freegrass'n in Telluride

Telluride has a full summer calendar- not just this year but every year. It's an expensive town to begin with so sometimes we skip these events- plus Bluegrass sold out months ago so it was an easy choice to skip out. Meghan and Sam got tickets for Yonder Mountain String Band on Wednesday and Friday passes at town park so they pulled into town on Wednesday with Kaya and Echo in tow.
We did hit some free Bluegrass events and also enjoyed the acoustics of the box canyon from above. 

Trout Lake and Balloon Festival

The dogs had their first serious swim day this weekend and enjoyed the frigid waters of Trout Lake. Both boys swam until they shook. It jumped from winter to summer in the span of a week and we're now enjoying daytime temps in the high 60's to low 70's and went from snowy days to sunshine.

This year marked the first that we witnessed the Balloon glo on Colorado Avenue in Telluride. We each grabbed a camera and captured the shots. Dave used the D100 and the tripod while I used the Nikon S6000 and just clicked away.

mountainfilm in telluride

this is the first mountainfilm that we've been able to share with a visitor and Sara dived into it head first. The festival still has another day to go but so far we've seen 26 flicks (anywhere from 4 to 80 minutes long each) on topics ranging from the climbing photography of Jimmy Chin to truck farms (seriously, only a guy from MA would think of a farm in the back of his dodge ram in Brooklyn)

We enjoyed some time down by the river between movies on the first nice weekend we've had all year.

And headed to town park for some movies under the stars with friends after the sun set with a few light sprinkles.

September, 16 days and 127 Hours

For some reason September seems to be a big month for Campchaos.... Four years ago we moved cross country, two years ago the tacoma was smushed and now as we ready ourselves to drive cross country for our wedding we find out we also need to move. We've gotten a new PO Box and a storage unit to hold us over until we return to Colorado in mid-October.  We've put our friends on alert and are following up on leads for new dwellings.
The next 16 days should be pretty busy as we move into the storage unit and pack for our trip. Hitting the road is going to be such a sigh of relief after all this. I can't wait to hit the Colorado/Kansas line and leave some stress behind.
This last weekend we were able to ignore our real life for a bit and take in the Telluride Film Festival. We saw 127 Hours which was dirrected by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionare) and told the story of Aron Ralston. In 2003 Aron was living in Aspen and hit Canyonlands in Utah for a long weekend. While on his solo journey through Blue John Canyon he dislodged a chock stone and became trapped in a slot canyon for six days. I had read his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place in 2004 when it was released. The movie told the story solely from Aron's perspective..... while you'd think this could be dull they did a phenomenal job. Kinda makes a wedding, a move and all the other stuff not seem so bad! We enjoyed the movie so much we saw it twice.

Phish in Telluride

Dave's favorite band of all time came to Telluride and in early April he camped outside of the Sheridan Opera House overnight in a snowstorm to get tickets for us and he wasn't the first in line, the local judge was.

Sam and Big Dave also hit town for the phistoric show and the boys made a big weekend out of it and had some good times at Alta Lakes, on the golf course and just puttering around town. Chaos and Mayhem even got to bring their friend Stella with them to the lake on Saturday and I enjoyed a walk around it with the three amigos.

The shows were on Monday and Tuesday nights and town began filling up during the weekend and some Phish folks even came early enough to partake in Telluride Jazz Festival.  The area was well prepared and the influx of 8,000 people wasn't too disruptive.
Phish Weekend Photos

My first Phish shows were filled with good people watching. I've been to a lot of shows in town park and most of the festivals have a very social aspect but Phish had the whole park moving and a huge light show that bounced off the canyon walls. The canyon provides great acoustics and Phish provided monster speakers. The gates opened in the late afternoon and the show started after 7:30pm as the sun began to creep out of the box canyon. I knew a couple of songs each night but really enjoyed the people watching. There were hippies, yuppies, babies and everything in between. KOTO did a beer booth but sadly New Belgium still doesn't have a gluten-free brew so it was off limits for me.
The first night was just Sam, Dave, Dave and myself while the second night had a whole crew. We lucked out and the weather held both nights from the rain that's been pounding us lately. It was a big week and I think we all could have used a weekend to recover from Monday and Tuesday... except for Chaos and Mayhem who had a few quiet nights at home while we hit town park. This weekend our couches are empty and we're looking forward to a quiet weekend at the Telluride Festival of the Arts and enjoying some gluten free beer at the Grand Tasting.

Didn't June just start?

