Week in pictures

I had a pretty busy week. I started of the week heading up to Idaho Falls for work. We recently aquired a failing bank that included 7 branches. I was part of a group that went around to inspect the buildings and evaluate their condition. I'll still be taking other trips to this area over the course of the next 6 months to set up contractor work on the maintenance and repairs for these properties, evaluating the existing lease contracts, etc.

I arrived at Idaho Falls on Monday night and met up that morning with another property manager from Boise and the project manager out of Minnnesota. We drove out to branches at Victor and Driggs, Idaho. Both branches were spectacular and from what our project manager said, the most beautiful branches we now own. They spared no expense at every detail (which is likely a part of the reason they went under). We then went over the Teton mountains (which were beautiful) and into Jackson, Wyoming to inspect another beautiful branch. From there we headed back to Idaho Falls and I high-tailed it back to SLC that evening.

On Wednesday afternoon I drove down to Grand Junction, Colorado. I am taking over 10 additional properties along the Colorado western slope from Grand Junction down to Telluride. I met up with my boss and the out-going property manager Thursday morning and we did a tour of 7 of my properties on the way down to Telluride. We ate dinner in Telluride and then got a hotel about 15 miles outside the town. This hotel was VERY nice and cheap considering the area ($105/night). The next day we went back into Telluride to tour 2 branches, then headed out in the middle of nowhere to Norwood to tour the last branch. My boss brought me back to Grand Junction to get my rental car and I sped on back to Utah.

Along the way I stopped at a cool "ghost town" called Thompson Springs, UT. I use the term Ghost town loosely because there were still residents there (mostly in random trailers), but the town itself was either boarded up, or vandalized. The town itself once sat on the old Highway 50, which was the main road on your way from Utah to Colorado. Then I-70 was built and this town obviously died off from lack of business. It kind of reminded me of the cartoon "Cars", however this was a much scarier place as the locals obviously stared at me, an outsider, with a bit of bitter curiosity.

Below are some pictures from my trip. I don't really have much from the Idaho trip.

This is one of my branches in Grand Junction (my largest as it's over 50k sf). I liked it because of how the mirrored exterior reflects the sky so well. In fact, it's so good that we have common issues with birds flying into the building.



Driving toward Telluride



At the end of Telluride is a road that switches back up to the peak of this mountain and drops down into another highway. It's a single-lane road for half the way up to the top, however it's a two-way road up to Tesla's old power plant (which is now a wedding/reception castle).



Close up of the castle



Close up of a water fall



Looking back toward Telluride



Notice I didn't get any pictures of the actual town. I was in a hurry :-).

Thompson Springs, UT

Old Highway 50 with I-70 running parallel (look on the right for some faint vehicles) looking East



Looking West



Thompson Springs Motel. This place must have been the place to stay at one point. All the rooms had doors kicked in and they were all destroyed.





Across the street you have these 3 dead buildings



An old railroad stop??



The only active business around