Colorado Music & Dance Telluride Telluride Festivals: Colorado Music & Dance Telluride Telluride Bluegrass Festival Telluride Festivals
by maribeth
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Telluride Bluegrass for All on KOTO
A Quintessential River View of Telluride Last Week Before the Crowds Arrived
Oh yeah, it’s that delightfully delicious time of year again. It’s warm and sunny, lush and green and the rivers are running as fast and deep as a Peter Rowan refrain on a summer solstice night. For many, this is the best time of year in Telluride, Colorado and by tomorrow the population of town will swell to its annual peak as festivarians disembark for the 41st annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Telluride The Rockies: Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Telluride The Rockies Weddings
by maribeth
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Colorado: A Stunning Place for Weddings
A Telluride Wedding by Merrick Chase
Graduations, anniversaries, engagements, weddings. ‘Tis the season for gatherings—big and small—to mark momentous occasions. I’ve noticed an influx of people from all over the country to Telluride to celebrate milestones, especially weddings, now that the weather has turned beautiful. Telluride, in fact, has become quite the place for destination weddings year-round with perhaps the exception of mid-spring since the leaves don’t typically pop until late May. I frequently meet people in and around Telluride and Telluride Mountain Village—often on the gondola which joins these two towns—that are here for a wedding. Many of the couples that opt to have weddings here and in other parts of Colorado have no particular attachment to the area except for their love of its beauty, the perfect backdrop for making a special day even more awe-inspiring.
Colorado Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Writing & Books: Colorado Mountain Living Mountainfilm Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Talking Wild with Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Looking Down at Crater Lake During Her Trek on the PCT
I consider a movie to be good when I find myself thinking about it the next day. My barometer is the same for a book although with most good reads I find myself thinking about them while I’m reading them as well as in the days or weeks after I finish them. That’s been the case with Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed, a superbly crafted memoir that dazzles your senses every step of the way. Her story moved me so much that I plan to read it again, something I never do. Although why wouldn’t I? From beginning to end, I was gripped by this powerful tale of transformation, this raw account of one woman’s life-changing journey both literally and figuratively. Plus, as I learned in Wild, Cheryl often reads books more than once, so I’m eager to crack hers second time around.
Podcast (bonjourcolorado): Play in new window | Download
Colorado Durango Four Corners Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Podcasts The Rockies: Colorado Durango Four Corners Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Podcasts The Rockies
by maribeth
Comments Off on Embracing Colorado Wilderness with Over the Hill Outfitters
Embracing Colorado Wilderness with Over the Hill Outfitters
The Great Colorado Outdoors: Where Life is Best Experienced from a Horse
Spring has finally sprung—full-on—here in Colorado and despite the fact that it snowed about ten days ago, this week the thermometer has been registering summertime temps. Roadways over the highest mountain passes are being plowed for passage and outfitters of all sorts are preparing for the influx of summer visitors. There’s still some snow to be cleared from the steep mountain trails, however, with the warmth of our southwestern Colorado sun, all our glorious wilderness will soon be open to locals and vacationers alike.
My fellow ski instructor buddies have taken up their summer posts as guides, landscapers or in my case, as a full-time writer, to name a few. Mother nature and all of us fortunate enough to live in this beautiful country are transitioning nicely into summer. At the end of ski season, I sat down with Dennis Huis, a top ski instructor at Telluride Ski & Snowboard School, to hear about his flip side, the job he’s been doing every summer for about as long as he’s been in ski school world.
Dennis talks about his work as a guide on pack trips with Over the Hill Outfitters in Durango, Colorado in my Travel Fun interview below. Click on the play button to listen to what he has to say about life on the trail. People from all over the world learn about the true definition of “getting away from it all” on these five-day horse trips into the Weminuche Wilderness, the largest wilderness area in Colorado which encompasses a significant part of the rugged San Juan Mountains, some of the most spectacular peaks in the United States.
Podcast (bonjourcolorado): Play in new window | Download
Beaver Creek Colorado Hotels & Lodging Music & Dance Spas: Beaver Creek Colorado Hotels & Lodging Music & Dance Spas
by maribeth
Comments Off on Keep the Beat Going with a Dancing with the Stars Pro in Colorado
Keep the Beat Going with a Dancing with the Stars Pro in Colorado
Smiles from the DWS Judges: Here’s to Fun and Dance
How about that “Dancing with the Stars” finale this week? Did you have your fill of beautiful moves, heart thumping music, flashy costumes and cheeky judges? No wonder this highly entertaining TV show on ABC has kept much of America enthralled for almost two decades. The creativity, athleticism and sheer vibe of the dance productions is incredibly inspirational and motivating. It’s, in fact, one of my secret desires to be a star on the show. Perhaps if I sell enough books, that will happen!
