Bear Creek Lodge did not disappoint!

Our roomy condo with a balcony and a view!

We booked a condo at Bear Creek Lodge- it was extremely roomy and affordable and located just a short walk from the (Free!) Gondola. It takes 2 gondola rides from here to get to the town of Telluride but the whole thing is only about 15 minutes or so! 
Bear Creek Lodge was a beautiful facility- they had a wonderful, heated pool that we happily spent hours in. The room was enormous and the lobby had complimentary coffee, tea and hot chocolate and even a fun little kids' area next to the workout room. It's also right by a small market which was perfect for picking up snacks and even a light dinner. 

The path that took us to the gondola

crossing the street to the gondola

The first morning, we couldn't wait to explore! Now remember, this was a guys' climbing trip that we had tagged along for so the dads were gone all day long and it was up to me to entertain my own 3 plus 2 more kids! Luckily they are all close in age and all very adventurous so we stayed very busy and active! 
We headed down the beautiful path to the gondola. This particular morning we were excited to check out Mountain Village and the free climbing rock that is right in the middle of the village. It did not disappoint! 

My kids are actually seasoned rock climbers- so they had their climbing shoes and chalk bags. But this rock had something for all levels and ages so everyone was happy. They played here longer than I expected! Soon it was getting close to lunchtime so we decided to continue on to the town to look for lunch. 
   We boarded the next gondola which is a 12 minute ride down to the town of Telluride. The view is unlike anything I've seen, and I've been all over Colorado! 

I had looked up some lunch ideas- pizza was highly recommended but we decided to save that for dinner. The Butcher and the Baker was on my list as a great lunch spot with fresh ingredients and easy location. We popped in and even though it's small, we easily found a table to fit all 6 of us (they also have a small patio area with a little playground too. It did happen to be a brunch menu for the weekend so the things we'd already picked out online were not available but luckily the kids were flexible and we all found something to try! They had fresh yogurt and homemade granola, sandwiches, pastries, and ham and cheese croissants. They also had some great gluten-free options (that's my lot in life unfortunately!)
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Gluten free chicken salad sandwich- delish!

Once we were all full, we continued to explore the town. There's a park at the east end of town- to map it, just search for "Town Park". Since Telluride is in a box canyon, it is surrounded by mountains on 3 sides which is what creates such a spectacular view. We walked to town park and it was perfect! There's an awesome bike/skate park, a small dirt pump track, a city pool, a huge playground, a pond for fishing and much more! 

incredible playground

Views for days and room to run!

The kids played at the park for quite a while- they also loved watching the skaters. Eventually we made our way over to the parks and rec building where we were able to check out (for free!) fishing poles and bait to fish in the pond! This was fantastic! The view was amazing and the water was clear so they were highly motivated to keep fishing. We had several nibbles but no actual catches. Eventually it started to rain so we headed under the shelter near the park. By that time, the dads were heading back from climbing anyway and met up with us. We headed home to change out of our wet clothes and get ready for dinner. 

gluten free, all for me!

Dinner time- back to town! Once again, so thankful for the free gondola! We never needed the car the entire time we were here! We were definitely hungry for pizza- Brown Dog Pizza gets the highest ratings online but when we checked, there was nearly a 2-hour wait which was not going to cut it for us. We popped into High Pie Pizza, which is literally on the next corner and they seated 5 of us right away! I would highly recommend High Pie! It was delicious, fun atmosphere, and super friendly staff. Our crew was perfectly happy with a big pepperoni so I got a fun veggie pie- the Sundance- (gluten free) all to myself. It was so delicious! Headed back to the condo for a good night's sleep!