Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books: Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Bike Race Spectating, Colorado Touring, Book Promoting, Travel Adventures Galore Oh My
Taking a Break from Book Promoting Along the Barriers at the Vail Time Trial of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge
“Have you decided what you’d like to order?” the server of Spencer’s, the signature restaurant of Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, asked me.
“I’ll have the snake,” I said.
When he looked at me in a bewildered manner, I realized my words weren’t matching my thoughts and then I corrected my order. “Oh, I meant to say steak. Yes, steak. I’m sorry, I’m just so weary.”
“No problem,” he replied and seemingly just minutes later I was served one of the most succulent steaks ever. I gobbled it down along with a heap of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and a big gulp of red wine. I felt exhausted and much in need of sustenance and this unassuming restaurant delivered.
My Travel Memoir/Love Story that Features France and Highlights Colorado
I had been on the road a few days by the time I reached Breckenridge and realized that following a major sporting event, especially one that changes locales daily required a lot of hustling about, but then adding a book promo tour to it was like doubling town. I had been busy much of the summer promoting my new book, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, although I saved the biggest push for the end when I’d scheduled a number of events and publicity opportunities in conjunction with the USA Pro Challenge, a major bike race which was marking its third year in Colorado. It seemed like a good fit, so why not give it a go? My core audience seems to be made up of outdoor enthusiasts and discriminating travelers, just the kind of people you find showing up for this big cycling event, especially in Aspen, Beaver Creek and Vail.
I set out in Misty, my old 1993 Subaru with over 250,000 miles to her credit, late Sunday, August 18, for Redstone, Colorado, a delightful little mountain town just under an hour from Aspen. From Telluride, the drive ranks as one of the finest in Colorado, punctuated by bucolic farmland scenery in and around Paonia and dramatic mountain vistas up and over McClure Pass. I arrived at the warm and cozy Redstone Inn to find its bar and restaurant bustling with Sunday evening diners.
Colorado Pet-Friendly Travel Telluride Travel: Colorado Pet-Friendly Travel Telluride Travel
by maribeth
Comments Off on Traveling Like a Pampered Pet and Other Tales from the Road
Traveling Like a Pampered Pet and Other Tales from the Road
Tino and DaVinci at Home at Country Lodge Montrose
DaVinci Warming Up My Bed
Ahhhhh, travel. It often means the best of times and the worst of times—typically all within the same day. Living in Telluride, Colorado, a remote mountain town, poses added challenges, especially when it comes to airports and airlines. On the plus side, the Montrose/Telluride airport is small and easy to deal with—the kind of place where you can get away with showing up just minutes before boarding your flight. The hour-and-a-half drive there from Telluride also ranks as one of the most scenic in the country—perhaps the world—affording dramatic views of 14,000 foot peaks and sprawling ranches right out of a Ralph Lauren advertisement. (Actually you do drive by the Double RL Ranch, Ralph and Ricky Lauren’s spread, on your way to Telluride from Montrose.) Also, once you arrive in T-ride and discover the raw beauty of this unspoiled place, the fact that there’s not a stoplight within fifty miles or a big box store or other signs of “the masses,” you realize the effort required to get there is more than worth it. The advantages to finding paradise in a remote locale are innumerable, particularly in the winter when visitors and locals alike praise the mountain for its many fine qualities including the fact that you ski or ride right up to the lift at Telluride Ski Resort without even having to pause long enough to snag a Kleenex in line.
Colorado Cycling French Provinces Podcasts Telluride Travel Trip Planning: Colorado Cycling French Provinces Podcasts Telluride Travel Trip Planning
by maribeth
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Cobbles & Corks: A Boutique Bike Touring Company
Bike Touring Through Alsace with Cobbles & Corks
Alsace in Its Rosy Splendor
Food, wine, travel, bicycling—now that’s a recipe for a successful trip. Add France as the destination, a Frenchman with local ties that has lived in the U.S. for over two decades and his wife that draws on her experience in the hospitality industry, and you’ve found an excellent formula for a very special trip. The bike touring company Cobbles & Corks is even cooler than that since owners Bertrand and Laura Marchal live in Telluride, Colorado, a town known for hosting a good time in drop dead gorgeous surroundings.
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Colorado Denver Hotels & Lodging Pet-Friendly Travel The Rockies The Southwest Travel Utah: Colorado Denver Hotels & Lodging Pet-Friendly Travel The Rockies The Southwest Travel Utah
by maribeth
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Dogs on Vacation
DaVinci & Valentino
Mighty Valentino Testing Out the Red Rock in Moab, Utah
Warning: This story includes tons of adorable photos of pups.
Woof, woof. Bark, bark. I’ve never seen so many happy dogs in my life as those that have padded, trotted and trounced through our little mountain town of Telluride, Colorado these past weeks. Little, big, short-haired, long-haired, well-groomed or scruffy, they all have an air de vacances, a certain joie de vivre that makes it clear they’re happy to be a part of their mom and dad’s vacation as well.
