Friday we planned to take advantage of the natural beauty that surrounded us and go for a hike. But first, per festival routine, we headed into town, got a cup-o-joe and dropped off our chairs. Just as the day before, we managed to find a small strip of grass to meet our folding chair needs and a friendly fellow attendee who was happy to let us take the space in front of her tarp. 
Headed back to mountain village we disembarked from the Gondola at the top of the mountain and started our hike up "See Forever" trail. The hike started at 10,500 ft and climbed somewhere close to a little under 12,000 ft. To be completely fair I am not much of a hiking companion. Ive come to realize I much prefer faster exercise and find that on hikes it's truly a serious effort to look around at scenery rather than the unsteady ground beneath my feet. Give me a 6 mile run in less than an hour any day compared to a 2 me hike taking about the same amount of time. I undoubtedly sound like a major hiking party-pooper; however, I strongly believe in enjoying whatever physical activity you're participating in, heck, life is too short to do what you don't enjoy, but again I've gone off track. No pun intended. I tried my best for Jonathan, a guy who has hiked many a 13,000 ft peak in Colorado, and did enjoy the views we trekked up to enjoy. 
After our hike we changed, then headed into town for lunch and some bluegrass. Our company on the Gondola this trip was quite interesting. Across from us sat a young couple who, based on initial hand holding and newlywed glow, I was pretty sure were indeed recently wed foreigners; however, I wasn't about to say a word until the woman next to me, appearing to be in her early 70s nudged my side and said "I bet they're newlyweds". Turns out we were spot on! The couple was on their honeymoon having been recently married in their native country of Norway. As our trip continued and stories were shared we learned that the woman next to us had frequented Norway just after her marriage, having been sent for by her recent groom via telegraph. The short time spent with strangers along our many Gondola rides undoubtedly contributed to the richness and pleasure of our Telluride experience.
About the time we settled into our festival chairs and were enjoying a wine-sippy refill we got a call for our handy man in Phoenix, who happened to be tiling both of our bathrooms, that our air conditioner was not working properly and that temps in the house were nearing the mid 90s. Concerned for our kitties and our little casa we started making calls to air-conditioner repair companies in the valley hoping to find a reliable, and immediate fix. Sure, we were not too ecstatic about the price, but once we had confirmed that a repair person had resolved the issue and knew that our house was back too cooling down we were quite relieved and slipped back into vacation mode.
Seeing that at 9,000 ft a sunny, 82 degrees is pretty toasty, it made sense that the water station in the festival grounds became a bit of a children's water gun and and water fight play area. However, as strange as it may sound, this swimmer of 14 years isn't really too keen on getting wet outside a swim workout. That said, I got particular joy from ever so slightly defeating the soaking intentions of a little kid spraying me from about 4 inches away with his water-balloon. As I watched him, with his head down focused on spraying my waist from the tiny hole in his balloon, I said in my best monotone, "no thank you". He instantly ceased spraying me while slowly looking up at his unknown target. I smiled, or more likely smirked, as we made eye contact and he eventually scampered off. I honestly would never have guessed the level of self entertainment I would derive from my monotone speech to little kids, but I tell ya, the joy is near endless.
Seeking a break from the heat, and with time to spare until the next performers that we wanted to see, we headed to the nearby creek to cool down. Again Jonathan was far more adventurous than myself and would eventually cross from shore to shore while I remained seated on a rock, ever so delicately dipping my toes in the water. 
That evening we had the pleasure of hearing The Del McCoury Band, who performed fantastic, authentic bluegrass, followed by the evenings headliner, John Fogherty, which some may recognize better as the lead singer/guitarist of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Mr. John Fogherty, who is in his mid 60's, put on one hell of a two hour concert, complete with terrific guitar leads/solos and great singing of some CCR classics. As a side note, my dad just so happened to attend high school with John Fogherty who used to perform at his high school reunions. I dare say a Creedence concert might be the only reason to actually attend a high school reunion.
Two days down, two to go.
PS. Friday was also a good day for my camera and proof of good people. I had accidentally left my lens cap on the Gondola bench Thursday afternoon and thought it was likely a goner, however I lucked out and was quite relieved when the Gondola operator handed me my lens cap upon my inquiry!! 
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