“I’m living a dream—I’ve achieved something that few have,” Steven glowingly admits. It took a number of years for this southern California boy to find a place to satisfy his mountain-town yearnings. “Six years ago I decided I wanted to live in the mountains, but I needed to figure out how to support myself outside of a city.” Indeed, Steve gobbled up a lot of mountain life when he was a boy. He’d spend about four months of the year in the Sierras with his grandparents, during which time he learned how to fish, hunt and live in the wild. “I eventually realized that mountains are the place I would go to get centered.”

A turning point in Steve’s life came last Memorial Day weekend. He was working as a market research analyst in a large real estate firm in Denver, when he spotted an ad that caught his attention. The lead-line read as follows: “Wouldn’t you rather commute to work in a gondola?” Wow, and how, thought Steve. Exploring a variety of business opportunities in Telluride quickly followed until he found the pearl of them all at Pacific Street Liquors, a well-established package store here in town.

Now Steve seems totally at home in his signature shorts both on the trails, around town, and in his store. “After having worked many years in restaurants and after having done my fair share of winery touring in California and Europe, I’ve always been interested in wine.” Steve is proud of how he passed the sommelier test. “It was grueling, but it helped me to become in touch with how much I knew about wine.”

Steve is excited about spending his first summer in Telluride. Like most Telluriders, he doesn’t take his outdoor activities lightly. “I like adventure racing, eco-challenges, and other sorts of navigation-based endurance events. I’m planning on getting back into that and look forward to integrating activities such as kayaking, hiking, and cycling in a training circuit here. Yes, Steve, you have indeed come home.