Away Together » Colorado travel

Boulder For Real

Sarah — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:43:57 +0000

Teddy looks over Boulder from the Red Rock trail in Settlers' Park. Could it be he's sad to leave, too?

Nine days after that somewhat mawkish “love at first sight” post, I am still romanticizing Boulder. Colly recently voiced my feelings while she was in the midst of a lesson at a local gymnastics gym (speaking of which, she and Kyle helped me produce a little movie yesterday about their time at that gym; scroll to the end of this post to see).

Colly’s face, which was flushed and beaming from the discovery of the high-quality facility and friendly coach, momentarily clouded over as she said, “The trouble with travel is you find a place where you want to stay, and then you have to leave.”

I pointed out the glass-half-empty perspective (i.e. if not for travel, we would not have experienced this place at all), but I also agreed with her. The trouble with Boulder is that we had to leave today.

Boulder seemed to click for our family; from Day One, we found our way around, fell into a routine and felt comfortable in the community. It’s not perfect (I’ll mention a few disappointments below), and I wouldn’t say it’s the most charming or gorgeous Zip Code in the state. But with its university vibe and just-right size, Boulder feels very real and livable. It’s also one of the healthiest places, with the most fit-looking people, I’ve ever visited. A guy selling ice cream from a cart in the park, for example, looked like a Runners’ World cover model, wearing a 10K shirt and Ironman cap.

The city and its people seem to lean into the Rocky Mountain foothills, running up the slopes to its fin-shaped Flatirons as if to escape the flatness of the landscape to the east, which spreads unchanging as far as the eye can see.

Perhaps my view is colored by happy times with friends. We experienced a veritable influx of visitors, and oh how nice it was to socialize again! First, an ultrarunning couple we got to know back in Oakland, Garett and Holly, came over for dinner with their toddler son, and then longtime friends Adam and Jennifer, in town for business, spent Saturday with us and brought their girls Zoe and Julie.

Two things that make Colly most happy: her dog, and her friends. Here she's with Julie and Zoe.

Colly was ecstatic to have friends for the weekend, and even happier when they whisked her away for a sleepover at their Denver hotel.

And what about Kyle? He was overjoyed for two days because one of his closest friends from Piedmont, Patrick, showed up to spend the weekend with us while his mom, Kia, was in town for a Buffs game. The boys spent hours splashing in Boulder Creek and transforming our living room into a fort, always in their own world and laughing at private jokes. While it was precious to watch, I also felt pangs about separating him and Colly from their friends for the whole school year. To friends who are reading this: If you plan to travel, please check our itinerary and consider crossing paths with us — we’d welcome you!

Patrick and Kyle reach new heights in their friendship during their time together in Boulder.

Here is a brief rundown of what our family will miss about Boulder — and what we recommend to anyone visiting there.

The trails: Boulder has over 200 miles of hiking and biking trails, 35,000 acres of open space — and we tried to sample as much of it as we could. As lovely as the Boulder Creek path is, especially where it winds up Boulder Canyon, the real treasures are the trails branching off from places like Chautauqua Park and Marshall Mesa.

Pearl Street: Boulder’s historic downtown district struck me as a friendlier and cleaner version of Santa Cruz’s Pacific Garden Mall. In just a couple of blocks, between 9th and 11th, we discovered three great restaurants: Centro, Bacaro and West End Tavern. (Don’t bother going to the over-hyped and always-crowded Rio Grande around the corner — the food and service were barely passable, but most people seemed to be drinking too much to care.) The kids repeatedly dragged us to Powell’s candy store on Pearl, and we were happy to comply. On Saturday night, we experienced the full spirit of Pearl Street and Buffs pride when we got caught up in a pre-game rolling pep rally with CU’s marching band. The kids grabbed pompoms, caps and toy footballs.

Patrick, Kyle and Colly get caught up in a Buffs rally on Pearl Street.

The gym: Colly and Kyle fell in love with the Colorado Athletic Training School (CATS) and a coach named Gordy. Check out their movie below. I think we were all relieved to discover that the kids don’t have to completely give up sports and hobbies during travel; with a bit of effort, we can find places along the way where they can do their thing.

Visitors on the front lawn of our Pearl Street house.

The house: As the last post detailed, I fell in love with 207 Pearl Street — the house and its location — in spite of the unpredictability of its hot water supply and wi-fi.

