Tagged: colorado travel

The Denver Food Blog

Denver, Colorado, an emerging foodie travel destination. Photo credit: VISIT DENVER, The Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Foodie and mountain traveler? If you head to Denver, Colorado, the city has an exciting culinary scene with microbreweries, farm-to-table dining and new restaurants.

After booking your hotel and flights to Denver, research Denver dining at new blog EatDrinkDenver.com, launched by VISIT DENVER, the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The new blog is devoted to “all things food and drink” in and around the Mile High City. On this interactive website, readers can share their Denver food tasting adventures and discoveries.

Well-known Denver food expert Lori Midson is the editor of EatDrinkDenver.com. She will collaborate with Denver food writers and bloggers who will provide content for the blog.

The site offers comments and information (not restaurant reviews) about Denver and Colorado food products; food, beer & wine festivals and food-related experiences.

“Culinary tourism is on the rise because visitors want to eat and drink local – they want to shop at farmers’ markets, taste local cheeses and breads, or sip a local beer,” says Richard Scharf, president & CEO of VISIT DENVER

“Visitors and locals alike want to know about the innovative local chefs and regional specialties…Denver has had a boom in the distillery and brewery scene, and many of the products can only be sampled in Colorado tasting rooms and bars. EatDrinkDenver tells you where to find these one-of-a-kind locales.”

“Tours of farms where goat cheese is made or buffalo ranches where bison roam free are an interactive – and educational – way for visitors to immerse themselves in the region’s culture.”

The Denver food blog has five categories:

Farm Fresh / Specialty Food Stores: Highlights produce and dairy products in Colorado, including tips on where to get the best items;

Beer / Wines / Spirits: Features the world of Colorado microbreweries, wineries and distilleries;

Food Festivals / Events: Highlights Denver’s best food events from signature events like Denver Restaurant Week to cultural/culinary festivals like the Greek Festival;

Chefs: Profiles the chefs behind Denver’s best restaurants, including Q&A’s, recipes and

Street Food: Covers Denver’s lively street food scene, including local food truck events such as Civic Center EATS.

For more information, visit EatDrinkDenver.com.

10 Mountain Driving Tips

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An open mountain road beckons: Colorado National Parks Highway.

Mountain travelers worldwide take summer mountain road trips every year.

They may choose car hire and guided tours like the new Colorado tour with UK travel company Bon Voyage Travel and Tours.

Or mountain travelers may go on independent tours of mountain places like California’s Sierra High-Pass Country.

This stunning region is known for its soaring granite peaks, clear blue lakes, charming small towns and scenic roads in the High Sierra.

Heading north to Bear Valley, mountain adventurers will enjoy Lake Alpine and dozens of lakes for exploring, hiking, mountain biking, climbing and kayaking.

On California’s Highway 89, the drive around Lake Tahoe to North Lake Tahoe is considered one of the most scenic drives in the United States.

Are you planning a summer mountain road trip? Here are 10 Mountain Driving Tips:

Choose a SUV for safer mountain travel.
Pack a survival bag with blanket, candle, matches, energy bars, water, flashlight, flares, booster cables and shovel.
Plan your route ahead by checking out mountain weather websites to avoid bad weather and road conditions.
Prepare for navigation with GPS, maps and compass.
Take a car charger for your mobile phone.
Tell friends and family your mountain destination, itinerary and arrivals/departures.
Bring bear spray and a whistle for potential wildlife encounters.
Fill up your gas tank and keep an eye on your fuel gauge.
For high mountain travel, carry a set of tire chains for snow.
Mountain weather changes frequently so wear mountain boots and have mountain clothing handy.

Image courtesy of Colorado Tourism Office.

This is a Guest Post.

Top Mountain Movies

Mountainfilmcold Top Mountain Movies

Cold. Photo via Mountainfilm.

Mountainfilm wrote this guest post on top film picks at this year’s festival.

Next week, Mountainfilm will kick off its 33rd annual festival in Telluride, Colorado, May 27-30, 2011.

Started in 1979, Mountainfilm in Telluride is one of America’s longest-running film festivals.

Through the years, in and out of trends and fads, the festival has always been best described by one unchanging word: inspiring. Far more than any other adjective, that’s how festival audiences describe their experience.

This year, the festival boasts a solid list of films, many focused on mountain-inspired themes. Here are two of our top picks:

Cold trailer. Video via Mountainfilm.

