March 11, 2010- the Vail International Dance Festival

The furthest I got while trying to learn dance as a child was sliding across the kitchen floor in my tights, more than likely breaking something important. This is why the Vail International Dance Festival will leave me in awe. The big air and physical strength combined seamlessly with an artistic flare can’t be missed!

The Vail International Festival, located in Vail, Colorado from July 27, 2010 to August 10, 2010 will include the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Paul Taylor Dance Company, along with many dancers from around the world such as Savion Glover, Larry Keigwin, and include styles ranging from traditional ballet to Beijing Dance. Tickets (in the seating area of the Gerald Ford Amphitheater) are available for $20.10, and $10 for the lawn.

I can’t wait for these evening shows! Get a group together because summer in Vail, Colorado can’t be beat. Other festivals and events coming this summer in Vail and the Rocky Mountains include:

• the TEVA Mountain Games & IFSC World Cup Climbing, June 3-6
• Vail Arts Festival, June 25-27
• Vail America Days, July 4
• Beaver Creek EXTERRA, July 17
• Colorado Soul Festival, August 20-22

Ford Amphitheater during a summer concert

20th Annual Taste of Vail

From Thursday April 8, 2010 until Saturday April 10, 2010

Vail is gone have its 20th food and wine festival. The annual three-day event is held at several venues throughout Vail Village. Participants at the Taste of Vail will enjoy the best wines from over 50 of the country’s most noted vintners. In addition, visitors will dine at Vail Valley’s world-class restaurants, fine wine poured by winemakers and winery owners from top wineries around the globe, participate in interactive seminars, auctions and dance. As well as going to the Colorado Lamb Cook Off, après ski tasting and the popular mountaintop picnic sensory extravaganza at the top of Vail Mountain. The event will start of on Thursday morning with Celebrities on Snow, the Belgian Beer Lunch and the 5^th Annual Colorado Lamb Cook- Off and après ski tasting. Then on Friday there will be again Celebrities on Snow, a seminar, mountain top picnic, and live auction chef showcase and at night a cigar seminar. Saturday will start off with the aphrodisiac foods army reiley, and the Josh Wesson Seminar. In the afternoon, the Taste of Vail Festival will finish   off with a Pinot Noir Speed Dating Style Seminar and the Great Tasting and Dinner Dance.
In the past years, Vail could welcome more than 5,000 people for the Taste of Vail Festival.

So mark the date- be part of the event and enjoy amazing days in Vail during the Taste of  Vail.

Click here, here and here to see some fun videos from the past Taste of Vail Events !!!

Olympia Update

6 more days to GO- 6 MORE DAYS OF EXCITING GAMES!!!

As of today, Monday February 22, 2010 the United States are in the lead of the Olympic Medal count with 7 Gold Medals, 7 Silver Medals and 10 Bronze Medals followed by Germany who moved closer by winning 3 medals today – 2 in cross country skiing team sprint and in ski jumping team competition.

Lindsey Vonn from Vail won one of the gold medals in the women’s downhill as well as a Bronze Medal in the women’s super ski. Evan Lysacek one another gold medal for the US in one of the most exciting and tight men’s figure skating events in history. Evan Lysacek was fighting against Evgeni Plushenko who won the Olympic Gold Medal four years ago in Turin/ Italy. One of the best performances in the 2010 Olympic Games so far was from the legendary men’s Half Pipe snowboard competitor Shaun White. Shaun White already won Olympic Gold four years ago and everybody was excited what he will present in this Olympics- and he outperformed all expectations. He already had the gold Medal after his first run, but instead of showing some simple jumps in his second run- he did jumps nobody had seen before cleaner anyone can show them. Even if the ice hockey team has still a long way to go- the final will be Sunday at noon, one of the most important games for the US was yesterday- US against Canada. The US won with 5 to 3 goals and moved a big step closer to the final.

For tonight everybody is excited to see the battle between the Canadian and US team in the final round of the Figure Skating Ice Dance performance. Tomorrow Bode Miller will race again in the Men’s Giant Slalom and try to add one more medal to his Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal he already won in this Olympics. We will also see the first round of the women’s figure skating program, the short program which will start Tuesday 23,2010 at 5.30 PM mountain time.