As a confirmed cat person, I hadn’t had much experience traveling with dogs up until over a year ago when I went on a road trip with my friend Mary Dawn (MD) and Valentino, her beautiful Bernese Mountain dog. Our travels, which I recount in my story, Travels with Valentino, culminated with the choosing of DaVinci, a new brother for Tino. As of last fall, we thought DaVinci was big enough to accompany us on a couple more trips: one to Moab and Salt Lake City, Utah; the other to Denver, Beaver Creek and the Vail Valley. I tell you, these dogs get around. And wherever they go, they are greeted with a fanfare of enthusiasm that makes me happy to just be tagging along. Here are some of the highlights from the best pet-friendly properties we visited on our jaunts:
Art & Culture Colorado Four Corners Hotels & Lodging Telluride The Southwest Travel Utah: Art & Culture Colorado Four Corners Hotels & Lodging Telluride The Southwest Travel Utah
by maribeth
Comments Off on The Lone Ranger Showcases Monument Valley, Southwest Colorado and More
The Lone Ranger Showcases Monument Valley, Southwest Colorado and More
The Lone Ranger and Tonto in Monument Valley
“Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!”
Such are the famous words shouted by the Lone Ranger as this masked man gallops off on Silver, his handsome white stallion, the same words shouted by kids throughout the decades as they head off on an adventure. Ever since the original radio show aired in 1933, through the popular TV series of the forties and fifties, across the pages of comic books and then highlighted in films, “Hi-Yo Silver!” has captured the excitement and dashing spirit of the West for the better part of a century.
Paris Podcasts Travel Writing & Books: Paris Podcasts Travel Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on Don George: Leading Travel Writer, Editor and Travel Writers Conference Founder
Don George: Leading Travel Writer, Editor and Travel Writers Conference Founder
Don George
“The more we travel, the bigger we become,” says Don George in our Travel Fun interview below. This leading travel writer and editor is certainly not referring to added poundage. Instead, in our half-hour chat, Don talks about how travel can expand one’s view of the world, whether you’re actually on the road or reading about a journey in a book or a story.
I met this influential force in travel writing about seven years ago when I attended the Travel Writers & Photographers Conference at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. Don founded this now-renowned conference twenty-two years ago with Elaine Petrocelli, the owner of this fine independent bookstore, when he was travel editor at the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. I felt drawn to him by his passion for travel and his keen desire to share his knowledge and expertise of the travel writer trade with others. When I learned that Don George was a major Francophile, I became even more of a fan.
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Being Green Colorado Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel: Being Green Colorado Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel
by maribeth
Comments Off on Mountainfilm, The Last Ocean and Travel to Antarctica
Mountainfilm, The Last Ocean and Travel to Antarctica
The Last Ocean Penguin
I’m grateful to live in Telluride, Colorado, a town that’s both environmentally aware and full of social consciousness. We’re far from perfect, although as I travel to other parts of the world, I realize how down-to-earth and forward-thinking most of us Telluriders are and how that effects the way in which we live. From our desire to embrace the outdoors on a daily basis to championing a cause such as eliminating the use of plastic bags, most of us live more tuned in to our little slice of paradise—as well as the rest of the world—each and every day.
Mountainfilm, an important Telluride festival founded thirty-five years ago, is perhaps part of the reason for this awareness. Or, maybe it’s the reverse in that Mountainfilm is able to flourish in Telluride, a community that greatly values the outdoors and being a steward of your surroundings. Regardless, Mountainfilm and Telluride go hand-in-hand and whether here in T-ride or on the road, Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter both in Telluride, Colorado and all over the planet.
There’s so much to glean from Mountainfilm that it’s hard to zero in on one particular film, talk or art exhibit. I typically do, however, and this year “The Last Ocean,” a documentary about the last most pristine body of water on earth, touched me the most. From the opening scene of a penguin scampering across the blinding-white ice to glorious views of whales, seals and other remarkable creatures frolicking in crystal-clear water, I dove into this film with great enthusiasm. As the film played on, I became increasingly heartbroken about how man is impacting this seemingly unspoiled sea, known as the Ross Sea, located in the Southern Ocean. I learned that although Antarctica, the land mass that borders the Ross Sea, is protected by international accords, the water surrounding it is not. Sadly, commercial fishing has made its mark in recent years, so much so, in fact, that this remarkable marine ecosystem is now in peril.
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Colorado Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel: Colorado Outdoor Adventures Podcasts Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel
by maribeth
Comments Off on Hawkeye Johnson: Guide, Hiker, Filmmaker and Telluride Adaptive Sports Program Fundraiser Extraordinaire
Hawkeye Johnson: Guide, Hiker, Filmmaker and Telluride Adaptive Sports Program Fundraiser Extraordinaire
Hawkeye AKA Michael Johnson
“Working as a prison guard makes you appreciate life’s freedoms even more,” says Michael AKA Hawkeye Johnson. Hawkeye’s job as a prison guard for over two decades drives him in both his work with TASP (Telluride Adaptive Sports Program) as well as in his creative and outdoor endeavors. Clearly, he’s a guy that’s determined to help people make the best use of their lives, no matter what’s thrown their way.
Is it possible to embrace the great outdoors after you’ve suffered a life-changing injury? Damn right it is and through Hawkeye’s work with TASP and his two films, “Off the Hook” and “Load Bearing,” we see that people can live fully regardless of their special needs. Hawkeye teamed up with fellow filmmaker and TASP volunteer Craig Stein for both films, shorts which premiered on separate occasions at Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado.
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