So Long Sweet Summer....

I don't know if it's officially fall, but it officially feels like it. School is now in full swing, with no let up until Thanksgiving, Cami's in the thick of it at work, and another great Labor Day road trip has passed. This trip has to be one of the more memorable ones...for sure, especially since it was like 6 days for us! Combining work with pleasure Cami and I headed out Wednesday morning for Gunni. Gunni is one of those spots where you can't decide whether you would love it or freak out there. I mean, there's a hundred outdoorsy things to do, a cool college scene, you can ride your bike anywhere in town in less than five minutes...but then the majority of the town consists of trailer parks and rumor has it, it's usually the coldest place in Colorado on any given winter day (although I still can't believe that yet...ignorance is bliss). Nevertheless, with a whitewater park in town, world class climbing nearby, The Butte close, and good fly fishin'...well, nuff said.

Telluride, however is a different story...glam and glitz, but don't wear heels, you won't fit in...but do wear your designer sunglasses (key). Case in point...take a guess at the cost of the house in the pic here...keep in mind it's only two blocks from the base of the gondola, but still...

-----$640,000-----yeah, whatever, I'll take the route of ol' Joshu Mu and go for livin' in an old abandoned miners cabin tucked away in the mountains...check.

The film festival was on in Telluride so the place was definetely happening, but that still just couldn't take away from the beauty. The place looks practically Swiss in a lot of ways, especially with the mountains jutting up directly from the sides of town. Many things abound in Telluride,
including lots of activism




Old skis...













but some things are no longer there...

....whatever?

The meat of the trip came over the next few days as we toured our way through true Colorado Wine country, past the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (you don't even know these things are there until you stumble upon them on some scenic byway).

The amazing part, is the bottom of the canyon is still a long ways down in there...and it's churning with some of the most intense whitewater in Colorado...it's all self support in kayaks with poison ivy on mandatory portages.



That night we cruised the roads of Gunni on our bikes, enjoying the friendship of the locals (seriously everyone said hi, and I wouldn't have been surprised if we jsut invited ourselves to a barbecue and they wouldn't mind), visiting an art exhibit, and gettin' food at the the Gunnison brewery while they enjoyed their "funk party".

Then we got the real local tour the next couple of days with Ben and Bodie through Gunni and then Crested Butte. Nothing like great camping with good people, beautiful mtn biking in aspen trees, bouldering in the mountains, all with my wonderful wife. It doesn't get any better than that.

One more point to note: Slogars....sick! For only 15 bucks you get all you can eat of mashed potatoes, biscuits, cottage cheese, corn, relish trays, and 40 pieces of chicken! Seriously, have you ever seen 10 people rock out 40 pieces of fried chicken...nah, me either until that fateful night...I seriously felt drunk off the food intoxication...or maybe it was that sweet mountain air, filled with dirt kicked up from bikes, chalk off of bleeding hands, or the hint of fall aspen leaves in the air? Who knows, but so long sweet summer....

The Crew



And probably the most important part of the trip...about 5 minutes before this shot was taken Cami was bit by a rabid bee! Man, crazy stuff in the mountains!