So even if we already saw amazing events- there will be more…!!!

One of the greatest things about living in Colorado is the shared excitement in watching the snow fall report.  When I was a student at The University of Kansas, snow meant torn up streets, messy sidewalks, and bone chilling winds that shook you to the core. Here in Vail, its a totally different story. We got 32 inches of fresh powder this week, making the valley sparkle and the mountain gleam. Conditions have not been this great all year. Snowboarders and skiers unite with delight at the fresh powder which has increased the base to a whopping 55 inches! What’s more, the dedicated city of Vail makes sure that the village roads and highway are always clear and safe for travel. The Vail/Beaver Creek area is a virtual paradise, attracting visitors from all over the world to come ride, shred, annihilate, take no prisoners, and hot-rod on the mountain! Maybe it has something to do with the Olympics, but I have seen more people just tearing it up and having a blast than ever before. Sure beats that old dreaded Kansas cold!

Speaking of Kansas, March Madness is quickly approaching. Being a die-hard Jayhawk fan myself, I was delighted to find a vast array of local game watching spots. Can you imagine anything better…After a long day of skiing, you unwind and relax with your buddies, drinking beer, watching the game, and laughing about the head-first plunge you took on the mountain! If this sounds in any way appealing, I’m telling you, now is the time to get out here and make it happen!  And when you’re looking for a great place to watch the big game, I recommend the Tap Room or Garfinkles (Both boasting a plethora of TV’s for the sports connoisseur who likes variety). However, if you prefer staying in the comfort of your own home, Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals can definitely set you up in something spectacular. You can watch the shot clock wind-down from the couch without any distractions!

When you thinking of heavy drinking on the weekends, Coffee usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind – not the case for me! After the weekends, I have to practically detox from coffee overdose. Waking up at 5 am to work at Loaded Joes Coffeehouse on Saturdays and Sundays, I definitely have to keep myself on a steady coffee fix to make it through the morning! If you’ve never checked it out, Loaded Joes conveniently has two locations in the Valley; one in Vail next to the Covered Bridge and the other in Avon beside Finnegan’s Irish Pub.
Vail’s Loaded Joes is more of a fast-paced coffee shop where you can get a quick sandwich, wrap, bagel, or pastry and get yourself out to those slopes! Plus, right now, during the entire month of February, if you stop in between 9pm-2am at the Vail location you can put your name in a drawing for $1000 to use at Loaded Joes. Now that’s a lotta lattes!
If you prefer more of a lounge and local atmosphere, make sure to sit around the bar at the Avon’s Loaded Joes. They also have nightly events that, I can vouch, are so much fun! Last night, most of us who work here at Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals went out to Open Mic night at the Avon Loaded Joes to support our co-worker Nick, who was playing his first open-mic night. Watching the singers and instrumentalists with a drink in hand was a nice, chill ending to Valentine’s Day! Check out the Calendar of Events so you don’t miss out on what’s happening at Loaded Joes. http://loadedjoes.com/index.php?option=com_eventcal&Itemid=27

A beautiful latte at Loaded Joes

So if you’re coming to the area, you’ve got to stop in at Loaded Joes and if you’re here on the weekends, come visit me on Saturday mornings in Vail and Sunday mornings in Avon at Loaded Joes!

One of the best things I’ve come to realize from the time I’ve spent in Vail is that a person doesn’t have to be “rich” to experience the magic of this destination. In fact, the local music scene has brought this place to life for me. Every day I’ll check out Vailpm.com to see what’s good for my evening festivities. I know that regardless of what day of the week it is, a local bar/lounge will have amazing talent performing, often free of charge.

I’m stoked because tonight Samana Lounge will host the Vail Rocks for Haiti Benefit. Nearly 20 local musicians have volunteered to perform tonight to raise crucial funds for Haiti relief efforts. The show will feature performances from members of Frogs Gone Fishin, Bonfire Dub, The Laughing Bones, DJ Logic, Boxcar Dazies, Little Hercules, Velcro Sneakers, M.T.H.D.S and Shakedown Street. That’s a lot of talented artists in one room, performing for a good cause. I know I’ll be there showing my support and moving my feet to some sweet jams. Suggested donation is $15, show kicks off at 8 pm. Keep on rocking on!