What’s not to like? The mall sprawl around 29th Street, overpopulated by franchise theme restaurants and big-box stores. I felt as though we were in Sacramento’s suburbs. And we were disappointed by the Fiske Planetarium at CU. We signed up for a “Moon and Lasers” presentation designed for school-age kids. What could have been a “stellar” learning experience turned out to be a bust because of the speaker. With virtually no introduction or context, she haltingly mentioned factoids about the autumnal equinox and moon cycles, nonsensically beaming a laser pointer around solar and lunar images projected on the theater’s dome. Then, without making time for questions or answers, she abruptly started a laser show. We found ourselves staring at psychedelic geometric projections while retro “space tunes” such as “Walking on the Moon” by The Police played. The kids left completely confused, and I left with a headache. At least it sparked our interest enough to further investigate the science behind yesterday’s equinox on our own.

Brrr! We found ourselves in a snow storm today. What a treat!

So goodbye, Boulder. Now we’re making our way back through Telluride and Arizona, briefly stopping at the Grand Canyon and Sedona, and then to Southern California by early next week. At least we enjoyed a taste of winter today, hitting a glittering snow storm that coated the pines and enhanced the golden hues of the aspens. Our one day of winter, before heading to spring and summer in the Southern Hemisphere, won’t be forgotten!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Magic at Mesa Verde and Along the San Juan Skyway

Sarah — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:45:52 +0000

Looking through a window in time in Mesa Verde's Balcony House.

Morgan crawls through the tunnel exiting the Balcony House cave dwelling.

Inside a cave perched high on a cliff face in Mesa Verde National Park, where remnants of rooms built from stone have stood for more than 800 years, I got down on my hands and knees to crawl through a dark tunnel only a few feet high and barely wide enough for my shoulders. I crept forward on all fours like a baby in order to follow an exit from a cave dwelling known as Balcony House, which Ancestral Puebloans built under the overhang of a massive rock. Soon — thankfully — I reached a point where a shaft of light filtered in and the passageway opened up nearly high enough to stand, and I gazed up at a perch where the park’s archeologists theorize a person would have sat guard to stop or allow those who tried to enter the pueblo. Then the tunnel narrowed to a crawl space again, and I took a deep breath to keep claustrophobia at bay before pushing through to reach sunlight and a spectacular view of a canyon.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from our trip to Mesa Verde, but I didn’t expect this: to squeeze between rock crevices and climb up 30-foot ladders, and then to walk through the homes and gathering places where people thrived and a society developed to surprising sophistication in this spot for some 700 years, around 600 – 1300 AD. Never before had I experienced such an intimate and not-entirely-safe visit to a national or state park. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing attractions from a distance, accessed by trams or well-maintained walkways. At Mesa Verde, however, visitors — after hearing repeated warnings about strenuous climbs and narrow passageways — are allowed more access than I would have imagined. Morgan and I kept echoing our kids’ exclamations, “This is so cool!” and “Look!” as we marveled at the ingenuity of the Puebloans and listened with genuine interest to what the park ranger was saying about the history and geology.

The view approaching Cliff Palace. "They look like fallen condos," said Colly. I thought it looked like an intricate sand castle from a distance.

It’s one thing to view artifacts in a museum or read history in a book; it’s another to stand where those people stood a millennium ago and muse, Would I have been able to weave sandals like that from yucca or paint such intricate designs on pottery made from hand?

The kids gaze at the soot-blackened ceilings of the cave and learn how water flowed through the porous rocks, creating fountains known as seep springs.

Colly and Kyle climb a 32-foot ladder to access a cliff dwelling.

Our day-and-a-half at Mesa Verde was the high point in a quick road trip to explore Colorado’s Southwest corner. I’m grateful we didn’t try to tour Mesa Verde in just a day, because there is so much to see and the park is so vast. We arrived on a rainy afternoon and checked into the park’s one motel, the Far View Lodge, a collection of one-story boxy buildings likely built in the ’60s that look like dormitories but were clean and comfortable. We spent the afternoon getting oriented at the visitor’s center and museum, then had an unexpectedly gourmet meal at the lodge’s main restaurant, Metate (the word for the stone slab on which the Ancestral Puebloans ground corn).

The next day we toured three of the park’s main attractions: the cave dwellings known as Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Spruce Tree. To see, inches from my face, the stone craftsmanship that constructed those walls and the cave paintings that decorated them, and to peer through the windows to the tiny rooms where families would have slept and cooked — it all left me in awe and grasping for words, to think that generations of people made a living in these caves tucked in these remote canyons, climbing up and down the cliffs to haul supplies and access the fields of corn they grew on the flat mesas high above.

