2 Feb 2019, 5:26pm
Mountain Living Skiing & Snowboarding The Southwest:
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Angel Fire Resort:  On Fire with Shovel Racing and Family Fun

Angel Fire Resort

What are you doing next weekend? Down in New Mexico they’re going to be having a helluva time at Angel Fire Resort. Young and old will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of an event that began with the lifties (lift operators) sliding down the hill on shovels at the end of their shifts; they’ll be holding their World Championship Shovel Races on Friday and Saturday, February 8th & 9th. And I bet there are plenty of folks doing warm up laps this weekend, even if it’s on a slope near their house, perhaps on the icy hills of the Midwest.

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Keeping that Holiday Spirit Going

Still Festive at The Peaks Resort

Gondola Cuteness

Frosty Cold Telluride

I say pooh to the people that throw out their Christmas tree by New Year’s. I keep most of my decorations up throughout January. I put away the santas, elves and baby Jesus by mid January but most–including Christmas ornaments and stockings–remain up through the end of the month. And as for anything festive in red and green, I typically keep that up until the end of the ski season–or just before Easter depending on what comes first. That’s what they do in the Alps. That’s what they do in many mountain locales, Telluride included. Hey, when you have a snowy scene outside, twinkling lights and garlands add extra sparkle to many winter wonderland settings.

And boy have we had snow! After a stellar holiday season with primo ski conditions, the cold and the snow have just kept on coming. With over fifteen feet of the fluffy white stuff so far this year, the skiing in Telluride–in all of Colorado, in fact–has been fantastic. To say we have been well served by the snow gods, is an understatement. 

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Telluride is Tops

Applauding Our Ski School Training, Clapping for Telluride

Ski School Trainer John Balmain

Iconic Mt. Wilson

Well, we did it again. For the sixth time out of seven years, the readers of Condé Nast Traveler voted Telluride as the #1 ski resort in North America. Since Telluride has been lauded so much, this year Condé Nast Traveler even wrote a story about it at Why Telluride Keeps Being Named the Best Ski Town in the U.S. 

A Great Day for Skiing

John and Me

For those that live here or have visited here, it comes as no surprise. Telluride Ski Resort has it all: great terrain, spectacular scenery, charm, friendliness, topnotch amenities, an historic town at one base and a modern village at another, a wonderful mix of sun and snow and I must shamelessly broadcast, one of the best ski schools in the country. (I’m starting my sixteenth season as a Telluride Ski & Snowboard School instructor and I’m delighted to be a part of this distinguished group of snowsports enthusiasts.)

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Happening Telluride Hotels

Party Scene at Mountain Lodge Telluride

Whoa, it’s been one heck of a summer season in Telluride with fun times that animated our beloved historic town as well as Telluride Mountain Village. 

Whether it’s a festival in Telluride Town Park or a get together with friends in a more dialed down setting, music often ranks as an integral part of the scene in our beautiful mountain town. 

Some of the best times may be found at two of Telluride’s top hotels:  the New Sheridan and Mountain Lodge. And it’s thanks to two guys–two hotel general managers (GMs)–in particular that you can enjoy an authentic night out even if you’re here during the height of the season. Ray Farnsworth has stood steady at the helm of the New Sheridan Hotel and the Chop House Restaurant & Bar for over twenty years, an eternity in the hospitality industry where GMs typically change it up every 2.5 years. Steve Togni, the #1 at Mountain Lodge Telluride, has been in charge for fourteen. Both locals, through and true, they’ve created happening scenes with a strong local’s vibe by lining up entertainment and organizing events practically year-round at their gorgeous properties. (And that’s in addition to offering great food and drink to their hotel guests, visitors and locals at their restaurants and bars.)

Electric Luau at Mountain Lodge

The Gold Kings at The Phoenix Bean at the New Sheridan

The Back Courtyard: A Nice Place to Gather at The Phoenix Bean

Mountain Lodge has held a number of big parties that have become the talk of the town during shoulder season. OK, let’s just say they know how to put on a bash. They’ve featured Joint Point, a jammy rock-and-roll band and a T-ride favorite, numerous times at their Electric Luau parties, typically held in June and September. “The Electric Luau was initially created as a simple thank you to visitors and locals alike for a great summer season at the Mountain Lodge,” says Steve.  “It was such a success and we enjoyed doing it so much that it became a twice annual event. Joint Point was the obvious choice as they have evolved into a top local act over the years. Since the inception of these events, we’ve broadened the scope of having “fun” and talented bands to include others, such as the Durango Funk Allstars who will be firing up the Disco Party this weekend.”

