Friday Sept 11 (a day we all remember)

"MANDY AGAIN" I hear you say - well sorry (there is a sign in a Durrango shop which would make for a perfect response to any comments like that - and we girls like to use for each other when there is a little bit of whinging going on.)

Anyway I will get to what we have done today. Early start for everyone this morning - Angela was up at 0500hrs and the rest of us weren't too far behind getting up between 0530 and 0550. It was a cold morning - recording under 0 degrees Celsius.

We left Gunnison at about 0700hrs and after quite a few photo stops on the way we arrived in Glenwood Springs at about 1030hrs. On arriving at Glenwood Springs we had the great fortune to go white water rafting - which was sooooo much fun. Of course a couple of us - played hard at the rafting and suffered nearly deadly injuries (joking - I had a fingernail bend back quite a way and it was bleeding for the rest of the trip and Angela hit the deck on the rocks before getting in the boat - slippery shoes. But battle wounds always make you look tougher than the rest - of course that is after the event).

After rafting we all experienced hypothermia whilst sitting in our wet clothes having lunch -because all our 'after rafting warm clothes that we had set aside' - had been dropped off at our host houses so we had nothing to change into - (Steve you had to know we couldn't do todays blog without mentioning that!)

After lunch we went our separate ways - Angela did a vocational visit, Emma and Michael went off for a tour of some caves and I didn't do too much but relax. At 5pm Angela and I took the tram (gondola) up to Glenwood Caverns - adventure park. We went on some cool rides up there (a roller coaster type thing and a swing thing that you get strapped into and then you go back and forward over a canyon (this was definitely worse than the roller coaster thing.)

It was the opening of the District Conference at this location so we caught up with a lot of people we have stayed with or met on our travels, and we also participated in the flag ceremony.

Anyway we have a busy day tomorrow and I am sure you have heard more than enough from me it the last week (I think I have done about 4-5 posts on this current page which is just over 1 weeks worth of blogs). So it is Mandy signing off for at LEAST 4 more days.

My time in Gunnison

Ang Says: Vocation day again, I went to visit Six Points they have a thrift shop and have 15 consumers that access day options, accommodation, open employment and supported employment, this organisation is funded by Federal, State, local and donations. The case manager Pattie showed me that they charge by a unit which sounds like a lot of work for me, after spending the morning with Pattie I walked down to the main street to get a well earned coffee and rang my host mum Bev, Bev said she knew the place and was on her way.
The ongoing joke with the team is that I fall asleep anywhere, well this is not far from the truth, as I was sitting on the chair waiting for an hour for Bev, I was feeling sleepy and struggled not to fall asleep in the main street, finally Bev picked me up after going to every coffee shop in town....but that ok Bev struggles with the same problem.
We had lunch and spent the afternoon window shopping, the Tee shop was generous enough to give all the team members a couple of T-shirts compliments of the Gunnison Rotary club.
Tonight has been very entertaining as Dave and Bev have been wonderful hosts, Dave has a great sense of humour, he got me to try pinon nuts, I said Dave how can you eat these there crunchy, he said you have to crack them first ..Ha ha will have to try that on my team mates tomorrow..

Assessing - Colorado style!

Emma says: Due to a breakdown in communication (lack of cell coverage for most of us!) you are getting 2 blogs for the price of one! As Ang mentioned, today was a rare day apart for the team today as we all headed off for vocational visits.

My day started at 7am with an hour walk with my host Gail, around her home at Eagle Ridge Ranch. Gail and her husband Lee bought the ranch in 1993 and broke it up into 15 smaller parcels of land of about 35 acres each. Today it is still a working ranch owned by 15 owners each with their own parcel of land and residential site. A number of common amenities exist for the owners including two miles of live trout stream fishery on Ohio Creek, fishing pond, two mountain cabins, barn, corrals, and equestrian facilities. The ranch is conservation protected to preserve the integrity of the ranch, ecology, habitat and aesthetic values of the property. The ranch has been and will forever continue to be used for ranching and recreation purposes.

It truly is the most spectacular place and I have really enjoyed staying here.

But come 9am it was time for work. I spent the day with the County Assessors office Gunnison County and had a brilliant day (no, really!). I spent the morning in the office talking valuation with County Assessor, Kristy, and Assistant Assessor, Vicki. I learnt a lot about how titling records are kept in the County offices and also visited the Planning Department where I spoke to Neil.

After lunch with Kristy and Vicki (fabulous black bean tostadas!), I then headed off with Don and William who took me on a tour of some of the incredible properties in the county around the Crested Butte skiing area, while we discussed the common issues faced by those who value for property tax/rating purposes. It was a very interesting and indepth discussion. We also got to meet with John, who is involved in potentially developing part of Mount Crested Butte into an area called North Village. This development incorporates many of the New Urbanist principles I saw at work in the South Main development in Buena Vista (outside Salida). A really great vocational day

And I can't leave you without an update on the media frenzy surrounding GSE in Colorado. Another highlight of the day for me was being interviewed for the local paper - the Gunnison County Times. I spoke to Michael this arvo and he had the same experience, but Mandy and Angela were not interviewed (clearly they have been holding us back!). Anyway, the paper is published weekly so we'll have to wait til next week before we can see who made the front page! Still this is only small consolation after the humiliation of Montrose choosing to put a photo of a leaf on the front page of their paper during our visit (the leaf was beginning to change colour and therefore heralding the onset of fall...).

