Bonjour Colorado

Come to Colorado for Cowboys and Way More

T-ride's Town Park: the Quintessential Summer Festival Setting

Summer has popped here in Colorado propelling the season into a solid start. I wrote over a month ago in a previous post about how I attended two major tourism industry events last fall: one for France, one for Colorado. The mood at both gatherings was one of cautious optimism, although I’m sure the French nervosité about their tourism outlook was partly masked by the generous amounts of wine served throughout their program. It seems as though travel to these two fabulous destinations is shaping up nicely, perhaps even better than the travel industry experts might have hoped last fall.

I had a chance to schmooze with many of the movers and shakers from the Colorado travel world at the annual conference of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) last November which took place at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, our Rocky Mountain state’s premiere property. As with French Affairs ’09, I only attended the social events of this meeting, get-togethers—both casual and high-brow (yes, even in Colorado)—that allowed many opportunities for networking and idea sharing among some of the top hoteliers in the state. I had just returned from the French travel industry event in New York City, so my desire to draw comparisons was sharper than ever. (If you’ve read this blog some, you know that France and Colorado are often my two frames of references, odd as that may seem!) Resulting verdict: the Coloradans’ professionalism—along with the food and wine they serve at their travel industry events—rivals the level of excellence associated with French hospitality.

Better yet, the notion of friendly service seemed to be emphasized even more at the CHLA event. Perhaps that was largely due to the fact that Karyn Ruth White, motivational comedian/author, kicked off the conference with a stand up routine, entitled Laughing in the Face of Stress for Service Professionals. She delivered a very funny, very real look at the pressures, demands and frustrations that come with working in the customer service field. Karyn Ruth emphasizes the importance of “humortunities,” opportunities for injecting humor into stressful and unpleasant situations. We shuffled off to the Wild, Wild West reception, chuckling about the often craziness of travel and how we—as both travelers and travel professionals—would fare better if we approached certain happenings and encounters with more levity.

I think I’ll try some of Karyn Ruth’s recommendations on the French next time I travel to Paris or the provinces. There must be a clever way of laughing off “Ce n’est pas possible, madame.” Listen to the podcast of an interview I did with Karyn Ruth for lots of laughs.

Here in Telluride, we’re in full festival mode. Like most of the other Rocky Mountain towns, festivals dominate our summer scene. But in T-ride, we’re king of the festivals, many of which have been taking place for well over three decades. The Telluride Bluegrass Festival drew near record-breaking numbers last weekend, ringing in the beginning of summer with four days of extraordinary music, good fun and irrepressible sunshine. This weekend it’s Telluride Wine Festival’s turn, then the Plein Air Festivals in Telluride and Aspen are up.  And the happy beat goes on—as throughout most of Colorado—all the way until the end of September.

No wonder so many people come here to vacation in the summer. And you might have thought we’re just all about cowboys, hikers and hippies. Thankfully we have them, too, but we also have a culture and sophistication that rivals most European destinations.

This is actually a good part of the reason I live here.

Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association, ColoradoLodging.com; contact them to receive your complimentary copy of the Summer Vacation Planner.

Thank you to Merrick Chase, from Telluride Photography, for the photos that accompany this story.  You can purchase images of Colorado and more from Merrick’s site, TelluridePhotography.net.

A Sultry Summer Scene in Colorado

Sleek and Sustainable: Two Stellar Colorado Properties

Style-y Dining at Eight K at the Viceroy Snowmass

What does it mean to stay in a green hotel? In the case of The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at the base of Beaver Creek Mountain and the Viceroy Snowmass, it means stepping into a swanky world where sustainable luxury reigns supreme. I stayed at these two stunning resorts this past off-season and was highly impressed by their look and commitment to preserving the environment.

While on the premises I observed a certain amount of sustainable practices on my own, but I yearned to find out more. I posed the question “What makes a hotel green?” to Jeffery Burrel, Director of Operations of The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa, and to Jeff David, General Manager of the Viceroy Snowmass, in a recent Travel Fun interview and was interested to hear about what goes into the development and operations of a sustainable property.  And I bet you will, too.  Here’s a short list of the environmentally-conscious building strategies and operational practices implemented in these and most other LEED-certified properties:

-Many of the building materials are sourced locally.  Expect lots of rich stonework and other natural elements.

-Some of the building materials come from post consumer/industrial recycled content.  The roof of The Westin Riverfront, for example, is made of recycled automobile tires.

