Breckenridge Colorado Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding The Rockies: Breckenridge Colorado Front Range Keystone Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding The Rockies
by maribeth
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Front Range Fun: Mountain Travel Symposium, Breckenridge and Keystone
Mountain Travel Movers and Shakers AKA T-ride’s Top GMs in the Powder Line at Breck
I’m back home after a terrific week on the Front Range of Colorado where I experienced three different ski resorts, a few nice restaurants and some fun hobnobbing with the folks attending Mountain Travel Symposium (MTS), the largest and longest-running annual gathering of travel professionals in the world. The conference took place in Breckenridge, which served as an excellent base for discovering one of the biggest ski resorts of the country, neighboring ski resorts and the surrounding area. (The drive over Hoosier Pass, just outside of Breck, upon arrival and departure was especially beautiful and one that I definitely recommend.)
Now I feel like I have more of a sense of this part of our Rocky Mountain state—less than a two-hour drive from Denver. The majestic scenery and near limitless options for fun and adventure in these mountains help me to understand why so many people plan their travels around Front Range destinations. Crowds can be a big drawback, however if you go in April, you can enjoy primo spring skiing on half-empty mountains where lift lines only occur on powder days.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding The Rockies: Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding The Rockies
by maribeth
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Powderhorn: For Family Fun and Great Skiing at Half the Price
Major Pow Wow in Powderhorn
We’re in the throes of spring break madness here at most Colorado ski resorts and frankly I’m left wondering how a family of four does it these days. Between the price of lift tickets, lunches, instruction and overall travel expenses, a family ski vacation in Colorado can represent as much as a down payment on a house. I’m fully appreciative of the ski getaways I did with my family when I was a kid but still we went mostly to down-home ski areas in western Massachusetts and upstate New York, all a far cry from the destination resorts of the West. Mom and Dad would pack my bunch of brothers and me into the station wagon along with a picnic basket loaded with Mom’s homemade submarine sandwiches and peanut butter cookies and off we’d go for a fun day on the slopes.
Not a ski day goes by that I don’t feel a pinch of nostalgia for those simpler times, so I was especially thrilled to discover Powderhorn Mountain Resort, a terrific little ski area on the western slope of Colorado just a short drive from Grand Junction. I skied there recently with my dear friend Paula, another northeastern gal who shares the same fond memories as I about family ski trips of a more modest scale, and was delighted to discover the many charms of this little-known resort. From the parkas and pants for rent at the ski shop, to the cubbies and lockers for boots and other belongings to the sack lunch room to the enormous deck at the Sunset Grille to the lift tickets at half the price of major resorts, I loved the vibe of this place from the get-go.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding Steamboat Springs Telluride The Rockies: Colorado Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Skiing & Snowboarding Steamboat Springs Telluride The Rockies
by maribeth
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Skiing Steamboat Powder
Skiing Fresh Pow in Steamboat
My Powder Hound
Woo-hoo! There’s nothing like skiing fresh powder, especially when it’s the nice champagne powder we have here in Colorado, the dry, glittering fluff you float through like a glider rollicking on air drafts above a mountain peak. We’ve been having wonderful winter snowstorms here in our Rocky Mountain state with snow totals reaching over two feet at most resorts within a twenty-four hour period at the end of last week and then another biggie that hit just yesterday. I was teaching skiing here in Telluride throughout the biggest pow period and although I wasn’t able to have the fun I’d have on my own, I did enjoy introducing some intermediate skiers to their first powder day—a whole different experience from skiing groomers.
I had the biggest powder day of my life almost a month ago in Steamboat Springs, a resort that’s been particularly well served in the fluffy white stuff this year. My boyfriend, Steve, and I hit it right and managed to arrive just ahead of road closures and other inconveniences caused by a very big dump. They had such a snow event in the area that people had a hard time finding their way to the slopes (especially if they had to cross Rabbit Ears Pass). Fortunately we were staying slopeside in the newly renovated Sheraton Steamboat Resort, the best property of its kind at this popular mountain destination both due to its superb location and the quality of the establishment and services provided. We were thrilled to find ourselves in a contemporary-styled, one-bedroom condo hotel unit where we were able to sprawl out for three days. (A ski trip always involves a lot of clothing and gear even if you’re a seasoned traveler staying for a short while.)
