Sunday, July 08, 2007

Random Bits

I'm lazy. Should have done this while I was on the trip, but here's about a week of random happenings:


Went to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Very cool town and very cool festival. Somewhat oddly, a number of bars in town had Bloody Mary specials. I wanted one from the place with horseradish-infused vodka but they had just run out. Might have to make a trip back for skiing. Since Telluride was totally sold out, I spent the night about an hour away in Ouray which was nice but a little tacky. Not too much going on there but it is totally surround by high mountains so there are great views.


There's not much between Ouray and Flagstaff. Silverton is a cool little town about an hour down the very winding road. Still has some (mostly?) dirt streets and a number of shops and restaurants/cafes/bars. Not much to write about with Durango or Cortez. The Four Corners site is pretty useless. It was just over 100 degrees and there were a number of tourists standing around deciding which state they want to stand in while having their picture taken. Probably could have skipped it, but hey, how many times am I going to be out there? (The answer after this this trip is probably never again)


Flagstaff is like a little mini version of Boulder. I think I could live there. It's in the hills so it's not as hot as the rest of AZ and there are pine trees instead of desert. Northern Arizona University is just south of downtown which gives it a nice college town atmosphere and keeps the bars and restaurants in business.


Drove from Flagstaff to Vegas so I could fly to San Jose for an interview. Had my mountain bike stolen off the rack on the back of my car while parked overnight at Tuscany. Probably should have had it locked up better. Returned from San Jose for a few fun nights at the Hard Rock.


From Vegas, I drove to Mammoth Lakes which is a ski resort town about two hours south of Reno. The drive took me on CA Route 168 which is a very twisty and hilly road that I can't really recommend. I did drive by a very small college I remember reading about in high school called Deep Springs College. Its location is pretty much the middle of nowhere. I suppose the closest airport is in Reno, but it has to be the least accessible college I've seen. Mammoth itself has some nice lakes and good scenery but nothing that made me want to run back there anytime soon.


Found an even more twisting and hilly road the next day in CA Route 108 going over Sonora Pass. Very scenic but not the easiest drive to do.