Kyle and Colly try a hand at the matate, used for grinding corn.

At day’s end, we headed east about an hour to spend the night in Durango and spent the next 24 hours marveling at the dizzying scenery from there to Silverton and Ouray. (This post — like our too-brief visit — in no way does the stretch from Durango to Ouray justice; these old mining towns, surrounded by red rocks and jagged peaks, deserve pages and pictures on their own.)

If you have kids and go to Durango, then you know (or quickly learn) that the thing to do is take the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, built in 1882, to Silverton, a 45-mile trip that takes about three hours because the little old locomotive won’t chug any faster than about 18 mph. The problem is, the train loses its novelty and kids lose their patience on the return trip to Durango, but if you take it just one way, then you’re stuck in Silverton without transportation. We solved this problem by having Morgan take the kids on the train, and I drove to meet them in Silverton.

Morgan and the kids took the train to Silverton while I drove.

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad hasn't changed much since the Victorian era, though now it carries tourists instead of ore.

They loved the train, but I think I actually got the better end of the deal in terms of scenery by driving Highway 550, aka the San Juan Skyway. After we regrouped in Silverton and wandered around that delightfully authentic, just-touristy-enough Old West town, we carefully drove over Red Mountain Pass, another precipitous stretch with hairpin turns revealing stunning views. A portion of this road between Silverton and Ouray is known as the Million Dollar Highway because millions worth of gold and other minerals have passed over it since the mining boom began in the late 1800s. We paused on the descent into Ouray to view the gaping tunnels and rusting trestles clinging to the mountainside, which mark some of the Idarado Mine remnants; then we made another impromptu stop to hike to the base of Ouray’s box canyon falls.The sheer walls of the rock amplified the roar of the water and left the kids speechless and entranced.

At the base of Ouray's breathtaking box canyon falls.

Of course, no visit to Ouray would be complete without a trip to the famous (and funky) hot springs pool. I used to go there with my family as a kid, and it hasn’t changed except for the addition of a water slide, which Colly and Kyle tested out at least twenty times.

View a slideshow from this trip.

Looking ahead: We leave Telluride this weekend and transition to ten days in Boulder, followed by a quick visit to the Grand Canyon and LA. Then it’s off to Buenos Aires — time to take the training wheels off our travel! More posts to come soon with updates on homeschooling, family dynamics during travel, and our destinations.

36 Hours in Telluride, CO

Sarah — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:49:28 +0000

Subtle graffiti on this sign on the way into Telluride ("pricy" conditions may exist) signals locals' ambivalence toward the town's growth and gentrification.

This weekend, Sept. 4 – 7, Telluride’s annual film festival will transform the town. Its population of about 2200 will triple and its main street, Colorado Avenue, will be packed with visitors. I’ve never actually been to Film Fest but hear the scene is undeniably cool, and my family got a kick out of spotting Ken Burns outside of our favorite burrito place (La Cocina de Luz) the other night.

As a quasi-local lifelong lover of Telluride, I can’t help feel some reverse snobbery and sadness that a lot of these festival-goers — like a lot of skiers who briefly visit in winter — miss out on some of the more authentic, historic and out-of-the-way treasures that make Telluride what it is. For them, I offer this alternative weekend guide to Telluride, with apologies to The New York Times Travel Section for copping its “36 Hours” format. (The Times published its own “36 Hours in Telluride” in January of 2005, which was geared toward winter activities and dining and shopping downtown.)

Friday afternoon: Arrive in Telluride. Got that? TELLURIDE, not Mountain Village. I have heard dear misinformed friends say, “Oh, I love Telluride!” and then reveal that they spent a week in Mountain Village over Christmas break, as though the two towns were synonymous. They are not. Mountain Village is an oversized, overpriced and soulless master-planned golf and ski village-with-no-sense-of-community carved into the mountain above Telluride in 1987 and connected to town by a gondola. Its collection of hotel-sized homes, high-density condos and massive lodges senselessly thrown up around ski runs and fairways follows a disastrous design aesthetic that mixes Swiss Chalet, Italianate, Rocky Mountain Logs on Steroids and Disneyland California Craftsman. Most of these dwellings are vacation retreats and consequently sit empty, contributing to a spooky emptiness and “For Rent” signs on many Mountain Village storefronts. The weirdness of the place inspired the utterly brilliant mockumentary Lost People of Mountain Village, a must-see for any Telluride Film Festival-goer.

