Alex and I are getting into the habit of exposing our little girl to an eclectic range of music.  While staying in Silverton, and with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival just over the range, we couldn’t resist a little day trip.

I rode my bike, Alex drove.  She beat me by about 10 minutes, but I think I had the best view:

One thing that we learnt from the festival was that we are definitely Indie Rock fans at heart. That said, I still enjoyed seeing Lyle Lovett do this thing with his “Large Band”. Also on the bill were Sam Bush, Peter Rowan, and some of the Dixie Chicks.

Telluride is a beautiful setting for a festival. The sun, however was harsh at that altitude turning all the crowd red by evening when the chill came. We decided to leave at the end of Lyle Lovett’s set, to beat the crowds out of the valley. That would have been a cunning plan except I was hungry, fancied a drink, and we hung out in our favourite Italian restaurant/bar for long enough to queue for the gondola with all the patrons who had stuck it out until the end.

I may have said that we learnt that we are Indie Rock fans at heart, but we both (all three?) enjoyed the day, the festival, the views, and the vibe of Telluride in the summertime.

Alex and I are on the road for a week. We’ve driven over to Colorado from Palo Alto.

Right now we are staying in Silverton, in Mark and Sarah’s caboose.

We will have plenty more blog posts from this trip when we get home. For now I will write about my ride yesterday because I am sitting in the sun at the end of the caboose looking at it.

When we arrived in town late yesterday, Alex suggested that I ride up Kendall Mountain (see pic) I thought it was a stupid idea so I did it. It’s a tough climb up a rutted loose road from 9300 to 13066 feet (3982 metres). At the top there are still snowdrifts across the road so I had to get off and push my bike over them.

The very top has no road which required a hand and foot scramble in bike shoes. I made it, spurred on by not daring to disappoint My fiancée.

I reached the top just in time for sunset and the most amazing view which I won’t share with you because I didn’t pack a camera (nor enough water).

The ride down in the quickly fading light i.e. dark was not too much fun. I returned into Silverton at 9:30pm, a full half hour before Alex was going to send her own rescue party, and too late for dinner at the POW, though the drinks were still flowing.