Telluride, CO

I had a couple of companies on the couch last night.  Lucy and Mr. Cat both slept with me part of the night.

 

Chelsea and I took Lucy for a nice walk around town, and then went back to the house.  She had to work at the coffee shop, and I had to get some skiing in at another new resort.  

{Chelsea's house in Telluride}

At dinner last night, I kept hearing about how great this "free box" was.  There is a big set of bins right off the main street in Telluride where people donate things they don't want, and they are free for the taking.  Apparently there are really nice things in there sometimes, so I had to go check it out. 

I didn't have any luck that trip, so I bought some new turquoise ski pants to make me feel better. ;)

Actually, my purple ones that go with my new coat got a little tight over the winter!  I swear they fit when I tried them on in November.  Maybe the whole not working out for three months in the Caribbean wasn't good for my waist line...or my wallet, because now I have new pants!

Chelsea, just like Jackie in Carbondale, totally hooked it up with a half off pass for skiing!  AND she has friends in a  rental shop that let me demo skis ad boots for free!  Seriously, Couchsurfing is just the BEST.

 

So I took the gondola up to the top, got all suited up, and then took off down the slopes!

There wasn't as much powder as there was in Aspen, but there wasn't a soul around. the runs were all freshly groomed, and ooohhh the views...

By late morning, a had a new ski partner. Dennis, my next Couchsurfing host, showed up to be my Telluride tour guide.  He knew the mountain like the back of his hand.  We went on some really fun, mellow runs (just how I like them) and he got me all the way to the top of the mountain for a picture!

After lunch in the village, we set off again for a few more runs.  With the sun out and the snow starting to melt some of the ice away, it was too good to stop.

That is the face of a worn out gal. Skiing all day really takes it out of you!

Chelsea was off work by late afternoon, so we took Lucy on another long walk.

The snow was just a little too deep...and my shoe was just a little too loose...

 

We hit the free box one more time, and look what I found!  Some K-State shorts!  They were kids...otherwise I totally would have taken them!

Chelsea had a hot date that night, so I was staying with Dennis.  We got some pizza for dinner, after which I just couldn't resist running in the middle of Main Street for an alpenglow sunset photo shoot!

Some self proclaimed and semi-drunk "photographer" came up to us and took some pictures on my phone.  He needs to practice up some before he goes around talking about how good he is at taking pictures!

 

 

The sunset view the other direction was just as good, and only continued to get better as we drove out of town and headed out to the natural hot springs 45 minutes away.

I didn't take my phone down to the hot springs because its as dark and cold and wet.  But it was such a fiasco getting down to them.  I slipped and slid the whole way down the hill in the mud, only to be greeted by three naked people in the springs.  I kept my swimsuit on, for the record.

And on the way back up to the car after several amazing hours of watching the stars slowly move by, I ripped a flip-flop and cut my foot so bad it bled.  AND I was freezing cold and wet.  Haha.  Dennis is lucky I didn't know him better or I would have let him have it for all of that.  But I had just met him and he was letting me sleep at his house for free...so I had to be nice. ;)