Browse: May 2008

The weather was fickle, but that didn't stop dozens of local 3rd-graders from heading to Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and Ford Amphitheater on May 15 to release the Painted Lady butterflies that had hatched in their classrooms. Watch a video of the 2007 Butterfly Launch.

Hello up there? Maybe you didn't hear us last week, or the week before ... or the week before. We said, "Enough snow, already!"

Here it is mid-May and again, it looks like February out there. We had about six inches in East Vail this morning and our field spies tell us there's a foot of snow on the ground halfway up Copper Mountain. Plus ... it's still dumping.

Sure, we realize we live in the Colorado mountains, and we don't mind the sporadic spring/summer snowstorm. We even found them kind of exciting ... back when they were a novelty.

Seriously, though. We want spring and warm weather. We're worried enough about potential flooding from the existing snow. We really don't need any more. Save it for November. Please.

But alas, our imploring does no good. The flakes are just getting bigger out there and according to the forecast, it's not going to end (this time around) until Thursday.

Great.

Vail Resorts is trying to make new strides in being green, but yellow is really the color of choice. With the Townie Bike Program, Vail Resorts has been making one (pedal) stroke at a time in the direction of environmental awareness.

You’re likely to catch a glimpse of the flashy yellow hot rods all over town in the summer time. The cruisers are designed to accommodate Vail Resorts employees trying to get from one end of town to the other, replacing engines and gas with fresh air and muscle power.

“Any one of our employees can run around on them whenever they want,” said Director of Resort Operations Jeff Babb. “In our green age, we’re trying to cut down on vehicle usages.”

By the number of Townie cruisers spotted in the village, Golden Peak and Lionshead, clearly a number of VR employees are taking advantage of the program. The bikes are typically locked and are equipped with large baskets for material transport.

Indeed, with limited parking and numerous construction projects all over town, a bicycle is the fastest, healthiest and most efficient way to get around Vail.
Although VR got the new fleet of yellow cruisers last year, Babb said the Townie Bike program has been in effect for at least five years.

Alpine Bank's Game of the Week hones in on Battle Mountain Huskies Baseball on April 8, 2008. In a local throwdown against the Eagle Valley Devils, the Huskies went down, 10-0.

Ask anyone in the world to name the most important and beautiful person they’ve ever known and if the answer isn’t “my mother,” well, there’s something wrong.

Mother’s Day is Sunday and you’d best hustle if you haven’t found something extremely rare, unique and touching to give your mom.

If you haven’t been spending weeks putting together a personal scrap book of keepsakes or painting your mother’s portrait, we’ve got some ideas.

For the mountain-loving mother, we suggest a pair of hiking poles (Ptarmigan Sports in Edwards), a new outdoor bag (The Bag & Pack in Vail and Avon), or an ornate and highly distinctive bear trinket from the Golden Bear at Vail or Beaver Creek.

If mom likes pampering (and seriously, who doesn’t?), one of the best deals we’ve found in Vail is at the Sonnenalp. For $190, mom gets to stay in one of the Sonnenalp’s luxury suites, receives a bouquet of fresh flowers, a massage and gourmet Sunday brunch for two at Ludwig’s. You might want to jump on that one right here.

Also, the Mirador restaurant at Cordillera is offering a $40 four-course brunch including strawberries and cream, sorbet, main dish of choice and chocolate molten cake. The Mirador is also offering $5 Bloody Marys and Mimosas. Yum.

If brunch is her thing, also consider Balata at the Sonnenalp Golf course in Edwards. For $37 per adult, the brunch includes a build-your-own eggs Benedict, beef and salmon en croute, grits, French toast and salads.

If mom prefers to keep the celebration to the evening, Vail’s famed La Tour restaurant is offering a $45 three-course special menu Sunday, featuring salad, filet mignon and lobster tail with accompaniments and choice of dessert.

It's about time spring came to Vail ... soak it up, though. According to the forecast there is another deluge of something or other coming our way. The good news is it probably (fingers crossed) won't be another foot and a half of snow.

Rain or snow, at least the high temp is expected to stay in the 50s and the low will drop to a mere 30-something. 

Guess it could be worse ... Still, Mother Nature, we're ready for lasting warm, sunny days whenever you are. 

Things may be slow around these parts, but Vail still knows how to do Cinco de Mayo right. Several Valley restaurants, which have remained open for the off-season, are offering appropriately themed drink and dining specials.

Two of the Valley’s favorite (and similarly named) Mexican restaurants will be celebrating Cinco in style. Fiesta Jalisco, with locations in Avon, Edwards and Eagle, will be offering Cinco de Mayo dining specials all day long until 11 p.m. Fiesta’s New Mexican Café & Cantina, located in Edwards, will be offering $4 Absolut Bloody Mary’s, dining specials, giveaways and tequila sampling throughout the day.

Vail’s rowdiest institution, Sandbar Sports Grill, will be offering beer and margarita specials starting at 11 a.m. all day long into Open Mic Night. So if you’re a little timid about getting on stage, why not head to Sandbar, celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and imbibe some nicely priced liquid courage before performing?

