re: Telluride recommendations

Most of the restaurants in Telluride are good to very good. There is a cool cocktail bar. Siam, not Siam Talay (which is in Mountain Village), has great Thai food. Brown Dog has solid pizza, and you can eat it next door at the Last Dollar Saloon, i.e., the buck. 221 South Oak is great fine dining - I would do that before Alpino Vino, or Allreds, which I found mediocre. The National is also solid. Get some tacos at Taco del Gnar.

In general, the Telluride restaurants, which are independently owned, are heads and tails above the Mountain Village restaurants, which are resort owned.

The only problem you will have is, if you are staying in Telluride, it is a haul to get to Mountain Village to ski the beginner slopes. There are no beginner slopes accessible from Telluride. You will need to walk to the Chondola, take it to Mountain Village, then walk to the beginner slopes. For beginners, I would suggest staying in Mountain Village personally - the Peaks is nice.

In terms of things to see, get good enough that you can ski "See Forever." It is a pretty easy blue. Some dicey parts for beginners, with more exposure than you are probably comfortable with, but it may have the best views of any ski run... anywhere?