Telluride in Summer

Little Victorian houses line West Colorado Avenue, Telluride's main street
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Summer Telluride is quite a different town from Winter Telluride.  When I visited in winter, the town was rife with skiers bundled in bright parkas, carrying skis as they trudged along the snow covered streets, ducking into a warm coffee shop or cafe. (http://realtravel.com/telluride-journals-j6601821.html)

Today, Telluride's afternoon temperatures were in the high 80s (30 C), and the people in the street wore flip-flops or hiking shoes with tank tops and shorts.  Gone, except for tiny north slope patches, is the snow that symbolizes and energizes this small mountain town.  Summer Telluride is not about snow.  Posters advertise the many festivals that mark summer weekends in the town.  In June, there was the Jazz Festival, followed by the Bluegrass Festival, followed by a Wine Festival; a Yoga Festival in July, and the Festival of the Arts in August.   Labor Day Weekend brings the famous Telluride Film Festival, and mid-September ushers in the Blues and Brews Festival.

Festival Town

This 1 BR/1BA cottage is for sale at $1.6 million. (Really, I checked.) Many of these old places are torn down for new houses that only look old.
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A glance up Colorado Avenue, past all the old Victorian cottages, shows the Bridal Veil waterfall, a favorite of casual hikers.  Telluride trails also lead to other waterfalls, high old mining towns, and to the highest concentration of 14000-foot mountain peaks in North America.  Summer Telluride is for hikers.

But I wasn't hiking today, I was on a quest for good coffee.  Sitting in my window seat at the Steaming Bean, I sipped a latte and watched the unchanging mountain high above the town.  Passersby glanced in, sometimes stopping for a beverage and croissant.  Dogs waited on the sidewalk as their owners ate or shopped.  In fact,Telluride is probably the most dog-friendly town I have visited; everywhere I went, people walked with their dogs.  In the Post Office, a small terrier yapped at the Postmaster standing behind the counter.  Its owner laughed and said the dog definitely knew who held the dog treats.  Sure enough, a dog biscuit reward silenced the little yapper.

The New Sheridan Hotel is about to become "newer" as a major renovation takes place this summer (2008.) The 19th Century hotel is as old as the town of Telluride. http://www.newsheridan.com/TheHotel/History.nsh
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Mindful of the "green challenge" (Telluride's voluntary challenge to reduce its use of plastic shopping bags), I carried my faux-canvas shopping bag with me as I walked in Telluride.  It nicely held the 3 pounds of coffee, a few bottles or wine, bread, and odds and ends I purchased during the afternoon.  For each reusable bag that crosses a grocery checkout counter, a 5-cent donation is made to a special Green Fund.http://www.sheepmountainalliance.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:plastic-bag-campaign&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

The Steaming Bean Coffee Company is a relaxing place to sip a latte, check email, and people-watch.
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Summer in Telluride.