-CSA

Girls love wearing fancy masks!

February 14-19 is Carnivail! I’ve noticed signs around town and can’t be more excited! After their Super Bowl win- I think all of America is pumped for Mardi Gras, and this is Vail’s own version! If you can’t make it to New Orleans, then what better way to spend it than in the mountains? Our stars alone are better than the fireworks, and the people know here know how to celebrate!

After finishing our own great event- Vail Gay Ski Week- we are rested and ready to participate in this once a year event in Vail! Come see our friends, the Frogs Gone Fishin’, at the Fat Tuesday Parade (free!)! We love these guys, and they are local favorites!

Missing that dirty south great cookin? Not a problem- join us in becoming fat kids again with the “World’s Highest Low Country Crawfish Boil” at Eagle’s Nest. Go skiing or riding afterward to burn those calories! Here’s the menu Vail has planned:

1 lb. Crawfish, Andouille Sausage, Corn, New Potatoes, Garlic Bread – $14.95

Bowl of Gumbo – $7.95

Crawfish Etouffee- $8.95

King Cake – $3.50

I will also be hitting up my favorite places in Vail- Sweet Basil, Samana, the Tap Room, and more. Email me if you want to plan meeting up!

janyce.brandon@vailgayskiweek.com

Hey Twitterfriends!

Or are you?

Being an avid facebooker (come on, I know you are too), when I first heard about twitter, I thought it was the most senseless social media site on the web. I mean, really, who cares what I’m doing at 6:30 in the morning in <140 characters? And just status updates? What about actual information! But secretly, I gave in; then, after a while, I noticed some of my friends joining in too. And what I came to realize with Twitter is that the cliche saying is true: less is more.

Some of you are still thinking to yourselves that you couldn’t care less what random people are doing throughout the day, but I’m here to teach you about a different aspect of Twitter. How to use it as an informational tool; okay, that doesn’t sound any more exciting, let me just explain…

Many companies use Twitter accounts to network and I have noticed this to be an awesome tool to connect with people as well as other companies, not to mention a great way of fun, easy, and free advertising!

Let’s start with our twitter here: rkymtnvacrental [http://twitter.com/rkymtnvacrental]

On ours, we update to let you know when fresh powder hits vail, sweet events that we are hosting, and awesome deals that we are currently offering on housing. It’s an great “home base” for surfing the web because we also add links in a lot of our status updates so that you can easily connect to exactly what we are discussing. From here, you can jump to other people we are “following”.  So let’s jump to VailinfoCenter [http://twitter.com/Vailinfocenter] Like the name implies, this twitter gives out inside info about all the specials going on each day in Vail; apres ski specials, rental deals, where to go to check out the best events, as well as some Valentine’s Day specials:). I make sure to check this site daily; I mean, I wouldn’t want to forget about unlimited wing night at the Tap Room! After that, you’ve got to check out the twitter from my side of the company: rmvrMedia [http://twitter.com/rmvrMedia]. A new tweeter, with many website geniuses behind it, I’m excited to see all the info that we will be sharing with you through this site!

So now that you have Vail insider information, I want to share 5 Tweeters outside of the High Rockies that you must start out with when you get your account!!

Who loves cupcakes? Um everyone. FOLLOW SprinklesBakery [http://twitter.com/sprinkles]. They give away usually 50 free cupcakes daily if you know the secret twitter word to whisper!

Want some free gogs or shades? FOLLOW Electric Visual [http://twitter.com/electricvisual]. Each week, usually monday, they have a trivia question open to everyone for an awesome prize! I’ve already won a pair of their sunglasses, so yes it is possible!

We’re from Vail and we love Winter Sports! FOLLOW the upcoming Winter Olympics [http://twitter.com/van2010games]. There’s even a link on theirs to win tickets to the Closing Ceremonies. Yup, I already entered.