In the meantime, I guess the closest I—-or most anyone else—-can get to being a part of such a dynamic happening is to attend the Karina Smirnoff DanceFIT-KS workshop at The Westin Riverfront Beaver Creek June 13 through 15. Yes, this successful dancer/choreographer of ABC’s global hit “Dancing with the Stars,” will soon be here in Colorado to lead a unique, customized fitness experience that’s open to everyone including singles and couples of all ages and fitness levels. The classes are sure to be inspiring and physically effective because of this beauty and lifestyle expert’s signature approach to total body fitness. From a Meet & Greet cocktail party to a special screening of Across Grace Alley, a short film starring Karina, to Salsa, Cha Cha, cardio classes and more, this three-day event promises to provide many memorable moments.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Spas The Rockies: Colorado Hot Springs Hotels & Lodging Pagosa Springs Spas The Rockies
by maribeth
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Pagosa Paradise: A World-Class Hot Springs Destination
Pagosa Springs By Night
At the end of big Western travels that sliced through five Rocky Mountain states in the fall of 2001, I landed in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. And breathed a big sigh of contentment. It was the last stop on a three-week reconnaissance adventure with the goal of finding where to settle in the West. The tour extended from Montana to Wyoming to Utah to Arizona and then up to Colorado. On the heels of 9/11 and in the aftermath of an accumulation of personal upsets, the West beckoned this East Coast gal, yet I had little idea of where to go. I yearned for more sunshine, the great outdoors, the mentality and the lifestyle of the West, and there’s no doubt I was in need of healing. More than I even realized. And I think that’s largely why Pagosa Springs, Colorado resonated so strongly with me.
Less than three months later on January 1, 2002, I lumbered over Wolf Creek Pass at the Continental Divide with my partner at that time in a huge rental truck, nervous and excited about starting a new life in the West. In all, I lived a year and a half in Pagosa before moving to Telluride, Colorado where I’ve been for almost eleven years. Pagosa served as a wonderful introduction to my new life out West: its sunshine, spectacular scenery and low-key, hometown feel nurtured me immensely and there’s no doubt that Pagosa’s hot springs played a big role in helping me to gain a better sense of wellbeing. Each trip to the hot springs always made me feel renewed and refreshed, cleansed from the garbage that often bogs one down on the road called life.
Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Crested Butte Hotels & Lodging Spas: Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Crested Butte Hotels & Lodging Spas
by maribeth
Comments Off on Terrific Spa Experiences in Colorado’s Mountain Towns
Terrific Spa Experiences in Colorado’s Mountain Towns
Spa Anjali at The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain
Mother’s Day makes many of us think of pampering. I read somewhere that a gift certificate to a spa was one of the most popular Mother’s Day gifts offered. So keep that in mind next time you’re traveling with your favorite mom, even if that mom—or nurturing person—is you. Ladies or men—who doesn’t enjoy having their body and soul nourished by a soothing spa experience?
Here in the Rockies, spa going has become a big part of every mountain vacation year round. Whether you’re looking for just one fantastic therapeutic massage after a long day on the slopes or a big hike, or you decide to make a day of it, spa-going should be a necessary part of every mountain resort stay. Some of the spas are so fabulous that you’d be forgiven if you let the rest of your family or friends ski, ride, hike, bike or fish while you logged major relaxation time within such calming enclaves.
Aspen Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding: Aspen Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding
by maribeth
Comments Off on Closing the Ski Season in Aspen
Closing the Ski Season in Aspen
Relaaax…It’s Aspen
Smooth, silky, soothing, sultry, relaxing—that’s Aspen. And that’s how my ski season ended this year, and it was lovely. Just what I needed, too.
All kinds of celebrating from pond skimming in bikinis to dancing in ski boots typically take place on closing day at most ski resorts. Skiers and boarders in fun and crazy outfits cut loose as a way of toasting the end of a long ski season marked by few or many turns and often lots of hard work (in the case of those that work in ski towns). I celebrated Telluride’s closing day a month ago and enjoyed closing week festivities on the Front Range mid-April, so I had my share of end-of-the-season partying.
With the closing of its four mountains (Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Highlands and Snowmass), Aspen has certainly seen a lot of colorful merrymaking these past weeks. So it wasn’t surprising that this bonus weekend of skiing on Ajax was marked by a bunch of folks—mostly locals—primarily interested in cruising the slopes of their beloved mountain for the last time. Sure there was a smattering of tutus, tiger costumes and wacky wigs along with a vibrant assortment of flowered shirts and shorts, yet the scene was pretty tame. The emphasis was on the skiing; in this case beneath azure blue skies on what were surely the warmest days of the year thus far. (It hit 70 degrees in the town of Aspen on Sunday.) more »