-Lots of glass, made up of high-performance windows, assure sweeping views.

-Low and non-emitting paints, adhesives and carpets are utilized throughout to ensure healthy indoor air quality.

-Much of the resort’s electricity comes from renewable sources.

-Low-flow fixtures help to conserve water.

-High efficiency appliances are used in the kitchens.

-Housekeeping products tend to be non-toxic and non-allergenic.

In addition to the above, each resort implements a variety of other green-oriented practices.  At The Westin Riverfront I particularly appreciated the recycling bins in the kitchen and their huge emphasis on fitness.  ”We have more health and wellness space than banquet space,” says Jeffery Burrell.  Indeed I was totally won over by their outdoor saline lap pool which to me, is better than swimming in the ocean. (There’s no black line in the ocean.  And if you’re a serious swimmer, you want the black line.)  You can bet, too, that their saline natatorium is far better for your health and wellness than swimming in most chlorine-saturated pools.

The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa

At the Viceroy Snowmass, I noticed that the kitchen appliances were unplugged on a daily basis, a smart practice that I’ve since adopted at home.  This was also the first hotel where I found 16-ounce bottles of amenities in the bathroom.  What a great idea! (See below for more of my thoughts on hotel amenities.)

Don’t for a moment think that cutting-edge and down-to-earth are mutually exclusive in either of these resorts.  At both The Westin Riverfront and the Viceroy Snowmass, I was especially impressed by their friendly and efficient service.  I also liked their many little touches such as the aluminum water bottle presented to you upon arrival at the Viceroy and the employee name tags stating each person’s passion at The Westin. Both of these features—especially the name tags—provide nice opportunities to engage warmly with the hotel staff.

And best of all, each of these resorts boast outstanding spas and restaurants that you can enjoy even if you’re not a guest of the hotel.  In fact both the Restaurant Avondale at The Westin Riverfront and Eight K Restaurant at the Viceroy Snowmass are immensely popular with the locals.  As for their spas, zen and nature have never come together in such a sensuous manner in both of these healing spaces.

The Plunge Pool at the Viceroy Snowmass

Click on the play button below to hear more about these great properties and green hotels in general.

Podcast (bonjourcolorado): Play in new window | Download

Friday Afternoon Summer Scene at the Avondale Deck

Summer Highlights

Definitely take in the FAC (Friday Afternoon Club) at Avondale at The Westin Riverfront.  It’s the happening place in Beaver Creek and the whole Vail Valley where people come to enjoy the restaurant’s expansive, south-facing deck, the beautiful mountain views and the sizzling vibe.

This is the first summer that the Elk Camp Gondola in Snowmass is running.  What a great way to be whisked from base camp to tons of hiking, biking, wildflower viewing, free concerts and more.

Summer Sailing in Snowmass

Breaking My Addiction to Mini Potions and Lotions

If you read some of my recent posts, you’ll learn that I’m swearing myself off of plastic.  (Or at least greatly minimizing it in my life.)  Shortly after this declaration, I realized that that meant I’d have to give up on amassing most of the in-room hotel amenities that came to be a treasured part of many of my hotel stays. Yes, I admit I was one of those persons that would hoard shampoos, conditioners, bath gels, cotton swabs, shower caps, shoe cleaners, you name it.  I would piggishly stash them in my suitcase on a daily basis so that housekeeping would leave behind a fresh supply.  I have a collection of minis that take up a huge storage bin beneath my bathroom sink. My hunny, Steve Togni, G.M. of the Mountain Lodge in Telluride, swears that all these hotel amenities are of inferior quality in any event.  I ignore him and relish my supply of goods, many of which bear the name of renowned brands of beauty products such as Floris or of hotels such as La Mamounia in Marocco.  Sometimes as in the case of many fine French hotels, I’ve been lucky enough to collect miniatures that boast both a big name brand and a big name hotel.

These little take-aways have been my precious souvenirs for decades to be used parsimoniously at home (or even gifted to others!) like treasured tchotchkes from a faraway land.  But from now on they will no longer be a part of my travel experience.  I will no longer perpetuate this addiction to plastic.  (Worst of all, many of these products are not packaged in recyclable containers.)  Ugh, such is the price of consciousness.

