TRAVELIN' TOTS
the vanessa sprang story

Things that surround her daily life-patterns are an extension of her bountiful personality and signature style. From the very onset of hearing her name - "Sprang" - one conjures images of a bouncy, vivacious and daring woman; which she very surely is. Vanessa has an intelligence, the wherewithal and a "live life on the edge" attitude that is masked only by her stunning physicality. Vanessa Sprang is somewhat tall, thin, has brown hair, hazel eyes and possesses a great deal of self-discipline that is complemented by her upbeat temperament, which, in turn, translates into having a heavy dose of charisma.

In other words, she's sexy as hell. In a non-libido kind of way, people can be sexy. Vanessa's case of sex appeal, at least from my opinion, isn't the hip-swaying, knee-buckling Elvis crooning serenades type-of-sexiness, but rather the type that can only be achieved through tapping into such inner-strengths as reliability, honesty, respectfulness of others, soundness and sticking to the virtues one deems important. In paraphrasing Vanessa's words, "Integrity is one of the qualities I look for in people, my store's - Travelin' Tots - product-line and the other who's, what's, where's and when's that get intertwined in my life." She continues by surmising a major principle of Travelin' Tots is ultimately to provide locals and visitors alike with needed services and products at fair prices.

More than anything, Vanessa puts people's needs first. "Customer service is our number one thing at Travelin' Tots." Her constant and consistent delivery of goods and services has put Vanessa into her fourth year of business in Telluride, Colorado , although it is only her first year opened as a retail shop. "In many ways, I was crazy to want to start a business in a town that only has 240 days of real consumer action. Yet, I love Telluride so much, I knew I wanted to make a go of it here and, in fact, had to since I was getting very tired of driving to Montrose several times a week (for many years) to work or be on call for Montrose Memorial Hospital's ER," Vanessa explains. Vanessa is a registered nurse trained in level one trauma situations. "I dealt with life and death situations virtually everyday I worked as a nurse for 13 years. Frankly, one thing that long-time experience left me with was oddly a great perspective on my new business life; for I know nothing in business can be as bad as losing a limb, a function thereof, or your life. Life is so delicate. It can be gone is a second."

Perhaps, in Vanessa having had her "blues" soaked and splattered with blood regularly, made her have the ability to focus on the important things in life; like living it to the fullest, being a good mom to her son, Conor, and flying to the places her dreams brought her to as a child. A life-lesson we can take from people in the know of life/death situations, is that precious and few are the moments we can cherish and share. Vanessa added her own twist to that thought - "When there's a window of opportunity in life to travel, take it and immerse yourself in it. "Go to "uncivilized nations" or Third World countries when you're younger and save the "more civilized ones for when you're older," suggests the travelin' tot-side of Ms. Sprang. Sprang has leaped into some major adventures around the globe, both alone and with friends. Starting inversely from her suggestion, Vanessa's world travels began in her high school days in Ohio as an exchange student in Sweden, then Europe twice during college, and then to cycling Australia and New Zealand twice again. Her Third World experiences largely took place in the Southern Hemisphere or the South Pacific. " A month-long trip to Nepal staying in tea houses was one of my favorites," she says. "Overall, traveling has made me respect others' ways. American's aren't always right. Sometimes we have too much. The simple, minimalistic natures of other places is really quite beautiful."

In between travel adventures, Vanessa started her business while working for Oxygen Plus. That company's owner, Emily Schneider, who is a very astute business woman, and herself conceived the idea to providing visitors with all the stuff kids need, but is hard to tote around while traveling. Thus, gear and like-provisions that are always safe, clean and fun, was invested in and the two made their mark by offering guests this incredible convenience at a fair benchmark price. They created an unique and never-beendone- before type of niche, in a market that is hard to break into. Cheers. Eventually, Vanessa bought Emily out. Vanessa has expanded her children's vacation rentals program by becoming the "provider" of cribs, high chairs, etc. to many lodging companies throughout town. Further, she now offers the coolest kids' gear, so parental-units can outfit their little ones in style. Vanessa is convinced that if we introduce our kids early on to such things as skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, climbing and so much more, their life choices later-on will be more health oriented. Life is Good, Garmont, Kelty, Madden Mountaineer, Molehill Mountain Equipment, Merrell and Little Bear Snowshoes are just some of the companies Vanessa purchases from as their price points are excellent as are their functionalities, styles and durability. She's a pragmatic buyer who knows kids burst the seams of britches in the span of a few full moons.

The simple "hellos and how are yous?" Vanessa gets from locals while going on her daily jaunts to the bank and post office, make life in Telluride a very invigorating and welcoming place to live. "I just love running my errands around town, seeing everyone and listening to all their diverse views. You don't have to believe in what everyone is saying; like KOTO's many DJs' views or all the editorial comments made by locals in the newspapers, but I appreciate their vantage points. Admittedly, after living in Telluride since '89, Vanessa Sprang is still star-struck by the charms of Telluride. "Where else could you go and have everyone know your name and treat you as an equal? Generally, the community pulls together. The mountains, main street, the San Miguel River, my friends, my boyfriend, son, family in Montrose and the three girls that have been with me since I started the Travelin' Tots - Kristen Muller, Tara Admire and A.J. Cheripka - "give me such good energy and make me feel complete and satisfied. I have learned heaps from everybody."