Category Archives: Uncategorized

Crested Butte, Colorado

Posted on by

IMG_2168

An easy town to live in, and a beautiful place to be. Not as glamorous as Telluride, but so much more relaxed.

Skiing: Crested Butte is a medium-sized mountain: smaller than destination resorts like Telluride, and larger than locals’ mountains like Hoodoo. The runs are short but there are many of them. There’s plenty of parking for easy access. The weather feels wetter than it was in the San Juans.

Camping: Multiple forest service roads welcome (or at least, don’t prohibit) ski RVing. The Forest Service brochure on winter recreation has a helpful map that summarizes winter access.

Work: The Old Rock Library has charming vintage architecture, friendly librarians, and cozy chairs upstairs. Since it’s a small building, there are no group study rooms for teleconferences. Rumors coffee house has plenty of plugs, organic coffee and tea, and friendly staff.

Dining: The Dogwood Cocktail Cabin has creative cocktails, appetizers, and desserts. The “absinthe minded” cocktail blends fennel, absinthe, and pomegranate to delicious effect. The Thai mussels are savory with just the right amount of spice. The Sherpa cafe feels homey and authentic. The Momo appetizers are tender and the Tibetan soup is rich and satisfying.  Izzy’s offers great breakfasts and latkes.  One morning while Izzy’s was packed, we wandering into Bacchanale and found the breakfast excellent.  The eggs baked with parmesan, butter, and cream were delicious, as was the vegetable turnover.  Prices were reasonable, and the line was short.

I already miss Crested Butte.  There’s so much more downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, and snow shoeing to be had in the shadows of the spectacular mountains.  And that’s just during the winter …

Came to Ski, Stayed for the Library

Posted on by

IMG_2144

… is the slogan of the Telluride Library. And the library much deserves the praise. The library is well equipped, beautiful, and hosts events far beyond the scope of a town of 5,000.

The entryway is dappled with rainbows from a series of prisms placed in clerestory windows. These are in memory of a past library director, keeping her presence and memory in the building that she developed. The rainbows bring happy memories of the film Polyanna, and bring smiles to library visitors.

The library benefits from Telluride’s active cultural festival programs. In a slow week in March, we benefitted from lectures from the hosts of the Mushroom Festival and Mountain Film festival. The director of Academy Award winning “The Cove” shared stories from the making of the film, along with advance clips of the forthcoming film “The Heist”. The leader of the Telluride Mushroom Festival spoke on using mushrooms as medicine and to bioremediate contaminated soil. All of this was free at the library.

The library also has an extensive collection of ski instructional videos, which helped us gain a PSIA level of skill over the week. The Clendenin ski method video offered helpful treatments for the “skier’s flu” (stemming the skis at turn initiation) and moguls videos taught us how to pole plant and pivot with the bumps.

Three group meeting rooms upstairs offer a warm, dry space for teleconferences. Residents can reserve a room, and visitors can “squat” an unreserved room. Since rooms must be reserved at least 24 hours in advance, we could usually “squat” a room by arriving first thing in the morning.

A few doors down from the library, the remodeled Baked in Telluride covers 3 meals a day. The library group study rooms allow covered drinks, so you can even take the coffee back to “the office”.

Hoodoo Ski Resort, Sisters, Oregon

Posted on by

On a clear day, you really can see forever. Miles of views at Hoodoo. We recommend the $19 lift tickets on “Tightwad Tuesdays”, the curving gullies of the Three Creeks ski run, and  the view from the Over Easy run. A beer at Three Creeks Brewing is a delicious way to finish off the evening. At the Best Western in Sisters, enjoy the view of the neighbors — Alpaca sheep.

IMG_2082 IMG_2080

Portland, Oregon

Posted on by

Some of our favorite places in Portland:

The Japanese Garden

The park in the Pearl District:

Il Galo Nero in the Pearl District. Authentic and delicious Tuscan food. The restaurant is owned by the Italian Embassy and a friend of ours.

Other favorites are the ADX maker space (Peter daydreams about moving in there. :-) ), the vintage arcade downtown, and the many good coffee roasters such as Heart, Northwest, and Sterling. We spent most of our time in bohemian and family-oriented NE district, Forest Park, the Pottery Barn-esque NW district, and downtown.

 

Eugene, Oregon

Posted on by

Beer tasting flight at Ninkasi

Track Town USA and the Emerald City. This is a geek-friendly and active town.

Some highlights:

A scale model of the solar system in the river parks

Well-equipped, bright, and contemporary library with nearby walkable neighborhoods.

Whiskey tasting at McMenamin’s High Street cafe.

Friendly folks at the Eugene Maker Space demonstrating a laser cutter build in progress, a 3D laser printer, and welding space.

A well-presented flight at Ninkasi brewery, followed by vintage pinball at Blairally arcade next door.

Expansive view of town from Spencer Butte. The Butte has a small natural climbing area of rock pinnacles with a surprising density of sport and trad routes.

A relaxing soak at Onsen hot tubs spa.

The recreation department leads family classes in white water rafting and snowboarding.