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Vail Getaway

Poolside Lunch at the Four Seasons in Vail

Phew! It’s been a busy six weeks filled with all kinds of travels for a variety of reasons.

I spent the first two weeks of July in Denver–sword-drawn–helping my brother battle cancer. (More on that at a later date.) On both ends of the trip, I sampled Colorado Greyhound service for the first time. (It’s much like I’ve found it to be on the East Coast:  colorful and crammed on certain trips, sparsely populated and cruise-y on others, all punctuated by sketchy wifi throughout.) Still, I feel that it often beats driving the approximate seven hours between Telluride and Denver. I wish train service was better along this route but that’s likely a dream for years to come. Shuttle service between these two destinations is sadly nonexistent as well.

Lots of People Traveling with Pets These Days

The first week of August I arrived back in Telluride from a whirlwind three-and-a-half-day trip to the East Coast to drop off my seventeen-year-old-cat Clara for an extended stay with my eighty-five-year-old mother–double phew! (Had my travels not been canceled due to weather on the outbound, it actually would have been a two-and-a-half-day trip.) Clara is a great traveler although it could all have ended poorly this time because she nudged her way out of the zippered closure of her carrier beneath the seat in front of me while mommy was catnapping. 

“Excuse me, miss. Is this your cat?” a kind-faced young man asked as he hovered over me in the aisle, cradling Clara in his arms. “She made her way to the back of the plane.” Fortunately the other passengers chuckled and I refrained from having a heart attack.

A Disgruntled Clara on Her Layover

I’ll was in T-ride less than a week before I headed back to upstate New York with her brother, Leo, another old kitty, a fluffy miniature lion-like orange tabby as his name indicates. Don’t ask–but know that only one pet per passenger is allowed in the cabin. Thankfully we’re all adaptable travelers. If only they could rack up frequent flier mileage, too!

TSA Hold Up with Leo’s Suspicious-Looking Kitty Litter

Leo: Old and Grumpy yet Very Happy to Be at Grandma’s

In the middle of all this movin’ and shakin’, I delighted in three lovely days in Vail, Colorado with my boyfriend, Steve. Ahhhh, yes, aside from the usual email checking, note taking and social media posting, it felt like a vacation, a much-needed one because as you can perhaps gather from the above, it has been a hectic year. 

Cheers to Getaways

We often have a summer getaway in Vail, largely because he has business meetings that take him there–he’s a hotel GM–and I tag along and do my travel writer thing and steal some quality time with him. As residents of Telluride, we regularly enjoy the many benefits of living in a beautiful mountain town, but as we all know, it’s different when you go someplace else, especially when you stay in a luxury hotel where neither of us has to get bogged down with daily household chores or catering to our four cats. (Yes, we each have two and together we formed the Brady Bunch cat family.)

Hotel Talisa Vail

This time we enjoyed our stay at the newly renovated Hotel Talisa (formerly Vail Cascade) within a smooth, style-y decor that made us feel oh-so pampered. The staff makes lots of efforts with the service as well, something that as a demanding hotel GM and travel writer, we inevitably test to the max. (Hint:  Always ask for a room change if you’re not quite happy with the one you’re given upon check in and don’t be afraid to suggest some kind of compensation–some sort of a gesture–if there’s a goof up during your stay.)

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Discovery Map Is Coming to Telluride

Me with Peter Hans and Laura Potter from Discovery Map

I love being a travel writer and sometimes I really love being a travel writer. As much as I like to write, the sitting on my butt part (whether in a desk chair or on my couch) can be rough. (Yes, I do stand sometimes but I don’t have a stand up desk per se.) 