And then just two weeks after having sworn myself off of hotel amenities don’t I find an assortment of BeeKind products, a collection of Gilchrist & Soames environmentally-friendly in-room amenities, gracing the edge of the vanity at the Box Canyon Lodge & Hot Springs, a down-home styled hotel in nearby Ouray, Colorado where Steve and I experienced a little getaway.  We read the labels on these paper bottles, looked at each other approvingly, smiled, grabbed a couple each and tucked them into our bags.

I think we’ll do just fine with this shift to green travel after all.

Thank you to Jeremy Swanson for the photo of the Aspen/Snowmass gondola.

Brand New Me: Surveying My Potions, Lotions and Other Pampering Paraphernalia

Farmaesthetics Sustainable Beauty

After having read my posting on “Bag It” and picked up on my vow to greatly reduce the amount of plastics in my life, you can bet I’ve been thrown into near panic mode as I attempt to put my new, ecologically-friendly beliefs into practice. I won’t hide it. I’ve been frequently disgusted. Everywhere I look I see plastic. And although I’m most concerned about the environment, I can’t help thinking about the plethora of phthalates I’m ingesting and applying to my skin.

Before even evaluating my fridge and pantry, I headed directly to my bathroom, that near sacred space where my vast array of cosmetics and skincare products stand prettily at attention—on my vanity and in my cabinets—ready to satisfy my most basic and frivolous beauty needs morning, noon and night. I hold up my nearest and dearest containers (sadly, primarily plastic) to the light, peering at the bottoms in an attempt to make out a number framed by a triangle of arrows, the ubiquitous symbol used to identify all kinds of recyclables from categories of plastic to cardboard. Almost as in Bingo, my heart sinks each time I come up with one without a number. I become truly indignant. How dare they? I eye these once favorable items with a suspicious look, vow to never buy them again and resign myself to the fact that they must be tossed in the trash once empty. (Their only other use might be in my own personal stash of reusable plastic containers, a collection that seems to be growing day-by-day.) Indeed I now think only a selfish person, a fool or someone that is for the most part clueless (my former self) would pick up or purchase an item that doesn’t reveal any discernible recycling capability.

I don’t consider myself a vamp, but I do possess a strong attachment to certain cosmetic and skincare items. There’s a core collection that I feel would be hard to live without: apricot face scrub that I became addicted to in highschool, Jason bodywash, the list goes on. My glossy, high-end products come and go, but I’ve often deemed many of my mid-level goods near irreplaceable and sadly, I’m beginning to slowly find out that some of these are unacceptable by recycling standards. Even with the supposedly recyclable items, it’s doubtful that most of them are recycled in the safest and most efficient ecological manner.

I hunt feverishly around my bathroom in search of products that embody the true green spirit. I’m looking for glass. Thankfully I find it in some of my favorites: Katresha Oil, Farmaesthetics Fine Herbal Cleanser and Nourishing Herbal Cream and Kneipp Herbal Bath Oils. Suddenly I make the connection that many of my most therapeutic creams and potions are also the most natural as well as the most environmentally-sensitive in their packaging. They also happen to smell the best and have some of the most hydrating effects on my skin. My nightly ritual, in fact, alternates between Katresha Face Oil and the Farmaesthetics Nourishing Herbal Cream, depending on my mood. (I like to trade off between the oh-so silky feel of the former with the intense aromatherapy effects of the latter.)

In digging through my stash, I discover Sweet Milk and Orange Peel Exfoliate, another Farmaesthetics product, that, when mixed with their Fine Herbal Cleanser, is sure to produce far superior results than the plastic tube of apricot scrub I’ve faithfully been employing for well over twenty years. I can do this, I thought.

My attention quickly shifts to my bowl of lipsticks. I dig through them furiously until I find a little glass pot of Farmaesthetics Lip Softener along with a biodegradable tube of lipstick made of corn from Cargo’s PlantLove collection. I love both of these products dearly but they seem frightfully outnumbered by my bundle of unecological-looking lipsticks and lip glosses— from big names and small—that dominate my collection of lip luxuries. I pick up a couple and study their heavy black plastic and gold-embellished sheathes. Clearly it would take eons for these containers to break down in the environment. As in “Bag It,” I’m forced to ask myself where is all this going anyway? It’s not just going away. I sigh as I turn to my mascaras and eye shadows.

Within the depths of my beauty collection though I do find hope. Between Katresha, Farmaesthetics, Kneipp, Cargo and certainly more, I realize there are some great green products to chose from that serve us and the environment exceedingly well. I look forward to seeing my bathroom move from a more plasticy-look to one of sleek, elegant glass. And I’m sure it will effect my look inside and out as well.

