Telluride

Telluride has to be one of the most beautiful places in the Rockys. We flew in from Aspen (which is gorgeous but not as beautiful as Telluride).

Our friend let his captain fly us over on his plane. The ride is only about 30 minutes vs. 5 hours in a car. It was very cool. This was my first flight in a private plane. My husband was bit freaked but made it with sweaty palms and all. Flying over Colorado and seeing each place is breathtaking. There is a desert area where u can bike ride on these hard packed down sand dunes. U can see it from the air. U wonder how did a desert form there?

When u land in Telluride, it is pretty wild. Telluride literally sits on a mesa in the middle of mountains so when u come in the plane swoops down and lands on a jutted out peak. Makes u feel like u are staying on top of the world.

I felt very much like a mountain girl while we were there. We took the gondola up to the "peaks" and had dinner at Allred's which is a restaurant, enclosed in glass, and jutting off the side of the mountain. The food was really good and the views were even better. The gondola is no big deal. It is very low to the ground and u almost feel as u are slowly pulled up the mountain.

The next day we went on a 3 hour hike up the Wasatch trail. Wow! There is a house that sits on top of an incredible waterfall. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Getting up there is hard enough, living there, that is a whole different ball game. The family that owns that house, the husband went to mining school and decided to buy that piece of property years and years ago right out of college. He then turned around the sold the water rights and electricity back to the town. Pretty damn smart.

Anyway, we walked up the trail. Beautiful views, incredible steams, blossoming flowers. I was waiting for Heidi to greet me at the top. Unfortunately we saw major clouds coming our way. I did not think explaining to our kids that we were hit by lightening was a very intelligent move so we immediately came back down to tree level. Then, it hailed. Hail as big as skittles. It was wild. We hiked it down and back into town where I walked around in barefeet because my shoes were soaking wet. In this town, noone cared. In fact, I fit right in.

Next day we took a 3 hour mountain bike. Again, incredible views. At one point you could actually fall 50 feet downward through rocks. I took quite a nice tumble over my bike but did not crash that far off the path. I'm feeling it today. Nice bruises. After a massage, dinner and a few glasses of wine...I'm was feeling fine.

I'm back in NYC again, breathing that good old thick air. A week out west was just what the doctor ordered. I must admit everytime I drive back into NYC from La Guardia/Kennedy or the Hamptons and our car goes up the small incline and u get the full view of the skyline, I always say "I love this town and thank god I get to live there."