Southern Colorado Part 3: Telluride

The three hour drive from Farmington, New Mexico to Telluride, Colorado is so beautiful! The road winds back and forth through and over the San Juan Mountains. While we were still at relatively lower elevations, the Autumn colors were out in full, but as we climbed higher and higher towards our destination, we saw that many of the golden aspen leaves had already fallen. 

We had made a reservation at Mountainside Inn because it is dog friendly. And, since we were meeting and splitting the room costs with a married couple friends of ours, we could afford to splurge on the room. We like to travel cheap so that we can travel more. 

Keith and I arrived and checked in a few minutes before they arrived. Then we all relaxed in the room for a while, catching up and allowing Luna and their dog Ellie to become acquainted. 

Because we had all skipped lunch and were quite hungry, we went to Smuggler Union Restaurant and Brewery for an early supper. The town itself is a classic mountain ski resort town with a main street full of shops and local restaurants. A river winds its way through the town, and we were lucky to find a scenic path that ran straight from our hotel, along the river, and to the restaurant. 

That night we were all exhausted and went to bed early. Keith and I slept on the pull-out sofa couch, which was much more comfortable than I was expecting. Luna shared the bed with us. 

The next morning we chose to eat breakfast at Ghost Town, a coffee shop that also serves food. I had sourdough toast with avocado, lime, and habanero chili salt, as well as a green smoothie. It was very good. Since we were heading straight to our hiking trail after breakfast, we had the dogs with us while we ate our food at the outside dining area.

It was just a few minutes walk from downtown to the Bear Creek Falls trailhead. As we started out, we hardly saw anyone on the trail, although that increased throughout the hike. Parts of the trail were very steep, but the views were incredible. It was quite chilly during the beginning of our hike since the mountains blocked the sunshine, but since the day was perfectly clear and gorgeous, it warmed up as the day went on. 

We let Luna off her leash several times during the hike (only if there were no other hikers or dogs in sight), and she did really well. She’s starting to learn that if she obeys us she gets more freedom. And it only took three years to get to this point. 

We were only planning to hike to the lower falls, but when we got there we found that it had dried up. So, on the recommendation of hikers on their way back down, we kept going to the upper falls. And man, was it worth it! Green and mossy rocks surrounded a secluded waterfall with a clear pool at the base. 

The hike back down the mountain went much faster, and I even warmed up enough to just be wearing my t-shirt. Once we got back to town, we stopped at Beaver Pond and took some really beautiful pictures before heading back to the hotel. We dropped the dogs off there and returned to Ghost Town for an early afternoon snack to hold us over until supper. Then we walked around town and went into a few shops before giving in to our hunger and having another early supper. 

“This didn’t even feel like a photoshoot! Bree did a great job at making my husband and I feel comfortable and it was so much fun. She was even able to get my dog to pose! We are so happy with the end result!”

– Kim + Jair

We had planned on eating at Brown Dog Pizzeria (on the recommendation of several of my coworkers and fellow bloggers), but they were not open for dine-in due to COVID. So we ended up at High Pie, another pizza place just a few doors down. Keith and I got a mushroom pizza (our favorite go-to). Then we returned to the hotel and played Phase10. Keith and our two friends all TIED for first place (I’ve never seen a three-way tie before!), and I won second place. We were all so exhausted that we fell right asleep. 

Sunday morning we woke up to a cold gray sky and were so thankful for the amazing weather the day before. While we ate our third meal at Ghost Town, it even started to snow on us! 

As much fun as we’d had in such a beautiful town with our good friends, the bad weather made it a tiny bit easier to pack up and say goodbye.

I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a couples/intimate wedding/elopement photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook to get updates on future blog posts, see sneak peeks of my amazing couples, and so much more! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!

*If you’d like to subscribe to my blog so that you won’t miss any future posts, enter your email and click the button below!