Avon’s Agave restaurant is going all out for Cinco de Mayo with some fantastic dining and drink specials, and live music. Enjoy $1 tacos, $2 beers, $3 margaritas and $4 rattlesnake tequila shots (sounds dangerous!) on their outdoor deck from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Local favorites The M.T.H.D.S. will rock out for the assembled Cinco celebrators starting at 5 p.m.

If you’re taking more of a DIY approach to Cinco de Mayo and plan to picnic or barbeque at one of the Valley’s many beautiful parks, we should see highs in the mid-fifties with partly cloudy weather.

Celebrate the spring and have a safe and happy Cinco de Mayo!

Most people who’ve spent a significant amount of time in either place know about the rivalry between Vail and Aspen. Sure, they’re both fancy ski towns full of expensive condos and stellar mountains, but somehow (like Catholicism and Protestantism), there exists a rift between them. Aspen (being clearly the less mature of the two) has even gone the length of manufacturing “Vail Sucks” T-shirts. We don’t, of course, think Vail sucks, but we have to admit, Aspen has something that Vail is sorely lacking: a nice concert venue for rock shows.

It's great to have the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, but it is best-suited for musicians who play to seated audiences, comedians, ballets and plays.

Up until last spring, we HAD a rock venue. Although it held a special place in our hearts and was full of character in all of its bouncing floor glory, in many ways club 8150 was kind of a dive. And now it is just a hole in the ground waiting to be occupied by the forthcoming Solaris project.

Even during times of year when nothing can be heard but crickets and jackhammers in both Vail and Aspen, Aspen, with its one charming little rock venue, manages to bring in hundreds of concert-goers. On April 30, amid the noise of jackhammers and tumbleweed (or tarps or whatever) blowing down the streets, beloved sister duo Tegan & Sara played the Belly Up. The audience probably represented quadruple the number of the town’s population at that point in the year. The show was T & S’s only tour stop in Colorado and people flocked from far and wide. Many in the audience had flown in from Denver ... a few had followed the band from New Mexico.

When the lights hit the audience during the set of opening act An Horse, the band’s Kate Cooper observed, “Wow … this is intimate. You people are very lucky.”

Lucky indeed. Tegan & Sara, who played their second Coachella Festival just days before the Aspen show and have appeared on David Letterman and The Tonight Show, probably haven’t played a venue as small as the Belly Up since about 2002.

The venue, located smack in the middle of town adjacent from Aspen’s gondola building, features a subterranean lounge, stage, dance floor, two bars, food service and fantastic acoustics. Opened in 2005 by Michael Goldberg, the Belly Up holds a capacity of a mere 450 bodies ... but that doesn’t stop A-list musicians from playing here.

Some of our other favorite musicians the Belly Up has booked over the next couple of months include Ani DiFranco (June 18), Boy George (July 10) and Andrew Bird (July 18). We can’t wait.

Tegan & Sara's Sara Quin also commented on the intimacy of the Belly Up, after which Tegan began an amusing impersonation of someone coming to the show after riding the ski lift, to which Sara knowledgeably pointed out that the lifts had closed a couple weeks previous. It was almost like having your own conversation with them. It was, suffice it to say, awesome.

If you haven’t checked out the Belly Up, you really should. Aspen … we’re jealous.

by Shauna Farnell

Rumor has it that the stellar $579 price for Vail Resorts' Epic Pass - the one that allows open access to six ski areas for the 2008-09 season - could go up after May 4.

Without specifying the amount of a possible price increase, Vail Resorts' Amy Kemp said, "Prices might go up after May 4. The moral of the story ... if you're looking to buy a pass at the lowest guaranteed price, buy now."

The price for a child's Epic Pass (ages 5-12) could also increase after May 4 from the current $279 price tag.

True to its name, the Epic Pass offers up an amazing deal - unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail Resorts' Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek as well as Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, plus Heavenly Resort in California.

For those not wanting to put the whole amount on your credit card right now, it's possible to put down $49 and the remaining amount will be added in September.

Regardless of a possible price change, the Epic Pass will be available through Nov. 15, 2008. To purchase an Epic Pass now or secure one for $49 down, click Vail Epic Pass.

ENOUGH snow already. Yes, the calendar – we checked it many times – does say that it is indeed May, yet it is absolutely DUMPING snow in Vail … and from what we understand, throughout Colorado’s Western Slope.

You might call us hypocrites, since back in November we were trying to sell our own lungs trying to conjure up snow, but we would really like you to join us in an anti-snow chant.

Ready … one, two, three: Snow, snow go away. We want it to be warm in May. Snow, snow go away, we don’t want to freeze today.

Excellent … thank you. That should work. According to the forecast, the snow is supposed to cease Friday afternoon and (sigh) recommence on Sunday.

Did we mention that people are still skiing at Arapahoe Basin? We might just have to take our urge to engage in warm-weather activities West; to the desert. Check out our desert biking guide.

Otherwise, do whatever you can to make the snow stop. Implore the heavens. Fill your windows with large paintings of green hills and sunshine. Feel free to post a comment (sans bad words, please) about how YOU feel about snow in May.