up" their tickets for an additional $2.50 per ticket. The extra money purchases 250 Kwh of renewable energy. To learn more about being green at the Telluride Blues and Brews festival, check out their web page at http://www.tellurideblues.com/M4/thinkgreen.html
If you decide to come just for the day, just for an evening, or for the whole weekend, you can expect great beer, great food, great music, and the opportunity to entertain the whole family.

Telluride Dog Days

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it felt like summer. Lots of locals were out with their dogs and Telluride couldn't be a more pet friendly place. The favorite local hang out for dogs is the San Miguel River trail. There's something about the dirt trail that winds along the river that can excite even the most tame and serene of our four legged friends. Us humans don't mind taking them for that stroll because the view is spectacular. Yesterday the skies were blue, the air was warm, and it was easy to waste an hour just strolling along the path.

If you're a pet owner, then you know that pets usually have something other than a nice stroll in mind, especially if there's water and a ball involved.

In Telluride, there are lots of open green spaces perfect for training. Here a local is doing a double duty by helping her son with baseball practice while training her dog Zoe to be the best fielder in the world.

I'm not sure if Zoe will ever be the best fielder in the world, but she is definatly in the running for the cutest.

Telluride Film Festival

This weekend the Telluride Film Festival will grace the sidewalks, theatres, and streets of Telluride. It is a very exciting time in town because the films being shown at the festival are not released to the public and you never know who you might see in town. For festival goers, it's a great opportunity to see movie stars in a fairly relaxed environment. It's also a great time to meet movie entheausists and have the opportunity to meet some people who have made a living-in one way or another- in the Silver Screen. As far as star watching, there are several people to watch out for- Nicholas Cage will in town and speaking on Sunday at the Court House, Viggo Mortensen may be in town; he was rumored to be having breakfast with Nicholas Cage this morning at the New Sheridan. Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings and played Frank Hopkins in Hildago. Last night, the free movie in Elk's Park was Hildago, which undoubtly sparked the rumors about Viggo Mortensen.

Tonight, the schedlued free show in Elk's Park will be A Man and A Woman. These movies will be shown outside. These movies are open to the public, pet friendly, and as you can see, you can even bring your own chair.

Also speaking at the Court House for free will be Helen Mirren Saturday at 2pm. For those of us who aren't up on our who's who, Helen Mirren starred in Calander Girls, The Queen, and played Nicholas Cage's mother in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Nicholas Cage's new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is scheduled to play Sunday at the Chuck Jones Cinema and the Galaxy theatre on Monday. Val Kilmer stars in this film with Nicholas Cage, so don't be surprised to see him roaming this small mountain town too.

As far as other movies to see An Education starring Emma Thompson is schedule to show on Friday at the Elk's theatre, Saturday and Sunday at the Palm, and on Sunday at the Galaxy. Novelist Nicholas Hornby adapted a memoir by Lynn Barber (a columnist from England) for the silver screen, so I'm sure it will make everyone's must see list.

The guest director is Alexander Payne. His current project is the HBO series "Hung" about an out-of luck school teacher who has an unusual after school job. Film Festivarians shouldn't be surprised to see any of the cast memebers in town.

Imogene Pass

My husband and I recently went over Imogene for a weekend adventure. It took us about 5 hours, and we stopped to take photos, let their dogs run around, and hike a little. It was my first time over and I have to say that the views are stunning.

When we started out in Telluride, it was a little over 60 degrees outside.

Of couse, the higher we climbed in altitude, the colder it got. In this shot, you can see a piece of Telluride Town Park on the left, ski runs coming down the Mountains into Telluride, and bits and peices of buildings within the town.

We had a great view of waterfalls and Nicoli Telsa's house, but it was hard to capture those small details with a camera.

Going up, it was a beautiful day and we had blue skies most of the way.

Unfortunatly, the blue skies didn't last for long and by the time we made it to the top, it was raining. To be honest, it doesn't really rain at 13,000 feet, it's more like sleet. The temperature was about 40 degrees at the top.

Even with the cold weather, we had to get out to experience the beautiful views.

Our friends brought their dogs Addy and Tonka along for the ride. You can see Tonka in the picture above, and here they are playing in what's left of the snow. I have to admit that the surface of the aged snow looks a bit like pictures you see of the moon, but the dogs didn't seem to mind.

Living in Telluride, I have the opportunity to see the beautiful Rocky Mountains every day. At the height of 13000 feet, the Rocky Mountains look compeltly different and you feel like you're above them and looking at something that not everyone gets to see.

At the end of the day, the rain eventually gave way to blue skies and a beautiful rainbow coming down Imogene onto the Ouray side.

For the adventurous, the annual Imogene run will be held the weekend of September 12th. It should be a lot of fun for anyone interested in Mountian- speed running. For those of us who prefer a capable vehicle or leisurly hike, Imogene will be open every weekend until the snow sets in.