Traveling to Telluride for a day or two and then on to Vail. Suggestions welcome. Looking for interesting places, good local resturants, local interest without the press of the tourists.

You don't need to worry too much about tourists at those locations at the end of May. The summer season doesn't start until June, or later. (One year we spent Memorial Day weekend in the snow in Vail.)

In Vail, Sweet Basil is almost universally liked, as is Tru, down by the river. Our favorite, for a special dinner, is the Left Bank (warning, they don't take credit cards).

You might want to check (vail.net) to see what's open. The gondola is always great for good views over the mountains.

What kind of interesting places/local interest are you looking for?

>>what kind of places are you looking for?

Coming from Central FL, so we're looking for sites and spots that will give us a taste of the real Colorado. We've heard that Silverton is a nice town....and here's a specific question: is it too early for white water rafting?

Silverton and Ouray are old mining towns that have kept their rustic atmoshere, unlike Telluride and Vail that are more posh.

That's what I like about them while others find it off-putting.

A fun thing to do in Ouray is to rent a Jeep and drive the old mining trails.

I think Telluride is a former mining town, as well, so you'll notice that it's a bit more authentic than Vail. Vail was built in the early 60s to serve the Vail ski resort, and while it's a very pretty town, there's nothing old about it!

I'm not a white-water rafter, but I would think that May is still a bit early for white-water rafting. Call some of the outfitters, and ask them.

I'm more familiar with the Vail/Summit County area. For the "real Colorado," you definitely need to try to do some hiking, though it's a bit early in the season for any but the lowest-altitude hikes. Also, there's a beautiful bike path that goes through Vail; you can walk it or rent bikes and ride through. Also, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens (in Vail) are pretty. There are bike paths all over are area, actually. You could ride from Vail to Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, or Breckenridge, or between any of those towns (though a ride from or to Vail means biking over Vail Pass, not the easiest thing to do). The bike paths between all the towns except Vail are relatively level and can be very scenic.

All of Colorado is littered with old mines (gold, silver, other stuff); it's a big part of Colorado's history. Leadville has a good mining museum, and also an old narrow-gauge train that was used in mining days. The drive to Leadville is interesting, in that it passes by the Climax Mine, which was the biggest (I think) molybdenum (sp?) mine in the world; the effect on the landscape is kind of scary. There are several mines open for tours, but the one I'm most familiar with is the Country Boy Mine, right outside Breckenridge (another former mining town).

If you're not up to driving the jeep trails yourselves, there are many companies that will take you on tours.

Yes, Telluride is an old mining town but has been taken over by the Vail/Aspen type clientele. It even has a large enough airport for small jets.

The great thing is, all these towns are pretty close together so you can experience it all.

One of the most popular Jeep trails takes you in a loop from Ouray to Telluride on one trail and back to Ouray on another.

If you like hiking and you have the time I would hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. You'll walk right past the Smuggler mine. The falls are beautiful, you get a great view of Telluride nestled in it's valley and the mine is interesting.

I have a couple of albums of the falls and other things in Telluride at the link below. Another thing we did was ride the gondola up to the top and watch the sunset. Our photos were taken in early June. They are the 4th album down on the right side and another Telluride album is on the left.

http://community.webshots.com/user/lenleigh