LORAN SMITH: Georgian comes to play, chooses to stay in Vail

VAIL, Colo. — This ultra popular destination for skiers is a new town when you consider that it is officially less than 50 years old. My guess is there will be a whole lot of celebrating going on next year when that half century milestone is reached.

I failed to ask for a preview from Bob Walsh, born in Valdosta, educated at the University of Georgia and the University of Oklahoma. Bob was imbued with a wanderlust that has given him a worldly exposure along with mile-high living which comes naturally when he is at home in Colorado — on the ski slopes of Vail or at a Broncos game in Denver, just a few minutes from his downtown loft where pre-game tailgate parties are a staple of his fall activities.

This is where he met his pretty wife, Trudy, who is a native of Albert Lea, Minnesota. They don’t exactly have an unwritten pact, but Bob refrains from taking her to Valdosta in summer and she keeps him away from Albert Lea in the dead of winter. Albert Lea is where Interstate highways 35 and 90 intersect. Interstate 35 stretches from Duluth, Minn., to Laredo, Texas, and Interstate 90 ushers you from the Ted Williams tunnel in Boston to Century Link Field in Seattle. Bob has a Interstate connection, too. I-75 begins at Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., and ends near Hialeah, Fla.

Bob and Trudy have a lot in common from football to travel to Vidalia onions. Returning home allows opportunity for Bob to visit with his mother and also his brother Jerry who lives in Columbia, South Carolina — one who would never help get Steve Spurrier’s “ox out of the ditch.”

When he came here “to play for a couple of years” in 1984, Vail was in its infancy. Bob bought property, provided accounting services for a couple of companies and became a partner in several business enterprises. You could say that his timing was extraordinary. If you get in on the ground floor and grow with the business, use just a little imagination and you conclude that this Georgia boy is not only doing well, he is enjoying life. He doesn’t rush pell-mell down the mountain like he once did, but he still enjoys the exhilaration of breathing in the Rocky Mountain air on the slopes in winter.

Laid back living for him and Trudy allows for retreats to Athens to see the Bulldogs play, to Norman and Sooner games, too, while holding season tickets for Bronco, Rockies and Avalanche games. It is only an hour and half from Vail to Denver, unless a winter storm dumps too much snow on Interstate 70 and slows or stops traffic.

While Georgia is home and Bulldog reunions are special, Bob finds life in the West intoxicating. He remains an aficionado of Coors beer, tall mountains and the outdoors which cause him to speak of the environment with not only affection, but reverence. For sure, it beats cropping tobacco in Lowndes County.

He is wont to say to his friends, including the many visitors who drop in on him and Trudy from across the country, “Where else could you find this view?” as he sweeps his hand across his body covering all directions. This means winter and summer.

We had lunch at a place appropriately named “Up the Creek.” It was a nice, warm day as we listened to the rushing waters of Gore Creek which cascades through Vail with energy and reckless abandon. After lunch, a tour of downtown where he and Trudy own a couple of shops, brought about disclosure that there is a friendly moose which often takes respite in the heart of Vail, giving locals and visitors alike, a delightful photo-op

“Now you know why we enjoy living here so much,” he said. But, he had a parting shot that was confirmation he still has a longing for his roots: “How the Dawgs gonna be this fall?”