Arizona Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures The Southwest Tours Utah: Goulding's Lodge Monument Valley Monument Valley Tribal Park Tours
by maribeth
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Touring Iconic Monument Valley
Deep Within Monument Valley
We’ve delighted in exceptionally warm and sunny weather these past five to six weeks here in Colorado. And the colors have been glorious. A cold front blew in over the weekend, however, and now most of the trees are bare. It’s been raining a lot these past twenty-four hours and although the peaks are capped in white, our mountain landscapes appear ready for a big snowstorm. Let’s hope the fluffy white stuff starts piling up from here on out and that we have a great ski season in Telluride and the rest of Colorado.
Until that happens though, many Coloradans will be heading to the desert; it’s not far for most of us and it’s a great way to extend summer. Plus, the crowds of tourists have dispersed, which makes experiencing these wondrous places of nature more enjoyable. I’ve taken some of my best trips to Utah, Arizona and New Mexico during the fall and spring and I’m sure I’ll hit the road to one of my favorite Southwestern destinations within the next few weeks as well.
Monument Valley Is Calling Me
Touring Monument Valley with Goulding’s
Less than a four-hour drive from southwest Colorado, Monument Valley, one of America’s most spectacular sites, is one of my top choices. Situated both in Arizona and Utah, the panoply of sun-baked reds, russets, ochres and golds of the monuments appears even more magical beneath the burnished glow of autumn. In Touring the Southwest with My Parents, you can read about a trip I took to this part of the West with my parents during fall a while back. My parents loved it although I think they might have thought I was a little crazy with all my oohing and aahing. But at least I didn’t let my commentaries interfere with the solitude one feels at such an awe-inspiring place.
Colorado Durango Four Corners Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living: Blue Lake Ranch charming country inn Colorado lodging Durango lodging Mesa Verde
by maribeth
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Blue Lake Ranch: A Hidden Gem in Southwest Colorado
Blue Lake Ranch
The Iconic Sleeping Ute Mountain in Southwest Colorado
I Love Sunflowers
I love living in southwest Colorado. Here in Telluride we’re in a high alpine world surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks, yet within an hour’s drive you find yourself in more arid, Western-looking landscapes sporting temperatures almost twenty degrees warmer. That’s a welcome relief this time of year when most people want to extend summer as much as possible.
Blue Lake Ranch
About this time last year I discovered a wonderful guest ranch that I didn’t know existed: Blue Lake Ranch. And what a discovery it was!
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Telluride Telluride Festivals: bars Hotel Restaurants Telluride Telluride Film Festival Telluride Film Festival for the Budget Traveler
by maribeth
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A Local’s Take on the Telluride Film Festival and How to Do TFF on the Cheap
TFF: Great Films in a Spectacular Setting
“Aren’t you tired of seeing movies?” my Hunny asked me as I rolled in last night after the last film of the After the Festival Telluride Film Festival viewings.
“No, you know how I love movies, Hun. Plus, I only saw eight over the span of five days. Some people see that many within the first two days of the festival.”
Still, I’m happy that Film Festival has passed. Just like every other festival in Telluride, it represents a workout of sorts. There’s always so much to take in and experience, whether you’re working it or attending it or doing some combination of both (as is the case with most Telluridians); it’s physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. But it’s still pretty fantastic.
Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Travel: best seafood Digby Pines ferry to Canada Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel Inverary Resort Liscombe Lodge MacKinnon-Cann Inn maritime vacation Nova Scotia Nova Star
by maribeth
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Nova Scotia Highlights
The Scallop Boat Fleet in Digby
Beddeck on Cape Breton Island
I’m high on Nova Scotia. Really. I recently spent seven days and seven nights in this Maritime province of Canada and I’m busting to tell the whole world about it. Really.
One of a Gazillion Little Boats I Admired in Nova Scotia
Ready for the Bay of Fundy Tides: The Biggest in the World
Lunenberg Loveliness
If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a big storyteller. And I can’t wait to share my travels in Nova Scotia with you. For now though, I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let my pictures tell the story. Hopefully they will be enough to entice you to begin pondering a trip to this charming destination. Spring, summer and fall rank as the best times to go although I’d love to see this endearing land beneath a blanket of snow as fierce gale winds blow in from the Atlantic.
Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants The Outer Banks Travel: #AffordableTravel #BeachVacations #CapeHatterasNationalSeashore #OuterBanks #SummertimeFun
by maribeth
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Another Wonderful Visit to the Outer Banks
The Outer Banks of North Carolina
I recently spent a week at the beach with my boyfriend, Steve. We were on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX), one of the most alluring surf side destinations in the world, and a spot he has been frequenting for almost three decades.
So Pretty
Almost There
Steve’s an avid beach enthusiast and I love the fact that he can just as easily appreciate lounging in a sun-baked dune as catching a ten-foot wave in the surf. Depending on the season and the weather patterns, you can find big swells in the waters off of Nags Head, Rodanthe, Hatteras, Frisco, and a slew of other OBX surf spots revered by surfers and beach aficionados from around the world.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Telluride: discounted price Inn at Lost Creek KOTO fundraising Telluride Golf Telluride Golf Getaway
by maribeth
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Terrific Telluride Golf Getaway at a Great Deal
Telluride Golf Course
How would you like to play a round of golf at Telluride Golf Club, one of the world’s most drop-dead gorgeous golf courses for half price? And to make your Telluride golf experience even sweeter, you can stay–also at half price–just a zinger away from the course at the Inn at Lost Creek, Telluride Ski & Golf’s boutique hotel. A golf cart will pick you up in the morning from this lovely property located in the heart of Telluride Mountain Village and bring you back at the end of the day in time for a frosty drink on the deck to toast your après golf. (How about that for coining a new phrase?)
Both the round of golf for two at the Telluride Golf Club and the night at the Inn at Lost Creek can be yours for $300.–that’s half the $600. value. Whoa, if you’re not going for it–tell your friends! Best of all, all proceeds go to KOTO, Telluride’s homegrown community radio station. Thank you Telluride Ski & Golf Resort for your most generous donation to our fundraising efforts.
Arizona Hotels & Lodging Restaurants The Southwest: Elements fine dining Jade Bar luxury resort night scene Phoenix Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort specialty cocktails
by maribeth
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A Scintillating Sanctuary in Phoenix
Sultry Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa
Elements: Where the Quality of the Views Rival the Food
It has been cold, rainy, snowy and windy here in Telluride, Colorado all week. I don’t mind because we always need moisture in the West and it’s also good catch-up-at-my-desk weather. But still, I can’t help daydreaming about more sunny, hot-as-a-baked-potato-fresh-out-of-the-oven environs.
I’m letting my thoughts drift to the desert, the Sonoran Desert to be exact, which I’m sure is in glorious bloom right now. Heating up nicely, too. I enjoyed a terrific visit there–within greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Carefree–last summer with my mom, my fourth trip to that part of Arizona since I was young. And each time, I love it even more. Yes, we went last summer. It was a sunbaked sojourn and we reveled in it. (You just have to make sure you’re not basking in the sun during the heat of the day.)
France Hotels & Lodging Paris Trip Planning: Hôtel d'Orsay Hôtel Le Saint-Grégoire Left Bank hotels Paris boutique hotels
by maribeth
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Paris Update: Two Lovely Left Bank Hotels
Moi on a Recent Trip to Paris
It’s that time of year again–springtime in Paris. Not only is it a beautiful time to visit the French capital, but it’s also when a lot of people–many of whom I only vaguely know through social media or elsewhere–contact me for recommendations for Paris and other parts of France. I try to graciously tell them that they will find a wealth of hotel, restaurant, shopping, sightseeing and general information as well as a treasure trove of all kinds of tidbits in my books The Riches of Paris: A Shopping and Touring Guide and The Riches of France: A Shopping and Touring Guide to the French Provinces. But still, they want some insider tips directly from me. The irony of that escapes me, since I am the author of those books as well as a travel memoir entitled A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France.
So for the sake of appeasing my potential Paris travelers and out of love for the city in which I lived over eleven years, I’ve decided to start posting more on Paris and the French provinces here at my blog. Hotel recommendations are a good place to start and below you will find two of my longtime favorites.