Cold

Ascending an 8,000-meter peak is never easy. In winter, with temperatures plummeting to 30 below and colder and with snowstorms raging, it is nearly unthinkable.

In fact, of the seventeen efforts to ascend an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan in winter only one has been successful. That winter ascent of Gasherbrum II by Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards is the subject of Cold.

Filmed by Richards and written from his perspective, this is a very personal and frank portrayal of the risks and rigors of high-altitude mountaineering, in this case intensified by the choice of calendar date—fully three months ahead of the standard Himalayan season.

There’s crazy; and then there’s cold crazy. Moro, Urubko and Richards clearly pitch their tents in the latter camp. Of the three, only Richards—the first American to ever achieve an 8,000-meter winter ascent anywhere—seems concerned by the madness.

Mountainfilmtowers of the ennedi Top Mountain Movies

Towers of the Ennedi. Photo via Mountainfilm.

Towers of the Ennedi

Renan Ozturk heads to the remote and sun-flattened landscape of the Ennedi Desert in northeastern Chad.

It’s a hot, sand-scoured and unfriendly place, but from its vast belly rise clusters of spires, towers and rock formations that are breathtakingly lovely.

In Towers of the Ennedi, Ozturk and veteran climber Mark Synnott—known more for his far-flung adventures than his technical accomplishments—bring young climbing stars Alex Honnold and James Pearson to the Ennedi to explore its untouched landscapes.

Together, Synnott, Honnold and Pearson endure a long, bumpy drive across the sand flats of a godforsaken country to reach an incredible destination: gardens of towers filled with graceful fingers of rock, bottle-shaped formations and lithe arches. With its stark and poetic footage of camels and rock, as well as jarring images of unpleasant travels, this film shows that sometimes you can have just as many adventures trying to reach your destination as you can have once you get there.

Towers of the Ennedi trailer. Video courtesy via Mountainfilm.

Check out the full film list here. And if you can’t make it to Telluride, see if the films will be coming to you with Mountainfilm World Tour.

This is a Guest Post.

A Mountain Road Trip

ColoradoNationalParksHighway 682x1024 A Mountain Road Trip

National Parks Highway.

Colorado is a stunning summer mountain road trip destination.

The Rocky Mountain state has 54 mountain peaks topping 14,000 feet, natural hot springs, four major rivers, lakes and reservoirs and nine national parks and monuments.

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National Parks Mesa Verde.

UK travel company Bon Voyage Travel and Tours has created a new 13-day guided tour of Colorado.

Arriving in Denver, the mile high city, guests have an evening of culture and dining and shopping before they head to ski resort town Aspen in the Elk Mountains.

In the summer, Aspen offers many summer activities including jeep tours, hiking, biking and art galleries and boutiques.

Then the tour heads to Glenwood Springs at the confluence of the Roaming Fork River and the Colorado. Glenwood Springs is known for the world’s largest hot springs swimming and the Yampah Spa Vapour Caves.

The next stop is Grand Junction, home of Colorado’s fine wines and the National Monument.

Guest can tour the region’s vineyards, sample wines and learn about wine making.

Then they head to the historic town of Telluride, famed for the first bank robbed by Butch Cassidy.

En route to Cortez, they can visit Mesa Verde National Park and learn about the ancient Pueblo people.

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National Parks Garden of the Gods.

A short drive away is the historic mining town of Durango where guests can experience the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railroad through the Rockies.

The last stop is Colorado Springs and its must-see attraction, the Garden of the Gods where guests can hike, bike, drive or even segway.

A visitor center highlights the area’s geology and cultural history with a HD theatre and 30+ free exhibits.

Back in Denver, guests can sample the latest from the city’s microbreweries and shop at Cherry Creek Outlet Mall.

For more info, visit the Bon Voyage site.

Images courtesy of Colorado T0urism Office.

Photo, River & Nature

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Utah’s Green River from a vantage point just below the canyon rim.

Fancy exploring Utah’s Green River Wilderness?

Then take a look at the new photography workshop being lead by photographer John Fielder and hosted by Bill Dvorak’s Kayak & Rafting Expeditions.

A portion of the August 26-September 1, 2011 trip on Utah’s Green River will benefit the National Wildlife Federation.

