Risks & Rewards Encountered: Telluride, Day 1

 

What a long day! Made the trip into Telluride today and arrived in town close enough to dinner to make our way to downtown Telluride to get a bite to eat. Hence begins my adventure into a weekend of many risks...waaaaay sooner than I expected.

My Library Lady Group o' Fun is staying at a condo (which is FAB, by the way!) in Mountain Village, which turns out to be an about a 20 minute ride on a gondola to get to the town of Telluride.

Uh, Oh.

I have never been on a gondola and truth be told, when I found out that riding it would be required, I had a mini heart attack. I am not afraid of heights, as much as I am depending on this little box hundreds of feet above the beautiful mountainside to chug me along a finger thin cable breaking...stopping...plummeting to the ground. So, unless I haven't made it clear - I was petrified.

I told my friends of my close to the surface fears and they assured me it would be fine. It was safe. It will be beautiful. So I put on a brave face and climbed aboard and made the ride into town.

My friend snapped this picture of me:

Can you see the terror in my face? I hide it well, I think. I was absolutely sick to my stomach. There was swinging involved, periodic moderately bumping, and alarming noises. I didn't look around much, tried to quell my sinking feeling in my belly, and passed the long 20 minutes with nervous laughter.

But I survived. We met a fellow risk-heavetaker from California on the ride into town. We all walked the quaint streets and wandered into a cute little piece of Italy where I nommed on this lovely plate of heaven:

 

I will be honest, the ride back was scarier. It was pitch black. The thing even friggin' STOPPED! I spent most of the time looking at where the floor of the car would be if it wasn't complete dark. I hated it. 

But you know what helped me through? My fellow Library Ladies. They talked to me, they laughed with me -  they did what they did best. They knew I was scared and rallied around me to support me during a particular challenging event. I probably would never have got onto the crazy gondola without them.

I really can relate it to working with a good group of people in your library. You know you have a great group of people when they recognize you may encounter a challenge. They come together to help you get past. I have been very fortunate to work with many different and diverse staff. I have also encountered some real challenges personally and professionally. Never have those I worked with closely, fail to step up and help me out. Library connections are amazing that way.

I am still nervous about the next few days because I know I will be riding it regularly. But I also feel like each time, it will be easier and easier. 

At least I hope so....