So often the travel writing part I like the most is the research phase. That aspect of my job is even better when it involves lots of good connecting with people, great skiing and memorable food. Such was the case this winter when Discovery Map International came to Telluride to carry out an important phase of their map-making process. Yes, they came to Telluride because as of next fall, there will be a Telluride Discovery Map added to their community of over 150 maps within the United States and beyond.

Loving Raclette with Laura and My Boyfriend Steve

I’m happy to be involved in writing web content for this dynamic company. Read Fun Times in Map Making, a Map Geek story I wrote for them, to find out more of the back story that goes into the Discovery Map process and most especially how it all went down in Telluride.

Brian Lewis of Discovery Map Telluride

5 May 2018, 10:29am
Mountain Living Shopping:
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Comments Off on The Country Store on Main and Other Great Mother’s Day Shopping Recommendations

The Country Store on Main and Other Great Mother’s Day Shopping Recommendations

The Country Store on Main in Stowe, Vermont

An extraordinary kinship exists between mountain towns whether they be on the west coast, the east coast, somewhere in between or on the other side of the world. It’s the combination of charm, authenticity, history, culture, outdoorsy, down-to-earth vibes and much more that ties us together. Skiing, hiking, biking and lots of long moments by the fire contribute, too.

So it came as no surprise that I fell for Stowe, Vermont, an historic town tucked into the Green Mountains of Vermont, which I discovered last fall with my mother. I soon realized that Telluride and Stowe are very much connected, partly through the love of great skiing, the outdoors and sweet mountain vistas but also because Telluride’s former ski school director now runs Stowe Resort. (Small world! I guess I should add that Vail Resorts now owns Stowe, too.)

Yet perhaps what won me over the most was the shopping. I provide a nice overview of the various boutiques and emporiums that I discovered during my visit at Touring Country Stores in Stowe, Vermont with Mom and Vermont Country Shopping in Stowe, a Discovery Map piece I wrote. The Country Store on Main was one of the ones that stood out to me the most. And, of course, I was delighted to see that they have a beautiful website and online boutique.

Cristina Mink Surrounded by Her Ladies in Her Store

Burlap and Shine Tote

From elegant table arts, home décor items and linens to style-y totes, wraps and earrings for the ladies to gift ideas galore including watercolor scenes of Vermont to adorable little swaddling blankets for baby, there are so many lovely goods to choose from, all curated by shop owner Cristina Mink, a woman of exquisite taste. 

Truffle Honey

Vermont Goat’s Milk Soap

Colorful Wool Dryer Balls

And best of all, her online boutique–much like her store in Stowe–showcases products in a wide range of prices from cute and catchy, inexpensively-priced notepads to artisanally-made lamps that would long be treasured in any mountain home or farmhouse. 

Watercolor Cows

Transport yourself to Vermont and begin shopping at The Country Store on Main for Mother’s Day and all your other gift-giving occasions. If you’re like my mother and me, you’ll also have to pick up a couple of special items for yourself.

Type in the Promo code BONJOUR to receive 10% off your online purchases. 

For more wonderful online shopping purveyors that offer a 10% discount to Bonjour Colorado readers, visit my Online Shopping Page. All provide many unique gift ideas for Mother’s Day and the many other gift-giving occasions of spring such as weddings, anniversaries, graduations and Father’s Day. Don’t forget to pick up a little something for yourself or your pet, too.

Cycling More than Halfway Across the United States

Lindsey and Maggie at the Start of Route 66 in Chicago

It’s off season here in our mountain towns and many have headed out on big travels:  surfing in Costa Rica, digging at an archeological site in Peru and skiing in Chamonix, to name a few. I’ve stayed in Telluride to catch up on my writer’s life and take care of some personal business that was put on hold during the busy ski season. Plus, I like the quietude of off season and then going away to more hot and humid locales during the summer.

For now, I’m traveling vicariously through others in my writing, conversations with friends and interviews for Travel Fun, my radio show on travel based here in Telluride. Lindsey Mersereau, a Telluride local, and my guest on tonight’s program, airing at 6:30pm MST on KOTO, provided me with an especially ebullient interview. It’s no wonder she had the energy to pedal well over two thousand miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. She’s young, strong (both physically and mentally), enthusiastic and beautiful inside and out. What can I say? She’s a typical Telluride gal.

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