Off to District Conference in Glenwood Springs tomorrow with a wake up call on the wrong side of 6am - nasty!

Angela was going to say - BUT the USB won't work so MANDY says 09/09/09 (cool date)

Welllllllll this isn't exactly how it was meant to happen. Angela has given me her USB with her blog but it isn't opening on my computer for some reason, sooooooo instead I will talk out my day and upload her picture which hopefully she can tell people about tomorrow.

So today again we said goodbye to our hosts - sadly again - thanks to Montrose Rotary club for great hosts and a great time. I personally learnt heaps from my stay and a HUGE thanks to Emily and her son Eric for talking to me last night about American football, American sports, college and American culture - which was really wonderful and I am so thankful for their time in talking to me about such things.

Anyway today we drove onto Gunnison and arrived at midday. We then moved onto our host address for a couple hours to settle in and have lunch. After lunch Michael, Becky (my host) and I made our way up to Emma's host (Gail and Lee). What a fabulous house - where we were able to fish (AGAIN no fish for me, Emma or Michael) but we certainly had some fun while we were out there- perhaps not all of the time was spent fishing.

After fishing we returned home and got ready for a night out up at Gail and Lee address at 1730hrs. The night was fantastic - pot lunch dinner which proved to have great food on offer again - LOTS of salads which was great.

Anyway Angela was with us on our travels to Gunnison she was also with us for Dinner - but in the meantime I believe she went on a 4wd drive where she came across snow (lucky bugger) - which is what the photo is of.

So sorry for the quality of my post - I am sure Angela's would have been heaps better - but I have tried to fill the gap, hopefully it will do.

Michael 7th & 8th Sept. at Montrose

Monday the 7th Sept. started at 9am with a long trip to Gateway a town started by the owner of the Discovery Channel to see an auto museum, the trip took us through Red Rock Canyon, this canyon is spectacular this cliffs on oth sides and a road and river sharing the floor at time the road is high above the river to give a vantage point to look down on the river. the Spanish were the people who came up from Mexico to explore the area. Then mining started in the area and water was very important and so an engineering marvel was created to allow water to be channelled along the sides of the cliff several hundred feet above the floor of the canyon it allowed the water to be quickly delivered to the mine site. Lunch was at Gateway then over to the museum to look at a fantastic display of vintage and classic cars. The return home was via whitewater.

Tuesday 8th Sept.

An early start for Mandy Emma And me as we went fly fishing in the Gunnison River which is at the bottom of a very very deep canyon, the road down was something else, but what a place, fast flowing river, very step sides. We did not have a great success at fly fishing but fish were caught. The presentation to the Montrose Rotary Club was interesting with technical malfunctions made for an interesting times but very well received, after lunch of to see some petrogylphs, with Dick Manhart. The Nth. Ute Indians lived in the area and recorded there Law and information on food and water by chipping designs into the rock, having the designs explained made all the difference to what we were looking at.

Late addition to Saturday Post - Mandy

Wellllllllllllllllllll we were on fire yesterday that is all I can say. During dinner I declared my intentions to go watch the 2300hrs Australian Film Samson & Delilah which was showing up in the Mountain Village - Emma said she would join me and it was a date. As our departure time drew closer Angela decided she would chaperon us up to the Mountain Village. After sorting out what we needed to do as far as tickets (which was wait and see how many festival ticket holders turned up before any purchased tickets could be made) we headed to the bar for a quick couple drinks. Welll the scout sensers where definately ON and who do we find in the bar the Producer, Director and stars of 'Samson & Delilah.' All were really nice people and we able to have a chat, and get a photo with them. AND they gave us free passes to the movie (BONUS - that saved us a couple $$$$$). Anyway Emma and I really enjoyed the movie and returned to the condo at 0130hrs to find Angela asleep on the couch (AGAIN!!!!!!). So after waking her up and having a chat the ligths didn't go off until around 0230hrs.

Close encounters of the celebrity kind!

Emma says: Not my turn to blog but Mandy and I have had a fun afternoon so I thought I'd share. Since arriving in Telluride we have been hot on the trail of the many celebrities in town for the annual film festival. Our venture out last night to the Opening Night Feed in the main street only increased our appetite, especially after my encounter celebrity film critic Leonard Maltin!

Anyway, as it turns out, our 'host' here in Telluride, Marilyn, went to high school with Helen Mirren's husband, Taylor Hackford. As it turns out, Helen Mirren is in town for the festival and was doing a 'conversation' session here in town today. So Mandy and I trundled into town with Marilyn this arvo and hung around the local courthouse where Helen would be speaking. It was a very exclusive affair with only 90 places available and most of these went to patrons of the festival. We were lucky enough to have a contact that couldn't get us into the event but got us close enough to get some photos (see right) and to get an autograph each! Helen Mirren was lovely and very accomodating - and Mandy and I were stoked!


To top it off after our first celebrity encounter, Mandy and I went for coffee with Marilyn further down the main street. Here we ran into Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame (the group that sang 'Puff the Magic Dragon'). A quick photo and another autograph later, we let him go, content with a good afternoon's work on the celebrity hunt.

Tonight, the team are enjoying a night in with Ang cooking us a roast chook - yummo! We need all the energy we can get as we've heard that Nicolas Cage is in town so he is our target for tomorrow!

Tomorrow afternoon we leave the bright lights of Telluride bound for Montrose...