Testing the Waters to see if we are possibly employable again.
It has been a very long time since we have worked for the man. Luckily, we found a pretty great couple that we will gladly call our bosses for the next 17 months. Yes, the independent Pack Mules are settling in for a bit, and bonus, we are actually getting a paycheck! This is going to be a pretty cool chapter we are creating in Ouray, Colorado.
The past 8 months were a whirlwind of circumnavigation from Europe, Africa, Australia, Polynesia, and back again. We gave the experience of housesitting a 10 out of 10 on the Pack Mule chart. We certainly will be doing it again in the future.
After a very short stay in South Dakota reconnecting with family and friends, we packed up our very experienced but new-to-us 2009 GMC Acadia with literarily ALL of our possessions and headed west to our new home state of Colorado.
Giving the Mountains A Shot
We are true ocean and sun seekers but have always wanted to see what living in the mountains is really like. We couldn't pass up an 18-month junket in one of the most beautiful, hippy, rural, and unique areas in the entire state of Colorado.
We are going to be Innkeepers
Workingcouples.com was the matchmaker that helped us land our first gig since selling everything ( yes, again). The Take Out and the Roatan house both have official new owners, we are footloose and love our freedom of owning only what fits in our car. At least we got rid of the Saab and got a bigger car.
OK, the beauty here is unreal. We knew it was going to be a lovely place, but we didn't know it was going to be over-the-top unique. One month later and we are still in serious amazement that we are gifted with being able to live here.
May 18, our first spring snow.....but wait it didn't last but 12 hours, and the trees are blooming. Bear spray an essential here in the San Juans. Ok, back to the snow photo, let's see if my smile is still that big when we are on 300 inches in December.
Life at the Ouray Inn
Yes, we survived our first month as employees. Learning our role as innkeepers has challenged our 50-year-old minds and given us confidence and the drive to continue to learn new things.
We love our hippy little apartment that is attached to the property. We are still pretty thrilled that we are sleeping in the same bed for so many nights in a row. The growing season is short here, so I have my herb garden indoors. Not sure about the laws for growing 'other things' but we don't want to get fired from our gig the first month, so we are staying away from planting any pot plants. Claira, one of our favorite housekeepers is sporting a Take Out shirt for some Pack Mule nostalgia. No, we do not miss the Take Out--we were just saying that this job is like pre-school compared to that.
Day In The Life of An Innkeeper Host. We really didn't know what our schedule was going to be until we got in the swing of things. It really is a pretty good gig if you are into keeping a low profile, greeting, being kind, and answering a lot of local questions. You also have to know a thing or two about problem-solving, jerry-rigging, fixing and just making things happen.
We are up and fussing around getting a simple breakfast ready for guests starting at 7:30 until about 10:30 at what time we usually head out for a hike and are free to roam until 3 pm when it is time to be back for check-ins. At this point, we usually have some lunch/supper and casually check people in until around 7 pm. Now it is time for our favorite local activities including hopping on our bikes and heading straight for the Mineral Palace for a hot mineral soak before returning for the night. We do have occasional duties that need to be handled throughout the day, but for most major maintenance issues we reserve for one day a week so that we don't end up working all day every day. We venture to guess that winter will be a bit different because we won't be fully booked or hiking daily, so we see more maintenance projects probably in the future.
What about the Inn?
Our Inn is a 1950's vintage log cabin style with the San Juan Mountains as the backdrop. There is not a bad view from any one of our 19 rooms. It is darling and quaint and the young couple who owns the joint are open-minded, laid back and fantastic to work for. They have 4 young children to keep them busy so they are happy as clams to have us run the show in their absence. They live only 10 minutes away and their children are all enrolled in the Ouray Public School so they bop in and out to help us troubleshoot issues and solve the big stuff. Yes, that is what we love.......they get to solve (and pay for) the big stuff!
Hey, how do you like our western mountain Colorado look? Lots of thrift shopping for long sleeves and flannels. We don't think it will hit 80 this summer. We call the weather here the kind that "old people' love......not too hot, no humidity and cool at night.
Where and the hell is Ouray and how do you say it? Ouray, elevation at just about 8,000 feet, population 900 residents (not even all of them full-time) is pronounced YOU-RAY.
It is located in Southwestern Colorado (well over 5.5 hours SW of Denver). It is right smack dab on the famous, infamous, beautiful breathtaking, sometimes life-taking million-dollar highway. Several of our guests show up quite frightened when they arrive. You would only come to Ouray for a few reasons, (really super good ones tho more in blogs to come) It is most certainly a destination location not a stop-along-the-highway kind of place. The busy season runs from June-September when the town explodes with guests. We are pretty sure that we will not even get to all the hiking trails available to us during our stay here.
The summer season is short and there is no shortage of snow in the winter. Brett and I are going to embrace winter while we are here is we have some goals set for snowboarding, downhill skiing and snowshoeing. The arts and theatre community is pretty thick here, so I may even look at getting involved in a production during the winter down time. Don't let us fool you tho, we also are planning to take a few cold months off to spend somewhere very, very warm.
It's all about the VIEW! Yes, and we have them everywhere you look. After being here just a few days we realized that we really did stumble onto a pretty special place. We are grateful to be here and thankful for this experience. We will have lots of time to hike, play and blog so if you are interested you can come along and learn all about Southwestern Colorado. We know there are things that we will adore and have things that will make our "ah not going to do that again" list. Regardless, we always enjoy the journey and take in the joys that each location brings.
Hey! I haven't followed you two for a long time cause I get so jealous! Your new gig sounds absolutey wonderful and I wish you well! Jealous! Love CO!