To-Hell-U-Ride

So it has been a week since my return form Colorado and it has been a busy one. My wife, “the blogger” has been bugging me to write a post so you all can understand the “Festival”!

It was my sister’s (SILAdventure) 30th bday June 19th and I told her I would party with her no matter where it was. We ended up in Telluride, CO, for the 37th annual Bluegrass Festival! This was actually my second Bluegrass Festival, I went in 2002 on my drive out to AZ when I moved there. I don’t know why people say “To-Hell-U-Ride”, because this is the most beautiful place in the lower 48.

My trip started out with an early morning flight on Sunday where I met up with Uncle SlickG in Newark and we made it to CO at about 12noon. We met with SILAdventure and DocDoc and had lunch. We went shopping and packed up the car for the start of the trip. Before leaving Denver Monday morning, Uncle SlickG wanted to hit the Buckhorn Exchange, the first steak house in CO and the first establishment to be granted a liquor license. Yep, they have liquor license #1 hanging above the bar! SlickG saw this on the travel channel and it well worth it.

We hit the road the next morning to head south, but not to Telluride yet. We went to Mancos to camp in an old fire tower. The drive to Telluride/Mancos is about 8 hours and by camping in the fire tower it put us within an hour of Telluride so we could ensure an early entry on Wednesday and get a good camping spot for the festival.

The Fire Tower was sweet!!! It is 70 feet off the ground with winding stairs. There is only one day a year you can make the reservation to use it and we were lucky to score the stay! SILAdventure had some problems with the stairs, but soon got the hang of it.
We spent the days hiking and the evenings staring out the fire tower’s windows at the vast amount of land, the sunsets and the stars. This fire tower was in the middle of nowhere, so it was quite unexpected that in the middle of the night during a bathroom run we came across a dog sitting at the base of the tower, scaring the %$#* out of us. After some calming down and realizing we were not in a Cujo movie, we found that the dog had tags and we made some calls. No answer but an hour or so later, we saw a car coming up the dirt road and as I approached the driver asked have you seen my dog. They lost it hiking earlier in the day. A happy ending!We arrived in Telluride Wednesday morning and got a sweet camping spot right next to the concert grounds so we could hear the music no problem from our site. SILAdventure had about 15 of friends come join us for the Birthday week. People came from Maine, Vermont, California and lots from Colorado.
The week was magical!!! No rain, in fact very little clouds and just sweetest music ever. Four days and nights of Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Allison Krauss , Bela Fleck, Lyle Lovett and much more. I found new favorite band, Mumford and Sons, be sure to check them out. Early in the morning, we would line up for the "running of the tarps" in order to get a spot on the lawn to see the shows (I tried uploading a video unsuccessfully). The music lasted from 10am – 11pm, then we would hit the famed night grass late shows that would be a who’s who of musicians. SILAdventure had a great 30th Bday and she enjoyed it to no ends.
If you have never been to Telluride or the Bluegrass Festival, I urge you to put it on your bucket list. This place is paradise. When I hit the lottery, you are all invited to my chalet, cabin or even mansion.