(In case you’re wondering why I dislike the place so much: I remember how that mountainside looked in its natural state because I took care of a horse there in the summer of ’86 and loved riding where the golf course now sits, and every time I drive to town on Last Dollar Road, the exquisite view of Telluride is marred by the The Peaks Resort dominating the landscape. ‘Nuff said.)

So, back to Telluride midday on a Friday. Start on the corner of Oak and Colorado Ave., in between two famous historic buildings: the San Miguel County Courthouse and the Sheridan Opera House. Buy a crepe or falafel from one of the food carts if you’re hungry, and cross the street to soak in the scene at a grassy square called Elks Park. There, mounted on some boulders in the park’s garden and at other points around town, are plaques describing Telluride’s past. Reading about these milestone moments — involving the mines, the railroad, and the flip of a switch that lit up the town and successfully demonstrated alternating current for the first time — gives visitors an appreciation for the town’s colorful history, which has been shaped by forward-thinkers, risk-takers and boom-and-bust cycles.

Hungry for more info on the region, walk down the block to Between the Covers bookstore and cafe, a beloved local institution since 1974. Be sure to buy a copy of The Telluride Story: A Tale of Two Towns by David S. Lavender (shameless plug — it’s written by my grandfather, with an update by my dad). Then, walk one more block down to Fir, hang a left, and up two more to the Telluride Historical Museum.

My kids in front of the Telluride Historical Museum.

I simply love this place. It’s in the town’s old hospital, built in 1896, and takes an hour or less to tour. My favorite room there replicates the house and lifestyle of Harriet Fish Backus, author of the memoir Tomboy Bride, about living in the Tomboy Mines community above Telluride at the turn of the century.

Stretch your legs in the afternoon with an easy walk to and around Town Park (follow either Colorado or Pacific avenues east to reach it) — a place our family visits nearly every day because the kids love the fishing pond, play structure, public pool and ice rink. Here, on the field that stretches out below Bear Creek Canyon, big-name bands rock the park under blue skies or stars, making an unforgettable concert experience.

Morgan's snapshot of The Grateful Dead playing Telluride Town Park in 1987.

(I still consider seeing the Grateful Dead there in ’87, on a weekend of trippy planetary alignment known as the Harmonic Convergence, a highlight of my college days.)

Where was I? The Dead, ’87 … oh yes, Town Park. From there, take an easy walk, just under 2 miles, east on the San Miguel River trail (toward the end of town) and you’ll be on a path toward Bridal Veil Falls called the Idarado Legacy Trail, basically a bike path but a beautiful place to stroll, with more plaques about the area’s history along the way. If you’re up for a real run, hike, bike or 4-wheel-drive excursion, keep going where the pavement ends at the old Pandora Mill and continue up, up, up 1,200 feet of switchbacks to Bridal Veil Falls, where a 105-year-old, fully restored hydroelectric powerhouse sits perched at the top of falls that tumble almost 400 feet. (“That looks like the house from Up!” my daughter exclaimed when she first glimpsed the powerhouse). It’s about a mile and a quarter from the end of the Idarado Legacy Trail to the bottom of Bridal Veil falls, with spectacular views of town along the way.

Life is sweet on Telluride's main street! Here our family -- including my parents, brother, and sister-in-law -- eats ice cream from The Sweet Life on Colorado Ave.

Friday dinner: Telluride’s copious dining choices are too diverse to detail here, so I’ll mention just one favorite: Hongas Lotus Petal, an eclectic menu with a great atmosphere (upscale but relaxed) that bills itself as Pan Asian and mostly organic. I love being able to get inventive salads, Thai curries and high-quality sushi all in one sitting, and they have an appealing kids’ menu. Afterward, indulge in ice cream at The Sweet Life on Colorado Avenue near the corner of Pine.

Saturday morning: Get an early start because two of the best runs or hikes from town — Tomboy Mine and Bear Creek Falls — can get relatively crowded with weekend trekkers. Fuel up on bagels at Baked In Telluride on Fir Street, the best local bakery.

Morgan and the kids stop by Baked In Telluride for bagels and muffins.

Then choose either Tomboy or Bear Creek for a morning-long outing.

