Assuming there are still tickets available when I try to purchase them Monday, I’m going to be attending the Blues and Brews Festival in Telluride, CO from 9/15-17. Artists include The Robert Cray Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Gov’t Mule, Little Feat, The Jeff Healey Band, Elvin Bishop (sittin’ on a bail of hay. He ain’t good lookin’ but he sure can play.) and many others. On Saturday from 12-3 there will be a microbrewery beer tasting. Tickets for the whole three days are $90, with single-day tickets available for $35. Camping passes are $25 (that’s what I’m doing). If you want to camp with a vehicle, that’s an extra $50. For an RV, $75. This site can answer just about any question you have. If you want to go for the whole thing or just one day (Colorado Dopers may be interested in the one-day deal), let me know and we’ll work out plans for hooking up there. I’ll also probably do some early morning hiking, in case you’re interested in that too (it’s a good hangover cure). I, for one, plan to have a large time!
I can’t go, I will be in Glenwood Springs for my step-mother’s and her twin’s 50 birthdays. We are taking the train up there from Denver.
HOWEVER I was thinking (if they do this again next year) instead of Vegas over Labor Day weekend we could do the Coors Blues Festival in Breckenridge. It’s a damn cool resort town and I think all the Dopers would love the place. I spent about 30% of my growing years there and room rates jam. There are some as low as $25 per person; sorry to highjack the thread Strainger but just something for the World Wide Dopers to think about for next year. Oh – and I need to add this, my brother’s company is building a cabin/house up there so if it’s available you know where the Saturday night party will be. 
I will be calling them to find out if it’s a Labor Day annual thing.
Sorry you won’t be able to make it, techchick. The Breckenridge thing sounds fun although I’d probably have to buy plane tickets for that. Although, the room rates do sound appealing.
Back on topic: So…anyone else interested in the Blues Festival at Telluride?
Yes, very much so!
But I can’t for various reasons unless I win the lottery and quit my job. But here’s to hoping!
Strainger, I wish I could go if only to see what Telluride is like these days. When I was much younger, in the 70’s, Dad drove us there and it was a nice, quiet old mining town. It didn’t even have a ski resort! We camped out in the National Forest campground; I think it cost two dollars a day.
I hear it’s changed quite a bit and it’s getting so expensive now (like Aspen) that many long-time residents can’t afford to live there any more. I did manage to go through Silverton and Ouray recently; Silverton hasn’t changed much, but Ouray is becoming a resort town because of its natural hot springs.
You ever ride down the Million Dollar Highway (US550 from Silverton to Ouray) in a Greyhound (TNM&O) bus? There were a couple of white-knuckle moments there, lemme tell you!
Oh, come on, Omniscient, it’s just a job. Live a little!
jab1, sounds like you had some good times there as a kid. From what I hear now, it is a lot different. I’ll have to check my route to see if it will take me along the Million Dollar Highway.
Well, I have two friends (a couple) going so far, which makes me a third wheel. (This doesn’t include a couple more friends who will be joining me for the beer tasting on Saturday). Even though I have a nice big cabin tent, they want to bring their own. Imagine that! Looking on the bright side, at least now I’ll be able to bring up to 7 women back to my tent per night. In all seriousness though, I don’t want to be a space hog with the cabin tent. Yet my other tent is a backpacking tent that will only fit me, as long as I’m lying down. I may borrow a 3-4 person tent from someone.
I might have been able to get a couple more people to go, but they are mutual friends of my ex-girlfriend who are protesting the fact that I didn’t invite her (from what I hear, anyway). Yeah, that’s what I want to do – invite my ex-girlfriend along for a 4-day trip. :rolleyes:
Actually, I’m not too worried about the number of people who attend – even if I had to go by myself I would still go – but I figure the more the merrier. I’m sure I’ll make some new friends while I’m up there, though. (Oh, get your heads out of the gutter, people!)
Oh man, I’m jealous! And I’ll also be just missing you… SO and I are going to a wedding in Durango the weekend of 9/22, and we’re spending a night in Telluride at our favorite B&B on the way down. If I could get time off work, I’d go earlier and meet ya, Strainger. Have fun!
We tend to go to Telluride once or twice a year… for those of you who haven’t been there in a while, it’s definitely NOT a sleepy mountain town anymore. Very pricey, nice restaurants, foofoo furniture stores, you name it. One cool thing they’ve done is put a gondola up the local mountain that you can ride for free (at least in the summer… not sure if you have to have a ski pass in the winter) It’s about 2 blocks from the place we always stay, and last time we were there we must have ridden it 5 times over 2 days. It was sorta like whenever we have a free half hour or so, one of us would say “Let’s go ride the Gondola again!” It was kinda freaky to ride it at night. Great views during the day.
S’alright, Athena. Still hoping to see you in Scottsdale at the beginning of October.
Revisiting a previous hijack: In all seriousness, the Breckenridge thing sounds like a great idea, techchick. One question though – we wouldn’t have to drink Coors, would we? Would there be other choices?
I don’t drink Coors – ick – there is a cool brewery on the south end of town though, excellent brews.
Tech, there’s always Killian’s.
Strainger, sounds like fun but I’ll have to pass. I like the idea of making the Mountain States doper bash next year a camping trip.
If you’re coming from Arizona (I checked your Profile), you’ll come up from the south. If you go through the Four Corners, you’ll get to the town of Cortez, CO. If you have the extra time (five to six hours), go straight on to Durango, then turn north (left) and drive to Silverton and Ouray. After Ouray, keep going north and then turn west (left) and then left again and you’ll get to Telluride. Going home, you head west and then south back to Arizona.
Or, you could drive the reverse on the way home (Ouray, Silverton, Durango, Cortez, Arizona). However you do it, you’ll enjoy it, believe me. Unless you or your companions are afraid of heights…?
The Million Dollar Highway is quite possibly the most scenic mountain road in all the country. There are numerous versions of how it was named:
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It cost a million dollars a mile to build, back when most highways cost only a tenth of that.
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A million dollars in gold ore was recovered during the construction.
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A million dollars in gold ore is part of the pavement, too fine to be extracted by the methods used at the time.
BTW: I once tried to ride a motorcycle through that area during the last week of September, and turned back because it started snowing.
Snow in September. Being from Texas, I wasn’t expecting that.
Our second (now officially annual) Blues fest kust wrapped up here. I can only hope that next year we get some of the acts you mentioned especially Jeff Healy… I saw him this winter and he is just about as good as they come.
If I suddenly won the lotto I would seriously consider making that little trip down to Telluride…
Feynn, sorry you can’t make it. I’ll be sure to catch Jeff Healy though!
jab1, thanks for directions to the Million Dollar Highway and the information about it. I don’t know if I’ll have time for it this time around, but I’ll be making plenty more trips to Colorado, so I’ll be sure to go see it when my schedule is less tight.
Padeye, Killian’s?? Blaarghh! It’s the only beer I’ve ever gotten sick off of. It’s also the only beer a couple of other friends, both male analysis engineers (this is somewhat redundant), have ever gotten sick off of. Killian’s is evidently toxic to male analysis engineers, so I stay away from it.