For anyone into creating on the computer, it’s always good to have a place to find some vectors or ideas in general. FOLLOW Chris Spooner [http://twitter.com/chrisspooner] I’m not really down with following random people, but someone giving out awesome free tutorials and tips is hard to pass up!

And last, if you really want to up your friend count, FOLLOW Me [http://twitter.com/heyheyyhaley]. Check out my adventures around the mountains, living in Avon and working in Vail! I also like to retweet good deals that I find, so it’s a good idea to check my links!

Alright! Now it’s time for you to get a twitter account and add us! (But we might make you want to move to Vail when you see all the fun we have all day!)

1. Catwalks are a bad idea. Take a newbie off of a blue, because a green is too slow, and you just can’t keep your balance. It is much easier when you are in motion.

2. Laugh, but make sure it’s in good spirit. We were all newbies once in our lives.

3. Teach regular and switch, going down the mountain in a falling leaf pattern. You will see how quickly the newbie becomes pro, finding their balance going down the mountain both ways.

4. Keep knee pads and wrist guards handy. Most newbies dig in their toes facing down the mountain, and do “the face plant.”

Face Planting

5. Patience – It’s only a couple hours, you don’t need to speed ahead to get a quick shred. Stay with the newbie, and let them know you are willing to help.

6. Bring a camera – you can take advantage of priceless photo opportunities.

7. Skating/Walking the snowboard – the proper technique is scooting from the back. Practicing this for 20 minutes before the ride up will save an hour of waiting after you get off each lift, or while on catwalks.

Walking the Snowboard is Crucial!

8. Stopping is key, teaching how to stop heel side and toe side is crucial, as newbies tend to speed out of control.

9. Keep the newbie as close as possible to the inside of the mountain, as newbies tend to slide, right off the mountain.

10. Butt-pads. The average newbie falls 100 times the first day, and won’t want to ride the next if they can’t walk.

Bring a butt pad for cushioning

I drove night and day to San Francisco from Columbus, Ohio for a new start, and my heart got stuck in the Rocky Mountains. And it is by far, the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m still trying to keep my jaw from dropping as I drive i-70 each morning, what a breathtaking view!

I just returned from Beaver Creek, which I quickly found out is an amazing mountain with tons of incredible homes dabbled all around it. And when I say incredible, I mean completely spectacular. I told Peter on the drive up that going to these mountains to snowboard is like going to an amusement park. The runs come into view, you can immediately scope out the crowds and get completely psyched (like I was today) when the mountain is practically empty.

Most people would be ecstatic that the whole mountain is their playground, I was just thankful that I wasn’t going to be getting in the way of other riders, since I fall about every 30 seconds… I’m learning to snowboard, and on one of the gnarliest mountains in the U.S., hands down. But if there are any other riders out there like me who are just starting out, these next couple days are a breath of fresh air from the snowless week we muscled through last week.

Which brings up an important topic: Keeping yourself safe on the slopes

Vail Safety Week and Beaver Creek Safety Week have been in full effect from the 16th until tomorrow afternoon. From ski tips, terrain rescue training, binding checks, tons of events with the Vail and Beaver Creek ski patrols, drills with the Beaver Creek rescue dogs, and more, this week has definitely been packed with invaluable information that’s crucial for a safe and enjoyable trip to the mountains. Take it from me, it is important to be as safe as possible. Had it not been for my helmet, I definitely could have had a few concussions out there. Also, some more tips from a beginner to beginners: knee pads and some kind of butt pillow aren’t bad ideas either

So I can completely understand why this location is one of the top destinations in the U.S, from the fresh mountain air to the enjoyable atmosphere, to the romantic christmas town known as Vail Village, life here is somewhat surreal and really takes more of an easier, slower pace than anywhere I’ve lived or been to. A perfect little quote that comes to mind whenever I wake up here, that my buddy Nathan came up with years ago is, “Life tastes better through a straw”, and as goofy as it sounds, that’s how it feels here. Not taking things in too quickly. Taking it slower and enjoying every day to the last drop. Its the perfect place to take a vacation or to settle down in. The charm around here doesn’t look like it’s ever going to wear off