Colorado Food & Wine Hotels & Lodging Shopping The Rockies: Colorado Food & Wine Hotels & Lodging Palisade Shopping The Rockies
by maribeth
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Perfectly Palisade: Colorado’s Wine Country
The View from Canyon Wind Cellars
What a wintery time it has been here in Colorado! It even snowed on the western slope in Palisade/Grand Junction, an area known as the bread basket/banana belt of the state where it’s typically twenty degrees warmer than in the mountains. I did a getaway there with a friend over the weekend and reveled in exploring Colorado’s wine country; I loved seeing the vines beneath a frosty blanket of white. Vineyards the world over are picturesque, however, I find the contrast of the rows and rows of vines backdropped by the dramatic, buff-colored rock towers and cliffs here—known as the Book Cliffs—especially striking.
Colorado Colorado Springs Music & Dance Outdoor Adventures The Rockies Travel: Colorado Colorado Springs Music & Dance Outdoor Adventures The Rockies Travel
by maribeth
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America the Beautiful and Pikes Peak Cog Railway
Pikes Peak Cog Railway
In honor of Election Day, I thought I’d write about what’s really great about America—aside from our great democratic process. I could list a lot, but here I’d like to report on our breathtaking scenery, our magnificent vistas. There’s so much of it from sea to shining sea and most definitely here in the Rocky Mountain West. It was indeed from atop Pikes Peak, the 14,115-foot mountain in Colorado’s Front Range, just ten miles from Colorado Springs, that thirty-six-year-old English professor Katherine Lee Bates found inspiration for the poem “Pikes Peak” in 1893. This work would eventually be modified a few times over to become “America the Beautiful,” our National Hymn.
Colorado Colorado Springs Hotels & Lodging Restaurants Shopping Spas The Rockies: Colorado Springs Shopping
by maribeth
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The Broadmoor: My Favorite Fall Getaway
The Bodacious Broadmoor at Twilight
Sometimes I feel so spoiled. Sure, the writer’s life that I’ve chosen is not an easy one, but there are many perks. And being the girlfriend of a hotel GM just doubles my luck, especially when it comes to experiencing luxury lodging, fine dining and unique travel opportunities. Take The Broadmoor, for example, the grande dame of the Rockies situated in Colorado Springs, Colorado where I’ve practically become a regular. Well, at least every October.
My love, Steve Togni, GM of Mountain Lodge Telluride, just announced to me the other day that he wants me to accompany him to this stellar resort again this year toward the end of the month. Well, I guess that takes the sting out of not making it to France as we had hoped. (A sick kitty has impeded those plans.) So this will be my fourth time accompanying him to this superlative property known throughout the world and my fifth visit in all. (I came once on my own steam before we were together.)
Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Durango Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride The Rockies Travel Trip Planning: Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Durango Hotels & Lodging Mountain Living Skiing & Snowboarding Telluride The Rockies Trip Planning
by maribeth
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Fall in Colorado: A Beautiful Time for Sightseeing and Winter Travel Planning
Fall in Telluride
Fall in Aspen
As you can see from the photos featured in this post, we are in full fall splendor here in Colorado. The foliage is peaking now, yet there’s still a lot of green on the trees. So it should remain beautiful in the mountains for another few weeks. Now we’ve entered the autumnal phase of white beginning to replace the gold, russet, burnt umber and bronze that currently punctuate our alpine panoramas. Yes, as the snow fills in, this harvest of fall colors fades into the landscape and we’re left increasingly hopeful about the opening of our ski resorts and the promise of the winter season in the Rockies.
Colorado Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Shopping The Rockies: Colorado Hotels & Lodging Leadville Outdoor Adventures Shopping The Rockies
by maribeth
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Lovely Leadville
Leadville, Colorado
Biking Fun In and Around Leadville
Delaware Hotel: The Grande Dame of Leadville
While I’m enjoying some time with my parents in the Adirondacks, I’ve been marveling at the Facebook posts from friends and contacts in Colorado—an avalanche of images documenting the recent snowstorm across the Rockies. The first big snow always creates a stir, mostly since this indicates that ski season is only a handful of storms away.
From my viewpoint here in upstate New York alongside a glorious lake that I took a dip in just the other day (not intentionally mind you, but that’s another story), I shiver at the idea of snow. Yet when I think twice, the thought of it does excite me—even from afar—mostly because I do love to ski and also because there’s nothing like a crisp, white snowfall to top off an autumnal scene. The trees have barely begun to change in Colorado, so these sugar-coated panoramas will only intensify within the upcoming weeks.
To me, fall, a terrific season for hiking, biking and touring, may best be savored in a quaint town steeped in history, surrounded by an abundance of natural beauty. This describes a good number of destinations in Colorado, however, here I’m focusing on Leadville, an old mountain town I visited last summer and enjoyed immensely.
