Telluride, Colorado

    I know I said I was in love with Keystone Resort. Well I still am, but I've been hitting the slopes of Colorado for a few months now, and just when I didn't think they could create a more beautiful resort, they did. Powder like Champagne, The Most Beautiful Commute in America, Golden Door Spa, and a House in the Sky. Telluride Colorado really, really has it all!
    Founded in 1878, Telluride has a history as colorful as the Victorian homes that line its streets. Originally named Columbia, the fledgling town was forced to change its name in 1887 due to post office confusion with a California mining camp of the same name. After that, Telluride started to earn its own place on the map as a budding mining town.
    Most say the town is named after tellurium, a nonmetallic element associated with rich mineral deposits of gold and silver. Others say it originated from the castaway call "To-Hell-You-Ride" shouted by loved ones that knew of the town's boisterousness. Either way, folks were attracted to the young town full of promise and opportunity.
    Nestled in a box canyon surrounded by majestic, 13,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains, the Town of Telluride is filled with colorful legends, over a century of history and Rocky Mountain spirit. Just six blocks wide and twelve blocks long, the National Historic District is a window into the town's illustrious past and a showcase of spirited individualism and community pride.  It's also a delight to explore, with its colorful Victorian homes, clapboard storefronts, boutiques, art galleries, bookstores, gourmet restaurants, historic buildings and much more. The heartbeat of an illustrious past lives on in Telluride's present...and its future.
    Nearly 5,000 people inhabited Telluride at the height of the Gold Rush, and more millionaires (per capita) lived in Telluride than in New York City at the turn of the century. The Tomboy Mine was one of the world's greatest gold producers and over $360 million dollars of gold was pulled out of the mine during the rush. The wealth of Telluride attracted the likes of Butch Cassidy, who began his illustrious bank robbing career in town. In 1889, Butch walked away from his first heist at the San Miguel Valley Bank with $24,580, never to be recovered.
    The 1950's brought a mining bust and in 1953 many of the area's mine's shut down and Telluride's luster faded into a sleepy ghost town.     more >>