This morning, I woke up around 7 AM in Cortez and drove to Mesa Verde NP. It was a cloudy morning, but as I entered the park and ascended the Mesa it began snowing heavily. The visibility was reduced significantly, but it was still beautiful watching the snow falling. This continued for about 30 minutes.
About 20 miles into the park, I stopped at the visitor center which offered numerous ranger-guided tours of the cliff dwellings. Because the next ranger led tour began in one hour, I opted to just hike the Petroglyph Loop Trail, a 2.25 mile loop trail offering distant views of cave dwellings and overlooks of the canyons below. My favorite part of the trail was the view from the cliffs overlooking the green canyons. The solitude and vastness of the landscape was interesting to experience and take in.
After visiting Mesa Verde NP, I drove to Telluride. The drive was very scenic with many rural, former-mining towns along the way.
Upon arriving in Telluride, I drove straight up the Main commercial corridor until it ended at a parking area below a mountain. After asking a couple of hikers that were at the parking lot, I decided to hike the 4 mile roundtrip to Bridal Veil Falls.
Most of the homes in Telluride are older, well-maintained Victorian Homes. I would’ve expected to see primarily log homes, but due to the age of these homes (early 1900s) it might not have been possible at the time. The Victorian homes were all very detailed with multiple-tone paint colors and detailed woodwork.
Also, I walked the main commercial corridor in Telluride. I stopped by an electronics store and was fortunate to find a Macbook Air Replacement charger, although it costed almost $100. I began talking to the person (Frank Strachan) working at the store, who also happened to be a local real estate agent at Christie’s International.
We discussed the musical instrument store (business and real estate) for sale about a block away from the electronics store. The store was approximately 1,000 SF ground floor condominium and was asking $650,000 for the real estate and $450,000 for the business. Frank mentioned that average retail rents in the area are approximately $50/SF/year, but the musical instrument store was located on the part of Main Street which doesn’t receive much pedestrian traffic. Here are some other interesting facts based on my conversation with Frank:
- The least-expensive home in Telluride is over $1 million
- Small commercial properties (approximately two-story 5,000 SF on 5,000 SF of land), sell for at least $4 million as fixer uppers
- There are major barriers to entry because people opted to protect the land below Telluride from development, which leads to major supply constraints.
- Cap rates in the area are between 3-5 depending on the property
- Vacation rentals can provide a lot of income in the Telluride area
- During the summer, the weather is an average of 70 degrees, and there are festivals almost every weekend
After Telluride, at Frank’s suggestion I decided to visit Ouray, a non-ski mountain town near Montrose. Ouray has a main commercial corridor with local banks, speciality shops, and restaurants.
After reading a sign outside a restaurant I decided to visit Maggie’s restaurant, home of the “best burgers in town.” This ended up not being an exaggeration. I ordered a homemade Veggie Burger (with Swiss Cheese) at Maggie’s Restaurant which was amazing. By design, the interior of the restaurant is scribbled/graffitied with writings by customers, which adds to the laid back, easy-going atmosphere.
After eating the Veggie Burger, I visited the Ouray Hot Springs, partially to take a shower and partially to enjoy the hot springs. There were three separate pools ranging in temperature from approximately 50 degrees, 76 degrees, to 105 degrees. Considering the weather was in the 40s, it felt amazing to be in the 76 degree and 105 degree pools. The hot springs (and the whole city of Ouray) is surrounded by towering snow-covered, jagged Mountains which adds to the beauty and experience of the hot springs.
After chatting with a few people at the Hot Springs, I used the indoor showers and drove to Durango, CO. I tried spending 4-5 hours at Mcdonalds/Denny’s to catch up on some work, but was very ineffective. Morning time spent at Starbucks is much more productive because of the better atmosphere and better WIFI.
