Hey, hey! Today’s post is all about our most recent vacation to beautiful Telluride, Colorado!
Without meaning to, we’ve started a tradition of traveling the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Five years ago, we went to China then New York City followed by now three years in a row of skiing and snowboarding. We always get excited about vacations, but I think Andrew Shull gets extra pumped about this one. He LOVES being on the mountain with his family. I’m going to do a “Skiing/Snowboarding with your family Q&A” here in the next few weeks, so I probably won’t be answering some of the questions you might have today in this particular post, but don’t worry because I have all of your questions saved from my Stories last week and will go through and answer them soon. In the meantime, check out our first few days in gorgeous Telluride!
We left DFW on Saturday, December 28th and flew into Montrose, CO. We flew in, got our rental car and hit the road. Telluride is about an hour and a half outside, and we were anxious to get there. Over the years, Andrew in particular has snowboarded in some really beautiful places from Colorado to Utah to California and even Canada, but he said without a doubt, Telluride was the prettiest place he’d been for snow. It was STUNNING! You guys all know my cousin Casey, right? (Who makes the hair bows!) Her parents live in Telluride, so we’d always heard of it but had never been. Now that we have though, we will be back. This was us after we flew, drove and arrived. We unpacked our stuff and hit the snow. It was snowing when we arrived, which for us here from North Texas, made it even more magical.
I’m legit trying to take a picture of the four of them…Madeley is ignoring me and catching snowflakes on her tongue. Ha!
Because we have six in our family, we like to make dinner reservations when we can. Our first night, we LOVED our dinner at Smuggler Union! Casey and her husband Brandon (my cousin!) told us this was their favorite place to eat, and we actually loved it so much (the food, the location, the ambiance and the service) that we ended up eating her a second time as well.
Appetizers of popcorn shrimp and calamari with a Moscow Mule? Yes, please! For dinner, I had a truffle cheeseburger! YUMMY!
Awe! I love this sweet boy so much!!
(Side note: my hat is HERE and my coat is HERE…I wore it every day and loved how warm it was without being bulky!! Both things come in so many pretty colors!)
We love getting away with our little family.
The next morning, I found these two all curled up together 🙂 .
We slept great and then were up early the next day for skiing and snowboarding. Andrew made us breakfast every morning of the trip. I love all four smiles!
This cutie was so excited to ski this year!
I was so excited to drink a lot of coffee and read my books! We booked this trip (air and accommodations) back in April when I had zero clue about having a hysterectomy, so unfortunately, I had to sit this year out. Not going to lie…I loved it. I will hit the slopes next year, but I really did enjoy the relaxation this year. And yes, I’m still loving my new chunkier blardigan.
I got dressed every day and helped Andrew get the kids on the mountain and into ski school/off to lessons/etc.
This pullover is very picked over now that it’s 50% off, but you can still find it in some colors HERE and then my boots are HERE.
Baby, it was cold outside when we left for skiing!
In Telluride, they have this amazing gondola system in the middle of town that for FREE will take you up on the mountain and over the top to Mountain Village where all of the action is (i.e. ski school, lifts, restaurants, shops, etc). The ride only takes 12 minutes and is super, super, super convenient. We walked to the gondola, everyone got on (it’s enclosed, so it’s nice and warm) and up we went. When we arrived, we checked the two little girls into ski school (after chatting, it was determined that Ashby would be better off in a smaller, more advanced class than Madeley and not in the special abilities class). We played it day to day, but it worked perfectly! So, the two little girls went to ski school and then Kensington had a private ski lesson since this wasn’t her first year and she’s pretty good but needed a quick refresher. I would like to say two things: 1: The people who work in ski school are ANGELS who do not get paid enough for what they do!! and 2: Nothing makes me sweatier, more worked up, overly tired and exhausted as getting my kids situated on the first day of skiing. By the end of the week, we had an easy system and could do it effortlessly, but day one? It always kicks my butt!!
Off they go!!! I was so proud of them because they were both SO EXCITED and just went right to it!
(Side note, in my Q&A post, I’ll address all the questions about gear, apparel, lessons, etc!)
This left me with just my boarders. Andrew and Smith were dying to hit the mountain, so I said goodbye to them and started to walk to a coffee shop when an older gentleman instructor stopped me and said he heard me saying goodbye and that if I wanted to really treat myself, I’d walk down to this one hotel (The Peaks) and enjoy my coffee there. It was just enough off the beaten path that it wasn’t crowded, and it was PERFECT…
…I had a table with amazing views, tons of coffee, my Kindle and…
…the best Bloody Mary I have ever had. Ever.
It’s going to be sooooooooo hard to get out in -3 degree weather next year and ski with my family. Bahahaha!
Around noon, Kensington was done with her lesson, so I grabbed her…
…and we headed to meet the boys for lunch (the little two ate at ski school!)…
…this pic was texted to me from Andrew. He and Smith had a wonderful morning snowboarding together!
I love those two so much!
We enjoyed our lunch in Mountain Village right by the lifts at Black Iron Kitchen where we had sandwiches, soups and such before they headed back out for more skiing/snowboarding together. I went back and read some more where we were staying, tidied up, did a load of laundry and stuff before they all got back. As soon as Madeley Shull walked in the door, she said “I’m taking a nap”…
…ski school wore her out!! She slept for a bit until it was time for us to head to dinner.
Oh Telluride, you really are so beautiful! You are also not super crowded either…which I love!
We had a rental car for the entire week but only used it to get to Telluride and to get home. We never once used it besides that! We were able to walk or take the gondola everywhere which was so nice and easy!
Okay, when I said we were in Telluride, the number one place people suggested we eat was Brown Dog Pizza…which coincidentally, was on our list of places to try. Now, Brown Dog Pizza does not take reservations, so we thought we’d just get there early. We got there at 5:00…and they told us the wait was 3½ hours. Whoa. I mean…that’s a long time, but everyone said we should eat there, so we put our names on the list, gave them our number and then hung out around town and back at our place until they texted that our table was ready at 8:15. I know that sounds insane…but everyone suggested this place, so we wanted to try!
Up late, super hungry and happy to be eating dinner!
Now, I think we should try it again sometime because our experience wasn’t exactly the best, but I BELIEVE you when you say it’s really good!! Needless to say though, we got to bed later than we had expected.
Whew!
Okay, I’m going to stop there for today.
I hope you go and enjoy your Thursday!! Don’t forget, even though Mix and Match Travel Agency doesn’t plan domestic vacations like this one, we are always here to help you plan other trips (like Walt Disney World, cruises and international trips too!). See you guys tomorrow!! xo
