Perfection by Cari O'Neill

I had been looking for the perfect place to live for a while. It’s hard to find a town that offers almost every outdoor activity imaginable and isn’t a city, or a town too small. Being someone who loves skiing, I tried living in Summit County, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah. But also being a whitewater enthusiast, those areas were lacking my favorite summertime activity: kayaking. Sure you could get out to some rivers with a tank full of gas, but in the summer heat I wanted the river in my backyard.

In the summer of 2005, I had the good fortune of getting a job house sitting for a couple weeks in Salida. The first morning I woke up in this Chaffee County town it was sunny and bright and I decided to ride a bike to the local coffee shop before spending the rest of the day at the local whitewater park. As a side note, Salida’s whitewater park is a favorite among Colorado kayakers as well as those not from the state. During the annual boating festival , FiBark, kayakers come from around the country, even the world, to compete in the festivities and enjoy the two world class kayak play holes. By the end of my first day here, I was convinced this was the place I wanted to live. After my second day here, I contacted a Salida Realtor, to help me find my first home.

My summer continued to be just about perfect. Fall was not too shabby either. The colors were stunning and the weather beautiful. Mountain biking, hunting and fishing were plentiful. Though I am a beginner mountain biker, I had plenty of trails to choose from practically out my backdoor. Many of my “expert” mountain biking friends were enjoying a wide variety of difficult mountain biking trails including the famous Monarch Crest trail, just 30 minutes from town.
Did I fail to mention that I met the man who would become my husband at the end of summer? Being an avid hunter and fisherman, he was keeping plenty busy that fall with the abundance of those activities in Chaffee County.

Come winter, I was a little skeptical about how the skiing would be at Monarch, compared to the mountains I was accustomed to such as Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and most significantly, Alta and Snowbird in Utah. Monarch is definitely a bit smaller. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the experience. One thing Monarch is lacking is crowds. You can ski weekends, holidays, powder days and rarely wait in line more than 5 minutes- and that is on the busiest of days. Average annual snowfall is in the top 5 in the state of Colorado. Monarch has a great mix of terrain for intermediate and advanced skiers and plenty for the beginner. With the opening of Mirkwood Basin a few years ago, extreme terrain has been added to the list. I find that even a few weeks after a storm, one can still find great snow conditions in Mirkwood Basin.

I also discovered that Salida has a good variety of restaurants, bars, boutiques, coffee shops and art galleries to keep me busy when I needed a break from all that outdoor fun.

So my point is, I had finally found the perfect place to live.