We're making a point this summer to not go to all the festivals and events that Telluride offers. We've experienced most of them and we're now focused on taking it easy and making time for the simple things like camping, climbing, walking the insatiable pups and spending time with friends and keeping up with new gluten free products and trends. Like 2 new gluten free brews, when you've only had 3 total brands to choose from adding two is a really big deal. While being gluten free is getting easier all the time it still takes a lot of effort and planning to stay safe and has become a big part of life here at CampChaos.
a snapshot (or a few) of june so far


and climbing gets it's own show... though we should be climbing more...
the dogs love the bouldering spot as it's in the woods provides lots of places to play without much trouble



Oh yeah, we're also becoming event planners. Yes, it's happening this October and no, it's not going to be big, but it is going to be big fun. We haven't seen most of you since... and in some ways this is going to be a big reunion for us, plus it will be Mayhem's east coast debut. Just planning a simple Maine wedding from Colorado is a bit of work in addition to keeping up with our own work, play and puppy schedules.

Mountainfilm

Last weekend we balanced life at camp chaos between spending time with the monsters and enjoying Mountainfilm here in Telluride. This happens to be my favotire festival of the year and is full of good times during the four day event.
Click here for 2007, a bit more from 2007, 2008 , 2009 festival highlights.

From camp chaos

It's a big weekend and is always and inspiration. I'm not into fishing but loved the latest from Felt Soul Media film Eastern Rises (love all their stuff), was blown away with the composure of Alex in Alone on the Wall (I freak out on a small boulder) and enjoyed watching a young man come into his own during The Edge of Never. I saw a lot from Sender Films and hope to catch more as they air on Nat Geo tv.

I saw 7 movie blocks in four days and enjoyed everything from climbing films to movies on Everest and documentaries. I also saw my hero, Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all of the world's 8,000 meter peaks without bottled oxygen give a few talks as well. We listened to his book, No Shortcuts to the Top on a cross country drive and it's been a favorite on my ipod ever since.

Dave also met Greg Stump who made the Blizzard of Aahhh's over 20 years ago. In 2008 we were lucky enough to meet Glen Plake and have him sign it, this year Stump signed the case as well. Stump is a Mainah
and grew up skiing Pleasant Mountain (AKA Shawnee Peak).

Mountainfilm goes on tour and if it comes near you I'd highly recommend it. It will be in Portland, Maine on October 22.

During the weekend the pups were lucky enough to spend some time with Brandon, a fellow Mainer. He was headed fishing and took the boys with him. I don't think they helped his fishing effort but he enjoyed them regardless. We found them passed out in the back of his truck.

rest and recovery

Where to begin.... a road trip to red rocks, camping, gluten free slow cookers, dog adventures, blues & brews festival.... so much to catch up on and so little time...

Mountainfilm

A big river man.... Google it and see it! This is why I love mountainfilm!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

rainy camping and film festival

the labor day weekend has been home to the telluride film festival for the last 35 years. we hit one of the films at the festival and also camped out with a group of friends. Chaos even got to bring his friend Budo along for the fun. The afternoon sky was hard to read and we all decided to go despite the dark clouds above. We made our way to the same spot as the week before but with a bigger crowed.

This weekend we had 8 people and 2 monsters for a night in the woods. We had a great night and the rain held off until 2am at which point we (mostly) agreed that it was time for bed. Chaos was still ready for more action. He loves being around people and Alissa was on tail patrol to ensure chaos kept his long fur out of the fire and we were all on guard to ensure Chaos and Budo stayed away from our marshmallows. We did let them lick the plates to help keep scents down for the active bear population. Although I am sure chaos would warn us before a bear swiped through our tent wall to get to us and our smells of squeeze cheese, potatoes, hot dogs, chocolate and graham crackers.

Scott and Alissa even brought a glow in the dark frisbee for some entertainment. We found other fun too like chopping up the old downed trees for additional fuel for our campfire and making smores. The next morning I got up early and took the dogs for a walk in the rain. Chaos had slept with us and Budo had snuggled with Jared and Jess and Chaos definitely woke them when we grabbed Budo that morning! The monsters plodded along the road not noticing two elk 20 feet away from them. After the walk and some breakfast the soggy monsters help to wake up the seven other campers by pushing tents. Dave and Maggie even ended up with a small lake we dubbed "lake daggie" at one end of their tent. We all broke camp down quickly and made way to the blue jay for a warm breakfast.

Sunday we managed to get 10 of us all together for American Violet which premiered at the festival. It was stunning movie about drugs, corrupt politics and race in Texas. I wish I could tell you it will be in theaters soon but that's still unknown. The movie is based a true story and the family it was based on was in Telluride as were the director, producer and some of the actors including Will Patton who played the coach in Remember the Titans. It reminded me of that and also of a John Grisham flick with the suspense and legal drama.

where did june go?

this is where june went...

it was lost among all these tents and bikers... but we did manage to find some of june here...

