Steamboat Pilot & Today

Yaohoa! I'm back again. When I topped the hill and got my first look at Hahn's Peak mountain about the first of May, I was surprised to see that most of the snow was already gone, and the aspens were getting green. The Dogs' Tooth violets or snow lily were everywhere by the middle of May and the little pink striped spring Spring Beauty was blooming right along with those lilies. The mortencia, so very blue, are in big patches now, and in the wet areas, there are millions of marsh marigolds, and right now the white candy tuft is all over our hills. And, the fish are jumping!

As usual, there are changes taking place right here in this old historic village. Dana Marton, who has been head wrangler over at Dutch Creek Guest Ranch, is now enjoying a new experience. Dana just opened a little cafn the building known as Village Treasures, which is along the highway, south end of Hahn's Peak. For now, she is featuring Mexican food, but every week she will have special "specials" of different kinds.

Dana just opened last weekend, and the place was bombarded with customers. She will be open six days a week from 11 in the morning until 8 in the evening, but closed on Tuesday.

She had some good help behind the cooking counter this weekend. Jennifer Barry, who also worked at Dutch Creek, is employed here. Then there was friend Larry from the local Forest Service, helped grind a big battle of cheese. Brec Stanberg, a meal chef, is chief adviser for Jan, and the "Monkey," Dana's dog, is the host.

Soda Davison, one of our new residents, who moved into the Fivecoats' cabin last fall, stopped by to give me a "welcome home bear hug." He enjoyed his first winter here, because he had four jobs to keep him real busy. He worked at the Sheriff's Office in town, the Fire Department, plowed snow locally and ran snowmobiles once a week at Steamboat Lake Outfitters.

Rich and Shirley Galusha have made a big move. Last fall, they purchased Moose's new house, which is just behind the old red Davis house on Main Street. They moved into the place in March. Rich's art studio will be in the large farmer bedroom upstairs in the big house. Shirley's studio will be in the old historic cabin. The Carpenters built it in the late '50s using the logs from the old stage barn of the mining days in the late '80s. Part of it will be used for frame storage and printmaking. Shirley and Rich have a gallery at the Sheraton and have been busy down there at the sculpture garden, getting ready for their big opening on May 24. For the summer, they plan to have some workshops here at Hahn's Peak, their home base.

The Prettymans are really learning to enjoy the winters in Hahn's Peak. They live in the old Sandhofer house, one of our originals, which they have winterized to be very comfortable. Guido really enjoyed the ice fishing and really beamed when he talked about his favorite sport and the big fish they caught. However, Doris caught the most and the biggest trout, and they had a big "fish fry" this spring. It was such a cold winter, so they didn't snowmobile much. However, when they did go, they saw a lot of big, and they did mean "huge," antelope.

Guido is still working in town, but Doris, a hair dresser, is not working in a shop at town but taking care of the hair of local gals.

Pat and Larry Cook of Craig were up at their cabin for the first time this season. Also, the Fivecoats, who had the cabin just below the Cooks and sold it last summer, came as guests for the weekend. Larry and Clarence took care of the Cooks' plumbing problem. The gals, Pat and Judy, worked at hanging new curtains. Larry had just returned from Alaska, so they had a big dinner featuring Alaskan halibut.

The Fivecoats had a recent trip to Australia and New Zealand and then moved to a new house in Cedaredge.