Telluride is one of Colorado's legendary towns, and its bluegrass festival each summer is one of the best in the country. We'd never been to either town or festival, so this year I got 4-day tickets and a campsite pass (in February, before they sold out!), and we planned to spend a long weekend there.
The trip ended up shorter than we'd hoped: Adam had trouble getting away from work and a drawn-out case, so we left a day late. Then Jonah, whose nose had been running like a train track for a week, threw up just before we entered Telluride. We changed his clothes at a pull-off next to a rushing mountain stream and rode into town in a car that smelled of vomit. Jonah was up and down after that - and his ups were fairly normal, while his downs were lethargic and full of sad moans - but when he threw up again the next day after breakfast, we knew we'd better leave early too.
So in the end, we didn't hear that much of the festival, but we were blown away by the beauty of the place. I'd always heard how beautiful Telluride is, and the San Juans are my favorite Colorado mountain range, but this town and canyon are unbelievable in person.
The first night, we stopped in Eagle County and spent our first night in a hotel room as a family of four. Isaac slept in a double bed with Adam (his first time without a bed rail), and Jonah slept in the other double bed with me. After the initial, hilarious excitement of turning out the lights and giggling in the dark, the boys did great. They slept through the night and seemed to love the adventure of it.
We arrived in Telluride the next day and set up our tent. Isaac loved being in the tent, and Jonah loved wandering around the campground and trying to open everyone's containers of water.
They were hard to keep up with at times.
After the second throwing-up incident, we still really wanted to hear some music, so we headed to the festival. This is the view just before you enter.
Isaac was loving every minute of our adventure, and we couldn't stand to tell him we had to leave already. There was a playground right by the festival grounds, and we hoped some playtime might cheer him up. He has turned into such a good traveler - riding for hours in the car without needing much entertainment besides a window and the passing rivers and canyons - and he is so excited to go new places now. We promised him we'd come back to Telluride, maybe even next year.
At first, the boys were happy to hang out and hear the music.
They even showed off their dance moves.
But then Jonah kept wandering off and trying to walk off with other people's things - old cups, a little knife...and he just wasn't himself, anyway. I could hardly tear myself away from the gorgeous canyon and the bluegrass (we even got to see cloggers!) and the atmosphere of it all, but we knew Jonah needed a lot of sleep and some quiet. So we stopped by the family tent on the way out - where our two boys practically fell over laughing at the puppet karaoke - and then went back to get the car.
The car was at the top of the mountain, and we had to take the gondola to get there. We'd ridden it down the night before, and the boys were enthralled. When we first dropped over the steep mountainside, Isaac's face was alternating between laughing and crying. Jonah was completely serious and told our fellow passengers that we were in an elevator. The next day, and for weeks afterward, Jonah has been saying "Again elevator!" He is begging to ride again. Isaac loved it too, once he got over the initial shock - he was old enough to look down.
The boys and I played on this little playground by the high school, while Adam packed up our things.
Isaac is getting so big and strong, so long and lean these days.
And Jonah...poor Jonah. It was so hard to leave, but this face says it all.
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