Bluegrass weekend had camp chaos living up to it's name with 5 monsters and 5 people and 5 days full of music and sunshine.

The recap of june goes like this... 3000 people for one event with 36 hours of work in two days, 12,000 people for bluegrass and 5 days of music, 2000 bikers with more then 900 questions on where to eat lunch and what to do in telluride.

We still have another week of june to make it through with one camp chaos move to it's new location. I'm expecting to climb about 200 flights of stairs before the process is finished.

change of pace

Now that we're no longer worried about where to live we can focus in on the fun things again. My favorite festival, Mountainfilm hit town this weekend and we spent the weekend enjoying the culture. Last year Lynn Hill and John Harlin III signed my books and this year I found Jennifer Lowe-Anker and David Breashears to sign at the reading frenzy.



Work has an insane camera~ the nikon d-100. This isn't a simple point and shoot. it's a big monster and takes incredible pics. I had some good luck with it the other night and have taken some great doggie pics of chaos and his friends. It's pretty phenomenal to be able to catch the water droplets as they fly through the air.

Chaos has some pretty cute friends but they're not always easy to catch being still. The camera has the speed to be able to capture these monsters in all their cuteness. Here's some shots of chaos, mako and murphy being their goofy selves.

and the final festival of the season...

This weekend was the Blues and Brews Festival here in Telluride. This is the last big festival of the season and we're closing in on one full year in Telluride. Last year we came on the day after the festival was over with the caravan of the subaru, the tacoma and the u-haul with chaos and mu-nee kitty.

Dave worked with some folks from Summit county at a beer booth and was busy all weekend. I got a Saturday pass and hung out. This festival brings around 8,000 people to town park so there were lots of people to run into and chat with. It also has some incredible people watching.

Telluride Film Festival

Labor Day weekend and one of the more famous festivals~ the Telluride Film Festival. The highlights of this festival include people watching and free movies in the park. Last night we found a spot with friends among hundreds of others in our crowded little park and sat under the rain filled sky to watch "Into the Wild". We'd both read the book by Jon Krakauer years ago. Sean Penn just directed the movie that is going to be released so the rest of you can see it on Sept 21.

At times the sky opened up and dumped buckets of rain on us. We'd driven into town and had the tent in the truck so we grabbed our tent fly and ground cloth to help cover what our rain jackets couldn't. Props us lasting through the film go to our LL Bean rain fly. Also what better way to watch a movie (based on a true tale) of the wilderness then in the rain?

the return of river dog and finale of the festival

Bernadette, Roz, Lynn and Kit

This morning I got up super early and headed to town to listen to four "adventure divas". These ladies are not the typical "diva" they each rock in their own right and between them have accomplished a lot, a solo row across the atlantic, visiting the poles, free climbing el capitan in less then 24 hours and skiing all seven highest summits.

I've read Lynn's book Climbing Free and had been hoping to see her at the book signing yesterday. It didn't happen so today after the presentation I lingered like a dork with my book in my pack. She was very gracious and chatted for a moment and signed. I walked away pretty psyched to have a book that I loved signed by the author... I've read it a few times.
This afternoon Dave hit the skate park in town park and I took Chaos to play in the river. At home Chaos loves to play ball in the living room but outside he's easily distracted so we let him become river dog again. On our way home from the park we stopped at the market in town. We were walking in and I spotted Lynn again- not wanting to be a stalker I walked on into the market. While wandering looking for honey I ran into her. She remembered my name and we had a small conversation about the location of pesto and the fact that her four year old son loves pesto! Silly I know- but she remembered my name and was super nice.

our first telluride festival...

So it's finally here- after eight months of living in Telluride we've been to our first festival. Mountainfilm kicks off the four month long festival season every Memorial Day Weekend. The festival is in it's 29th year and I can see why it's such a long running festival. We've attended films, lectures and even an ice cream social plus enjoyed the new ambiance around town. Pray flags adorn the town and people scamper around with festival programs making their way to one of the four venues to see the next event. Sometimes the lines are enormous and sometimes you walk right in. The programs are intense and range from notables like Kit Delauriers who was the first person (and a girl to boot!) to ski the Seven Summits which are the highest points on each continent to David Breashears who filmed the IMAX film on Everest during the notable(and deadliest) 1996 season. I met John Harlin III who climbed Eiger 40 years after it killed his father. We had gone to the presentation and I bought the book and had it signed. Last night we enjoyed some free Fat Tire and watched the 1974 Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood. I think this may turn out to be my favorite Telluride Festival. I like the people this one brings in. It's pretty cool to be surrounded by folks who have some very impressive resumes.

Mu-nee in our herb jungle and Chaos cruising in the truck...