Tomboy: harder (5 miles one way and 2650 elevation gain), glorious views of town and the mountains, and you’re rewarded by arriving at the ghost town of the old mining camp (read about some Tomboy history and my experience running up there on an earlier blog post). You can go two miles farther up to reach the 13,114-foot Imogene Pass. The downside is you’ll encounter Jeeps and dirtbikes on this road since it’s open to 4-wheel-drive high-clearance vehicles. The trailhead is at the north end of Oak Street.

Bear Creek: easier than Tomboy (just under 2.5 miles, 1040 feet elevation gain and less rocky of a road) and in some ways nicer than Tomboy because the road is closed to vehicles and winds through a forest. You’re rewarded by reaching the gushing Bear Creek falls. The downside is you miss the view of town that Tomboy offers, but the view from the top of this canyon offers more than enough payoff to make the hike worth it. The trailhead is at the end of South Pine Street.

Saturday lunch: If you’re famished from several hours of high-altitude exercise, I’d recommend the Floradora Saloon on main street near the corner of Pine. The Floradora used to be a funkier local’s spot — a Western saloon version of Cheers — back in the day when a gregarious New York transplant named Howie ran it and my oldest sister’s friend’s stained-glass creations hung from all the walls. Like the town, the Floradora’s vibe and menu have changed — it’s as much Californian as Coloradan, with cosmopolitan twists (e.g. chipolte aioli and roasted veggies) on burger-and-fries standards — but being a Californian in Colorado, I can’t say I don’t like it.

Saturday afternoon: Carve out a couple of hours to read and browse at the fabulous Wilkinson Public Library, a 20,000-square-foot brick building at the corner of Pine and Pacific, which opened in 2000 after a referendum that passed by only two votes. With a calendar full of free movies and events, the place feels as much like a community center as a library. My kids spend hours in the children’s room there, reading in a treehouse-type structure or playing on the computer terminals. The upstairs Telluride Room is dedicated to regional history.

If you consider shopping a recreational activity and feel the need to spend money on Colorado Ave., then spend it at two venerable shops: Telluride Trappings & Toggery, and Zia Sun. The Toggery has been around forever (or at least 30-plus years) and still has the best selection of clothing and jewelry for women, men and kids — truly wearable, long-lasting, good-looking stuff. Zia Sun has a distinctive collection of toys, knick-knacks and cards and has always been more practical than touristy.

Whenever you’re shopping downtown Telluride, stop by and pay homage to The Free Box, an iconic institution at the corner of North Pine and Colorado. The “box” is actually a collection of cubbies full of free clothing and household items that people swap. Its proudly grassroots, good-karma tradition was tarnished in recent years when the corner became a dumping ground for unsightly bulky items like rotting sofas and broken appliances, but local leaders enacted some regulation to restore the balance and The Free Box lives on. (Read a lovely article about it by fiction writer Antonya Nelson, a Telluride native, in this month’s Smithsonian.)

Saturday night: As mentioned above, the fine-dining and bar-hopping options are plentiful, but after such a full day I’m ready to turn in early. A night at home with a take-and-bake from Brown Dog Pizza (110 W Colorado Ave.) and a six-pack of my favorite regional brew, Dale’s Pale Ale, bought across the street at Telluride Liquors, suits me just fine.

Bonus content if you have an extra half-day to spend. (Leave it to me to write the section below before realizing that would add up to approx 48 hours, not 36. Oh, well!)

Sunday morning: Drive down Highway 145 to explore the area known as Down Valley. The red-rock-rimmed canyon carved by the San Miguel River travels through the homey communities of Sawpit and Placerville. Stop at the Sawpit Store, 12 miles west of Telluride, for essential fishing and picnic supplies. Then, if you have kids, go a bit farther down the highway until just before you reach the town of Placerville, and on the left by the river sits Down Valley Park. A fishing pond, play structure, river trail and sports field satisfy everyone’s desires for outdoor fun.

Morgan helps Colly and Kyle catch and release a trout from Down Valley Park near Placerville.

Finally, a trip to Telluride wouldn’t feel complete to me without a picnic at Woods Lake, about a 9-mile drive from Highway 145 up Fall Creek Road. It’s hard to say what makes this lake so special — our family’s tradition of camping there no doubt influences my recommendation — but virtualy anyone would appreciate the serenity of the glassy water ringed by mountains among the aspen groves.

(Thanks to my parents, David G. and Val Lavender, who used to live in Telluride; and my brother and sister-in-law, David W. and Karen Lavender, who currently live in Telluride and teach at the local high school, for their input.)