Polly Enochs was keeping a journal when she made her first trip to Ridgway, jotting down her observations as she made her way around the Western Slope.

She and her fiancé, Nick, were living in Breckenridge at the time, but wanted to move to a smaller town, a place that felt more like Clear Creek County did when she was growing up. They considered Durango, Paonia and a few others, she said, and came to stay with a friend of Nick’s in Ridgway. They walked around town, had breakfast at Kate’s P...