Considered Colorado’s premier landscape photographer, Fielder and the rafting outfitter will give beginner to advanced photographers the chance to hone their skills and challenge themselves on 86 miles of scenic whitewater.

NWF says it will commit a major portion of the funds to support its oil and gas, climate change and wildlife protection programs throughout the United States.

This trip will begin in Grand Junction, Colorado on August, 26, 2011 with a pre-trip slideshow and dinner hosted by Fielder and the NWF.

The next day, participants will fly to the river put-in along Utah’s Green River.

Over six days and five nights, they will take on 60 Class II-III rapids, one-on-one-instruction and sunrise and sunset photo shoots.

Says Bill Dvorak, company founder and owner:

“This is an excellent opportunity for anyone to learn from a legendary nature photographer while helping the nation’s leading wildlife conservation organization on a river trip through one of the West’s most spectacular and remote wild river wilderness areas.”

For more information, visit the Dvorak Expeditions site.

Here are more scenes from Green River Utah:

Green River1 Photo, River & Nature

A short hike overlooks a bend in the Green River – Desolation Canyon, Utah.

Afternoon sun catches the canyon wall above two rafts on the Green River, Utah.

Images courtesy of Western River Expeditions.

Luxury In Vail, Colorado

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The Ritz-Carlton Club in Vail, Colorado. Photo credit: PRNewsFoto/Marriott International.

The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club will open its 10th Club in Vail, Colorado.

This new club is located at the base of Vail Mountain in LionsHead Village and neighboring the banks of Gore Creek.

With two-, three- and four-bedroom residences, the club will feature Vail’s traditional Bavarian-style architecture.

The property will offer the comforts you’d expect from a timeshare along with The Ritz-Carlton personalized services and amenities.

Club luxuries will include:

Dedicated concierge staff such as a ski valet and ski nanny;
Fitness facility with a movement studio;
Ritz-Carlton spa services and treatment;
Ritz Kids program;
Great room with a fireplace and bar;
Library;
Outdoor heated pool and whirlpool spa;
Fire pit and
Heated underground garage with valet parking.

For more info, visit the Club site.

10+ Packing Tips For Ski Holidays

TirolLoneSkier 1024x682 10+ Packing Tips For Ski Holidays

Planning an upcoming ski holiday? Whether you’re going skiing in Tirol, Austria or the Colorado Rockies, packing right is smart.

That’s why we fancy these 10+ great packing tips from Winter Park-Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce in Colorado.

Here are 10+ Packing Tips for Ski Holidays:

1. Layers, layers, layers. “Be prepared for anything by layering your look so you can add or subtract, as needed, to stay comfortable. Also, remember quick-dry and wicking fabrics.”

2. Thin socks. “Thinner socks made of a dry-fit material are actually the wiser choice for skiing.”

3. Sunscreen, lip balm, sunglasses. “The high altitude, sunny days and snow glare all can contribute to sunburns, even in cold weather. Apply liberally, and reapply often.”

4. Moisturizer. “Bring along a good moisturizer (one that is thicker than what you typically use at home).”

5. Water bottle or water backpack. “On a vacation at altitude, one should consume even more water than usual to stave off dehydration and headaches often associated with higher elevations.”

6. Good walking shoes. “Be sure to pack appropriate shoes for traversing snowing conditions sans skis. Sturdy, waterproof shoes will also come in handy for walking to restaurants, shopping and getting to the hotel.”

7. Après ski clothes. “Bring along several options for warm, comfortable shirts or sweaters, pants, jackets, hats and gloves to change into once you get off the hill. Mountain casual means jeans are perfectly acceptable at most restaurants, so leave the dress-up clothes at home.”

8. Snacks. “Pack your favorite portable snack, such as dried fruit, nuts or granola/energy bars to have in the pocket of your ski jacket. Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day will keep you from hitting a wall and will help ward off altitude sickness.”

9. Swimsuit. “A dip in the hot tub after a day on the slopes is a quintessential element to a ski vacation.”

10. Pain reliever. “Pack your favorite pain reliever to ensure you don’t get sidelined by soreness.”

11. Tissues or handkerchief. “Be prepared by packing a packet of tissues or a handkerchief in your coat.”

12. Music. “If you like to work out with earphones, you will probably enjoy them on the slopes. Portable music devices can also help pass time in the car or bus on the way to the hill and on lift rides.”

Image courtesy of Tirol Tourist Board UK