Vive le Plein Air

Capturing Our Rocky Mountain Landscape

The leaves have popped here in southwestern Colorado within the past ten days and it has felt like full-on summer since last Friday.  We’ve been transported from a long, bleak period into a lush, green season as fast as you can paint a scene.  The rivers and streams course between and within our mountains, creating a thunderous soundtrack throughout the land; our bright, sunny days are melting the snowpack at twice the usual rate. Today on my walk I spotted my first lupines of the year, tall bushy blooms with purply-colored flowers hanging thick on the stalks like grapes on a vine.

When I interviewed Ronnie Palamar, director of the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, a few weeks ago for my Travel Fun radio show, the summer season seemed light years away.  Now it’s nearly upon us (officially) and what a great season it is for outdoor painting. The Impressionists were particularly consumed with the effects of changing light on color outside.  Pissarro, Manet, Monet, Degas and others took to setting up their canvases en plein air, or in the open air, creating some of the finest pieces of the Impressionist movement.

The striking scenery of Colorado, with its often dramatic interplay of light, provides the perfect setting for painting in plein air, especially during the summer when the days are plenty warm for standing outside at great length.  Plein air festivals have taken the country by storm in recent years, some of which originated on the coasts.  The Telluride Plein Air festival, modeled after the Carmel festival and created by the Sheridan Arts Foundation, is certainly the best known in the Rockies.  And now this year this terrific celebration of the arts is also establishing itself in Aspen in conjunction with the Sheridan Opera House and Aspen’s Wheeler Opera House.

Painting on Telluride's Main Street

Most of the works on view and for sale in both of these festivals are painted sur place, or on the premises, the week prior to the official festival opening.  For me, that’s the best part of this event; I love seeing the artists—some thirty painters in Telluride—set up their easels around town and in the surrounding area at all hours of the day and night.  Indeed there’s a certain romanticism about it all and fortunately the artists don’t seem to mind if we peek over their shoulders and perhaps even ask them a question or two.

Both the Telluride Plein Air and the Aspen Plein Air festivals are marked by exhibitions and demonstrations that are great fun to attend even if you’re not shopping for a treasure.  Be sure to check out the Quick Draw Competitions where artists must complete an on-site painting within only ninety minutes. Now that’s what I call a showdown.

The Historic Sheridan Opera House

Click on the play button below to hear Ronnie talk about the historic Sheridan Opera House in Telluride and also the seventh annual Telluride Plein Air and the first annual Aspen Plein Air festivals.  She tells some wonderful anecdotes about the artists that you won’t want to miss.

Podcast (bonjourcolorado): Play in new window | Download

Telluride Plein Air, June 28-July 4

Aspen Plein Air, July 6-July 10

Photo Notes

The top photo features Niles Norquist painting in Telluride.  Niles will be returning to the Telluride Plein Air Festival this year.

“Home of the Ski Bum” below was painted by Wayne Mckenzie, a local artist that will be featured at both the Telluride and Aspen Plein Air festivals.  Ronnie recounts his story in the above interview.

If you’d like to host an artist in Telluride or Aspen during these festivals, contact Ronnie at ronnie@sheridanoperahouse.com. That’s a wonderful way to support the arts for which you’ll even receive a painting as a special thank you. Commissioned pieces may also be arranged for particular scenes; contact Ronnie for those enquiries as well.

Home of the Ski Bum

Brand New Me

Plastic Mania at MountainFilm

My life is forever changed. From now on I will live every day in a more conscious manner in an effort to break myself of the plastic addiction that I have clearly been suffering from for the better part of my life. I will approach every aspect of my life—from a beauty product purchase to how I deal with recyclables—with a new awareness about how my actions effect the world, my health and the health and well being of those around me. I embrace this brand new me and hope you’ll come along with me on this journey.

