Bonjour Colorado

Oh Château Life!

A Perfect French Summer Scene: Colza Fields Blanketing the Château de la Motte d'Usseau Landscape

If you’ve caught any coverage of the Tour de France, you’ve seen some glorious shots of the French countryside dotted with fairy tale-looking castles and elegant manor houses.  Families still live in most of these impressive dwellings, many of whom have lived there for centuries.  And even better, some of these families of long lineage open up their stately residences to visitors on a nightly or even weekly basis. (Yes, you can easily rent your own château in France for your destination wedding, family reunion or other exciting event.)

Château du Fraisse, A Grand Property Near Limoges

But how do you go about connecting with these people, some of whom may be just familiarizing themselves with the Internet?  Enter Diane Ohanian, French château expert par excellence.  Diane created au Château some ten years ago, a company and e-newsletter that dials Americans into château life in France.  In my Travel Fun interview with Diane (and through her au Château Web site and newsletter), I’ve found her to be an incredible resource on French châteaux and on French life in general.  As an ardent Francophile for more than two decades, Diane has made it her mission to suss out some of the most glorious and welcoming abodes in the gallic land.  Indeed au Château is a great English-language resource for travelers looking to stay in historic places.

Room with a View at Château Sallandrouze and Many Other Châteaux

Click on the play button below to hear what Diane has to say about château life in France, French hosts and what she appreciates most about life in France.  Hint:  it has nothing to do with traffic jams and fast food.
 

Three châteaux have been featured in the above images including Château de la Motte d’Usseau, Château du Fraisse and Château Sallandrouze.  (For Château Sallandrouze, please check with Diane directly at inquiry@au-chateau.com for this property’s availability.)  Note that au Château boasts nearly eighty members on their site, so you have a variety of experiences to chose from in every corner of France.

Diane (on the left) with One of Her Hosts

Diane on the French as Hosts

“They’re excellent hosts, warm and friendly.  The nobility is nice, too.  Not at all condescending.  I hope it’s not a disappointment when they (travelers) find out that they (the noble families) are like everyone else.”

Book Pick

“The Paris Neighborhood Cookbook:  Danyel Couet’s Guide to the City’s Ethnic Cuisines,” by Danyel Couet and David Loftus

Listen to what Diane has to say about this book in the above interview.

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.

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.

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.

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

Talking Travel and Style with Kate Betts

Travel and style go together like form and functionality.  I had fun chatting about both and much more recently during a Travel Fun interview with Kate Betts, fashion and style editor extraordinare.  Kate has worked as the driving force at illustrious publications including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.  She has also written about fashion and style for the New York Times and is currently contributing editor at TIME Magazine. Kate and I met many, many years ago in Paris when she was an intern at the International Herald Tribune and I was operating Chic Promenade, a shopping service I had created in France. We share many interests, mutual French friends and a passion for France (although we do love to chuckle together about some of our pet peeves about la mentalité française!)

I was happy to snatch her for an interview during her March trip to Telluride.  Click on the play button below to hear what Kate has to say about style and travel.  As Kate says, “It matters what you look like, how you feel about yourself, how you present yourself.”  She provides beauty and packing tips that she uses on all her travels whether she’s off to the fashion shows in Milan or heading out to the Rockies for a ski vacation. I loved what she shared about visualization and I’ve already picked up her favorite all-purpose moisturizing cream that’s her special secret.

Listen to what she has to say about fashion editors.  I had to ask her if they’re all hung up on what they wear!  You’ll enjoy hearing her response along with her explanation about the difference between fashion and style.  People obsessed with fashion follow the crowd whereas style setters follow their own beat.

Kate’s latest project has been the researching and writing of a book about Michelle Obama, entitled “Everyday Icon:  Michelle Obama and The Power of Style.” “The way she has used style to set the tone has been very powerful for women,” Kate says.  ”Her voice has been her style.  She is the quintessential American woman.”  I felt lucky to get the scoop on all this since mine was the first interview Kate conducted about the book, to be published February 2011 by Clarkson Potter.  In our chat, Kate also talks about her impressions of our first lady and her charismatic husband.

Throughout our conversation, Kate refers many times to the French, especially in terms of their sense of style.  ”Style is something you have within you,” Kate says. I guess that’s why I often say that French women are born with the knowledge of how to tie a scarf.  They know how to properly apply their make up as well, being careful never to over do it, just like in Telluride.  Kate and I commented that we rarely do ourselves up in T-ride but we both smiled about having touched ourselves up a bit for our radio interview.  As Kate says, it does matter how you look, how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself, no matter where you are, right?

Click on the play button to hear lots more good stuff from Kate.

New Sheridan Hotel: Telluride’s Historic Gem

The New Sheridan Forever Backdropped by Our Majestic Peaks

Most towns and cities boast at least one landmark hotel that embodies the spirit of that destination.  Think of Claridge’s in London, Le Meurice in Paris, The Drake in Chicago and in Colorado, The Brown Palace in Denver, Hotel Jerome in Aspen, well you get the picture.  Here in Telluride, we’re blessed with the New Sheridan Hotel, a most historic property whose orgins date back to 1891, the beginning of the boom time in mining for this Rocky Mountain town.

Nina's New Look

I sat down with Ray Farnsworth, General Manager of the New Sheridan, just before the holidays to talk about why this property and Telluride in general are so special.  It has been just over a year that the New Sheridan completed its $8 million renovation and today it’s more alluring than I’m sure its founders ever hoped it would be.  World-renowned designer, Nina Campbell, incorporated rich, metallic materials and selected colors, fabrics and textures to create an atmosphere of warmth, comfort and pampering.  The result is an elegant establishment that has intelligently married this beloved property’s innate charm with modern design elements.

Fine Dining at Its Best

Nina’s touch may be seen and felt throughout every part of the hotel from its luxurious guestrooms to its glittering restaurants, The Chop House and The Parlor.  ”The New Sheridan is a very important building to Telluride,” Ray says. Certainly he and all the fans of this landmark property breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered how beautifully it has been preserved and polished up to meet the needs of today’s discerning patrons.

“The New Sheridan has been Telluride’s social epicenter for 117 years,” Ray says. And there’s no doubt that it’s more so than ever, especially in the case of the New Sheridan Bar which was rated as one of the ten hottest après ski bars in the world by Forbes Traveler.  Whether you’re just stopping by for a drink or have more well-thought out plans for a fine meal at The Chop House or a few day’s stay, the New Sheridan is indisputably a must-see in Telluride.

Click on the button below to listen to Ray and I talk about the New Sheridan and why Telluride is so special.

A Brief Summary of What Makes Telluride So Unique

-The nearest stoplight is still forty-five miles away.

-There are no fast food restaurants, big-box stores or national chain stores in town or the outlying area.  (No flashy neon signs either!)

-We have been especially well-served in spectacular scenery and sunshine.

-Much like in the mining days, men still outnumber women here, so ladies this is a great place for your girl’s trip.  The shopping and spa-going is excellent in Telluride, too.

-Mostly hippies lived in Telluride during the 1970s and today, thankfully, the town has retained much of its down-to-earth Bohemian spirit.

-The mountain descends right into the town which gives a whole new meaning to ski in/ski out.

-Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank down the street from the New Sheridan.

Note:  The Sheridan Opera House, just around the corner from the New Sheridan Hotel and the Chop House, is another not-to-be-missed establishment. You can read about it in my story Night Out in Telluride.

New Sheridan Hotel, 231 West Colorado Avenue, 800-200-1891 or 970-728-4351, www.newsheridan.com

One Last Round at the New Sheridan Bar