Grand County: A Grand Colorado Christmas

Looking for some Christmas enchantment? No doubt you will find yuletide magic in Colorado’s high country. While many Colorado mountain towns are celebrating the season in special style, here’s what’s happening in December 67 miles west of Denver in Grand County. Granby Dec. 11: Chili Christmas – Enjoy food, activities and holiday spirit for a good cause. The Chili event raises funds for those less advantaged. Bring children’s winter…

San Luis Shrine: Stations of the Cross Sculptures

On a hill overlooking tiny San Luis in southern Colorado, a series of statues lines the trail from base to crest. It’s the Shrine of the Stations of the Cross and the trailhead begins on the town’s Main Street. San Luis, Colorado’s oldest town (settled in 1851), is a quiet burg with few other attractions, but this one is stunning. Local sculptor Huberto Maestas – a San Luis native…

Sky Ride: A New View of the Zoo

The chairlift seat slides smoothly under us and lifts us to the sky. Below, we can see grizzly bears wrestling with each other on the edge of a pond. Say what? You get an entirely new perspective of Colorado Springs’ famed Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from the new Mountaineer Sky Ride. The ride, an unusually smooth one for a chairlift, lasts 7 or 8 minutes and not only passes over…

Two-Wheel Cruising: A Tour of Three Denver-Area Bike Paths

The Colorado sky seems color-enhanced. Rich blues tint the vibrant summer sunsets and most Coloradans happily traded their skis for flip-flops. The Denver area’s 100-plus miles of groomed bike paths are a great place for the whole family to enjoy the season’s longer days. Here is a look at three of them. Seven days a week cyclists buzz along the Mary Carter Greenway, part of the southern section of…

Denver Restaurant Week: Delicious Deals

Oh, such an exciting time of year for foodies and wannabes! Denver Restaurant Week Feb. 20-March 5, extended this year to two weeks by popular demand, promises delicious deals in Denver’s most exciting restaurants. More than 250 Denver-area restaurants are offering three-course meals for two for $52.80, or $26.40 for one, not including tax or gratuity. Participating venues include not only celebrated hotspots like Rioja and Mizuna, but a…

State of Art: Center Features North Fork Valley Artists

In parts of Colorado’s North Fork Valley, it seems that everyone is an artist. “When I first moved here, I would ask people if they were an artist,” says one Hotchkiss resident. “But now I just ask them what medium they work in.” A visit to the Creamery Arts Center seems to validate that claim. This not-for-profit art center features the works of more than 70 local artists. The…

Cambria Suites: Fresh in Fort Collins

The first thing you notice when you walk into the Cambria Suites in Fort Collins is that the air smells as fresh inside as it does outside. That’s because this is a 100 percent non-smoking property. And it doesn’t hurt that it also is fairly new. What’s also fresh is the attitude of the staff – eager to please, helpful and genuinely friendly. From the front desk to housekeeping,…

Foothills Art Center: Golden’s Spiritual Gem

While hundreds of people fight traffic and crowds to view works at the Denver Art Museum, art lovers wanting to view purchasable art from Colorado artists can visit the Foothills Art Center in Golden. Although the center is much smaller than many metropolitan galleries, 32,000 visitors a year travel to the western suburb to take in, and possibly take home, local pieces. Housed in a 19th century Victorian church,…

Da Kind Soups: Hot Spot in Evergreen

Soups warm us up after a long day playing in the snow and refresh us after exploring one of Colorado’s hundreds of beautiful trails. Soups are one of our favorite ways to sample the delicious flavors of the region, whether it’s a hot and chunky stew made with local roasted green chilies, or a rich bisque full of farmers market vegetables and at Da Kind Soups there is a…

Lyons Fork: Big-City Flavor in Tiny Mountain Town

You can’t miss Lyons Fork when strolling through downtown Lyons, Colorado. The old-timey building, once home to historic McAllister Saloon, lures visitors with its cute exterior, but don’t be fooled. This restaurant is no tourist trap. Wayne and Debbie Anderson reopened this historic café, formerly known as Cilantro Mary’s, in 2010. The couple didn’t overhaul the look of the Southwestern eatery, but a peek at the new menu reveals…