HEADWATERS FALL A mericans have always seemed to have a love affair with lawns The problem is as we moved west we also fell in love with the landscapes of Arizona California and Colorado and then…

A 'not-so-big' house shelters two art-lovers above Ridgway, Colo. (Shelter Magazine, Winter 2022-2023 issue)

A look at the marijuana industry a decade after Amendment 64 By Samantha Tisdel Wright It was a frosty New Year’s Day in 2014 when prohibition ended in Telluride. Three fledgling retail pot shops flung open their doors to long queues of eager…

How a local broker sold Tom Cruise’s Telluride estate for a record $39.5 million. (Shelter Magazine, Summer 2021)

The Black Swifts Conundrum at Box Canyon Falls (Shelter Magazine, Summer 2022)

Telluride's Creative Reemergence at Art + Architecture Week (Shelter Magazine - Summer 2022)

Bridal Veil Powerhouse still offline after 2016 mishap By Samantha Tisdel Wright Perched on the brink of a sheer cliff overlooking Telluride astride the longest free-falling waterfall in Colorado, the 115-year-old Bridal Veil Powerhouse, a…

Stuart Gillespie builds on the colorful history of Colorado’s mining past. (MUS Today, Cover Story, Summer 2022)

A strange new day for the Telluride Transfer Warehouse (Shelter Magazine, Winter 2021)

Bolstered by a $28 million cash infusion last week, Ouray Silver Mines Inc. hopes to reopen historic Revenue Mine southwest of Ouray in the first half of 2021. Owners project the mine will eventually produce 5 million to 7 million ounces of silver…

A glampground in Naturita pays homage to the West End's rich, colorful mining roots. (Shelter Magazine, Summer 2020)

Council OKs ordinance allowing limited number of tables in public right-of-way Tourists visited Ouray over Memorial Day, enjoying beautiful weather. Some visitors were surprised to find restaurants unable to accommodate in-person dining, and groups…

When Mountain Medical Center in Ridgway got its start 20 years ago as an experiment in rural taxpayer-subsidized medicine, nobody imagined it would one day become ground zero for local testing in a world pandemic. Community members at that time were…

Every day before Avery MacKenzie leaves for work, she steels herself for the emotional challenges of her upcoming shift. This usually involves a lot of coffee. Once she is sufficiently caffeinated, she kisses her husband, her toddler, and her…

The nasty scabs of red paint and the veils of scaffolding are gone. The Ouray County Courthouse stands naked as the day she was born, at the corner of 4th Street and Sixth Avenue in downtown Ouray, her tender bricks stripped bare and blushing in the…

Program provides free lodging to those who can't stay in own homes Premier Vacation Rentals property manager Monica Moran stands inside one ofthe 65 Ouray County homes the company manages. The Durango-based business launched a program last month to…

The OFFICIAL guide for the world-famous Ouray Ice Park and 25th annual Ouray Ice Festival. (Editor, project manager and lead writer)

A Log Home Gets a New Look in Mountain Village (Shelter Magazine, Winter 2020)

Every fall, Ailene Smith imagines this horrible scenario. Some kid picks up a roaming male tarantula while he’s waiting for the school bus on a fine fall Nucla or Naturita morning. He stuffs it into a Crayola box, perhaps, or an empty disposable cup,…

Story by Samantha Tisdel Wright If you’re a sucker for pretty, unpretentious, mountain towns with plenty of fun stuff to do and great places to eat and shop, Ouray is the place for you. Surrounded by exquisite alpine scenery, Ouray’s summer adventure…