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Travel

By J James McTigue

Hotel afar The Mountain closes, we tie up loose ends, pack the bikes and flip flops, head west. That has been our family’s off-season routine the last few years. This year we got an added bonus -- that super-generous offer that never actually works logistically. The reasons are multiple:  The timing is wrong, travel is too expensive, we can’t get off work. But this year, when the phone rang and friends invited us to Deer Valley for two days of skiing, we were all in.

I didn’t think to google where we were staying until we were 30 minutes from our destination, partly because I didn’t have time and partly because I didn’t care. I’ve never been a ‘hotel’ girl. Growing up, we camped on family vacations. Apparently this bothered my sister, because when she was ten she put on her list to Santa “to stay in a condominium when we go on vacation , like my friends do.”

As we approached Park City, I got out my smart phone to figure out where we were going. “What’s the name of the place?” I asked my husband, Jake.

“The Montage,” he replied.

12 April, 2011 /

  

J. James McTigue

In school we learn about the four seasons, the ones everyone knows about. But in life we learn that the weather, or anything really, just isn’t that neat and tidy. There is a lot of in between. Different places have particular seasons unto themselves. The ‘other’ season may be the rainy season, harvest season, or hurricane season. In Telluride, it’s Off Season.

Off Season is the time when the lifts close and skiing on Telluride Mountain is officially over.  Residents have two basic choices—get out of town or embrace the quiet. Some eagerly head somewhere warm, excited to exchange their ski boots for flip-flops. Others stay in Telluride to embrace the quiet lull after a frantic ski season. Still others opt for choice c -- make it up as you go. Walking down Main Street on Tuesday, there was evidence of all of the above.

 

06 April, 2011 /

Japan Children Air - JDMcDuff - web Talk about living your dream.

Travel to exotic locations, her day job, has fed longtime Telluride local and artist Nancy Craft's passion for color: over the years, Nancy's work for Esprit travel has been all about creating and leading art tours, mostly in Asia. Especially Japan.

For 20 years, Esprit Travel has sent travelers to Japan to explore the country's culture and arts.

"The hallmark of our cultural tours is the introductions we make to Japanese people," explained Nancy. "Our travelers, therefore, have profound, often life- altering experiences with the people of Japan and hold them dear in their hearts. In fact, because our colleague, Steve Beimel, lived in Sendai for many years, we have taken many groups to north eastern Japan, not normally on the tourist path."

28 March, 2011 /

[click "Play", Drew Ludwig talks with Susan about the Iceland trip]

 

Iceland_tio Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts plans to stretch its wings and fly beyond the borders of our box canyon. An upcoming photography trek across Iceland next summer, departing July 21, is an example of another new direction.

The team leading the expedition includes Aaron Huey, a Seattle-based photographer, whose client base includes National Geographic magazines, The New Yorker, Smithsonian, The New York TImes and European rags. Heuy's current ongoing projects include the funerals of Afghan war vets, Sufism (mystic Islam), and a five-year documentary on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Huey's co-instructor is mountain guide Drew Ludwig, also a talented photographer.

12 January, 2011 /

Palmyra Peak, 1:8:11 Telluride offers air specials to kick off the new year

That’s right. Kids fly free. Free. Welcome 2011 with incredible travel deals from Telluride Central Reservations: kids fly free on select American Airlines flights. Pair with Telluride’s $89 Stay and Ski package and be the family hero.
 
Planning a trip without the kids? Save $100 per ticket booked on select American Airlines flights through April 2, 2011. That means airfare can start as low as $148 from Chicago (plus tax and fees) or $246 from New York City (via Chicago, plus tax and fees), making a Telluride getaway even more accessible and affordable this spring.

08 January, 2011 /

Unknown Dr. Susanna Hoffman wears many hats: anthropologist, chef and food writer. (In fact, she is a regular contributor to Telluride Inside... and Out.)

In October 2011, Hoffman is the featured chef (along with Jane Lee Winter, executive chef and president of the Gourmet Travel Club) on board the Seven Seas Voyager for a 10-night luxury cruise from Athens to Istambul.

Hoffman has lived and worked in Greece and other Mediterranean regions. She is the author of The Olive and The Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking and a regular contributor to  Saveur, Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit, Gastronomia and Greek Gourmet Traveler as well as numerous other food publications. Hoffman has appeared on cooking shows from coast to coast, including Good Morning America, The Food Network, Oprah, Discovery, CNN, and PBS.

13 December, 2010 /

by Eliot Brown; photos by Mary Sama-Brown

Part 2, "Park City to Yellowstone"

(Ed. note: The first installment of the Browns' road trip was published on Telluride Inside... and Out on November 22)

Wind power At 8:30 AM, Monday we put Park City in the rear view mirror and headed out on Interstate 80 toward Evanston, WY, and then North on US 89 along the Idaho/Wyoming boarder toward Jackson Hole for Grant Village in Yellowstone National Park.  The 6 3/4 hour drive past huge windmill power farms, huge ranches, beautiful prairies and valleys with little or no traffic allowed the 911 to strut her stuff.  My wife Mary only had to close her eyes a couple of times as I enjoyed the open road, albeit, sometimes a bit aggressively.

It is only fitting that I insert a little Yellowstone history here to pay tribute to our first national park.  Near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, an area home to the Shoshone Tribe, John Colter, in the early 1800s described what was mocked as Colter’s Hell, a place where mud boiled and steam rose from the ground. 

11 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Karl Straub]

 

The story begins with the Telluride Yoga Festival.

Sunset Telluride Inside... and Out interviewed senior Jivamukti instructor Karl Straub for the second annual Telluride Yoga Festival. This past summer, another Yoga Fest guest, the remarkable teacher, Mark Whitwell, introduced us to yoga instructor/entrepreneur Gail Mondry. Turns out, Mondry is connected to Telluride through her affiliation with the Grand Heritage chain, now running the new and vastly improved Peaks Resorts & Spa.

Recently, Mondry created a new business, Yoga Vacations, dedicated to yoga-based adventures in spectacular settings.

28 November, 2010 /

by Eliot Brown, photos by Mary Sama-Brown

[ed. note: Many of us remain in Telluride, not only for all our immediate area offers, but also for the infinite variety just across the hill. Eliot & Mary sampled that variety this Fall. This is Part 1 of their journey.]

Image007 I was yearning for a road trip.  My 95 Porsche 911 C4S was needing some exercise, as she was still feeling young with only 28,000 miles.  My wife Mary and I agreed that it was time to leave the airplane home and take a vacation from our air charter business, MayaAir, and from our doggies, especially Trasea’s five thirty AM wake up call. We spent several weeks planning our journey, which over ten days would take us from Telluride to as far north as Chico, Montana and back home.

22 November, 2010 /