I’ve considered myself a green person for quite some time. I think I first began to recycle when I moved to Paris in 1984. There was a glass recycling receptacle on every street corner which made it easy to adopt good practices of sorting garbage. When I moved back to the States over ten years later, recycling was in full swing yet I still had to make the effort to load up my car to drop off my recyclables at a recycling center a few miles away. In the beginning I thought my other environmentally aware efforts bordered on compulsive or at the very least quirky: rinsing Saran wrap, Ziploc bags and foil and then hanging them out to dry a gazillion times over, cutting open tubes of cream and the like to scrape out the last remaining bit of product, you get the idea. Other habits such as covering a dish with a plate in the fridge (instead of plastic wrap) just seemed to implement a dose of common sense. And in the past couple of years in addition to living a very simple life that involves limited travel (yes, it’s true, especially in cars) and minimal waste of any kind, I’ve been careful to cart my own water bottle along with my personal supply of shopping bags whenever I leave my home. At least most of the time.

After having seen the movie “Bag It” this past weekend at MountainFilm here in Telluride, I realized that none of the above has been nearly good enough. It answered the question that most of us dare not think about: Where does all this plastic go anyway? It does not just go away. It is polluting ourselves and our world in more ways than you could imagine. Filmmaker and Telluride local Suzan Beraza takes us on a marvelous journey from our pristine mountain town to the floating “island” of plastic and other debris swirling around in the north Pacific gyre, estimated to be more than twice the size of Texas. The story is told through another Tellurider, Jeb Berrier, our resident thespian and funnyman, who relates this grim tale with well-proportioned doses of humor, wit and intelligence. The human factor rises exponentially when a major event in Jeb’s personal life forces him to look even more closely at the effects of plastic in our world. “Bag It” is indisputably the most entertaining and moving documentary I’ve ever seen. It has informed and motivated me enough to want to really make a difference in my life and hopefully to spread that message to others through this blog, my own example and my Travel Fun radio show. (I’ll be having Suzan on as a guest sometime soon—she has some great green travel tips as well!)

This is the kind of information, inspiration and yes, hope you get at MountainFilm. It’s more than a film festival. It’s an extraordinary four-day happening also filled with art exhibits, book signings, student workshops, social gatherings and presentations by outstanding adventurers, leaders and keen observers from a variety of realms. It’s about celebrating the indomitable spirit of all while calling attention to what is possible in the world. I was blown away by the opening day symposium that tackled extinction, a problem we now face at an alarming rate. The biosphere is hanging in a delicate balance and only we can bring about that change.  (Consuming less energy would certainly help to create that shift for example. Did you know that plastic bags and bottles are made of fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas?)

Stimulating Conversations Galore at MountainFilm

Since it’s MountainFilm, I was also awed by movies of great mountain adventure such as “The Wildest Dream,” the tale of George Mallory’s obsession with Mt. Everest and Conrad Anker’s obsession with Mallory. Another outdoor exploit took me to the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East in the film “Eastern Rises,” an entertaining documentary about the fly fishing trip-of-a-lifetime for a group of funny dudes.

Conrad Anker (rt) and His Climbing Partner, Leo, on the Summit of Everest

“I am,” the film by Hollywood heavyweight Tom Shadyac, also greatly moved me. As with many of the other films in the festival it provided insight into how one can truly achieve happiness in our culture of consumption and how we can be more connected to the world we live in. Both “I am” and “Bag It” received the Audience Choice Award for Favorite Film at MountainFilm 2010. Click on the above links to see trailers of these memorable films, many of which may be purchased on DVD and/or viewed in a theater near you in the upcoming months.  Note that “I am” is so hot-off-the-press that there’s not yet a Web site for it.

There's Something for Everyone at MountainFilm

I must wrap this up now since I have much work to do. In addition to the usual, I now have to do things such as figure out how I can dispose of my garbage without using plastic bags and yes, even whip up a batch of yogurt since none of the ones available to me are sold in recyclable containers. (Apparently making yogurt at home is super easy.) Plus it appears that not everything is being recycled the way it should be, so it’s just better to try to wean myself off of plastic as much as possible. I have renewed hope though. I perused the What You Can Do list at the “Bag It” Web site which provides many answers and resources for creating a life less plastic. Most of all I’m buoyed up by the great wave of energy that rolled through this past weekend’s MountainFilm. Suddenly I don’t feel quite so ill about the oil spill in the Gulf. Maybe it’s a huge wake up call for us all. No one need feel totally disempowered, we can each begin to turn things around in our own way.

Check out more of what I’ve written on MountainFilm here and in my Ken Burns posting.

Know that MountainFilm goes on tour, so keep your eye out for it in case it comes to a city or town near you.

Thank you to MountainFilm and Melissa Plantz, Merrick Chase and Jennifer Koskinen for the above images.