Fall hideaways: Colorado ski resorts for the non-skier

by Gadling Staff on

I live in Colorado and I don’t ski, snowboard or otherwise partake in the numerous ski resort activities involving ice, snow, goggles, weird hats and heavy snow-suits (that the so-called fashionable people call ski apparel). But, I do go to the ski resorts at what I consider the best time, the Fall. It is after the summer crowds and before the winter madness begins; it is the perfect time for a getaway to hideaway- or not. The Aspens are turning, the Elk are bugling and the purple mountains majesty are there as always, only with less snow on them. Here are some great finds for a staycation in Colorado ski country.

1. The Little Nell in Aspen is a sophisticated country inn that exudes charm and class. Each room is unique and all have fireplaces. Everything is high-end, from the toiletries to the down comforters on the bed. There is not a bad view in the place and the hotel restaurant, Montagna, has”farmhouse cooking” with such items as crispy pork belly and watermelon salad and a great three course prix fixe dinner and all with a view of Aspen Mountain. There are two bars serving the rooms, condos and suites. In the Fall you can get a double room for $330-$415. Those prices double in season. Many movie stars stay here as the amenities are outstanding and the location is great. You can hide-out in the hotel or do what the stars do-shop Aspen. 675 E. Durant Ave. www.littlenell.com

2. The Steamboat Grand (2300 Mt. Werner Circle) in Steamboat Springs is a large upscale property with rooms, suites and penthouses with the usual high-end amenities. There are three restaurants, two lounges, free shuttle, and two hot tubs said to be the largest in Colorado. Steamboat Springs is known for its natural hot mineral springs which are said to have healing qualities. The town has turned these natural wonders into a thriving business, some with bathhouses. More on these at; www.steamboatsprings.org . 3. Allaire Timbers Inn Bed & Breakfast is a great place in Breckenridge for a romantic hideaway. It is the Colorado lodge style log inn complete with massive stone fireplace and fantastic mountain views. The room decor reflects well known mountain passes. Each room has a private deck, robes and fuzzy slipper-socks. It is just outside of town. If you feel the need for outside action, Breckenridge has the best nightlife in the Summit County area.www.allairetimbers.com Rooms are $149.00-$275, suites are higher.

4. Vail Mountain Lodge & Spa is just a quick walk to dining, shops and skiing. Located at 352 E. Meadow Dr. Fall room rates are half ($149-$299) of their high season rates. It is a lodge with an intimate cozy feel. All rooms have soaking tubs, fireplaces and feather beds. The hotel restaurant,Terra Bistro is a hot spot for locals and their spa is among the best in town. www.vailmountainlodge.com

5. Devils Thumb Ranch just outside of Winter Park is a guest ranch on 4,000 acres and gives new meaning to the term solitude. This is a great escape that has cabins decorated with rustic antiques and a lodge as well. The vibe is Colorado wilderness but cozy. It has two restaurants, a bar, spa, pool, sauna and a game room that boasts all non-electronic games. The ranch is very Eco-conscious and green and even uses geothermal energy for heat. It is a great place to hide-out from the rat race and breathe in that fresh mountain air. It is located eight miles from Winter Park Colorado on Grand County Rd. 83. $210-$565 for a lodge room and $315-$895 for a private cabin. For more information on this property; www.devilsthumbranch.com

All of these accommodations are located in the Northern Rockies and the towns are relatively close to one another. Fall is a great time to hideaway in the Rockies even if it is just for a little vacation close to home-a staycation.

Spirit Airlines discloses real consequences of poor customer service

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you ever want the truth about anything, the smartest thing you can do is follow the money. Cash doesn’t lie, regardless of the people who are wielding it. So, if you don’t think airlines have any real risk because of poor customer service – that everyone just expects and lives with the worst – it pays to check out the recent Spirit Airlines financial filing.

Spirit is looking to go public with the hopes of raising $300 million. To do so, of course, it had to file all kinds of paperwork with the SEC, including a Form S-1, which includes, among other things, the risks the company faces. Think of it as a warning label for potential investors.

Based on the document, covered over on Elliott.org, service is enough of a risk that Spirit feels warrants mentioning:

Negative publicity regarding our customer service could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In the past we have experienced a relatively high number of customer complaints related to, among other things, our customer service, reservations and ticketing systems and baggage handling.

This isn’t just theory, here. Spirit is disclosing what it has actually experienced. It’s a touch of North Korean-style self-criticism that’s eye-opening for potential investors. It’s also a case of brutal honesty. Spirit is saying that it has had lots of complaints across virtually the entire company.

In particular, we generally experience a higher volume of complaints when we make changes to our unbundling policies, such as charging for baggage.

Okay, no shocks here.

In addition, in 2009, we entered into a consent order with the DOT in which we were assessed a civil penalty of $375,000, of which we are required to pay only $215,000 provided there are no further similar violations for one year after the date of the consent order, for our procedures for bumping passengers from oversold flights and our handling of lost or damaged baggage.

Not only does Spirit suggest that that there is a risk to future customer revenues, the airline also indicates that there are regulatory expenses associated with poor customer service.

Our reputation and business could be materially adversely affected if we fail to meet customers’ expectations with respect to customer service or if we are perceived by our customers to provide poor customer service.

Translation for investors = our service levels could cost you your money.

Spirit is in a tough spot, because it’s looking to enter the pubic capital markets – it isn’t there already, like the major characters. And, as they say, the first time can be uncomfortable and awkward.

Win $10,000 in the 2010 National Geographic Photo Contest

by Kraig Becker on

National Geographic has launched their 2010 Photography Contest, giving one lucky shutterbug the chance to take home a prize that includes $10,000 in cash and a trip to Washington DC to attend the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January, 2011. But that’s not all, as the winning photograph will also be published in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine, which is a dream come true for many amateur and professional photographers.

Entries are being accepted in the categories of People, Places, and Nature, and all submissions must be in a digital format and uploaded from the contest’s homepage. You can enter as many photos as you would like, but there is an entry fee of $15 per image. The contest ends on November 30, 2010, so get to work on sorting through those photos.

In a few weeks time, the best submissions to date will begin to appear in web galleries online, and we’ll all be allowed to browse them and vote for our favorites. Some of the best entries will also be made into wallpapers that can be used as desktop backgrounds and some will be converted into online jigsaw puzzles as well.

For an idea of what you’re up against in this contest, check out a gallery of the best entries from last year by clicking here and then see who the overall winners were by clicking here. After perusing those galleries, I can see I have my work cut out for me.

Daily Pampering: Chocolate Bar reopens in Boston’s Langham hotel

by Melanie Nayer on

September starts a new season of all things savory, including Boston’s two best culinary indulgences – chocolate and Sunday brunch. The Langham, Boston welcomes the return of Boston’s two favorite decadent buffets – the Chocolate Bar and the City Brunch.

The Chocolate Bar at The Langham is entering its 22nd year as a Boston staple. Pastry Chef Jed Hackney’s innovative creations featuring salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and savory flavors will delight any chocolate lovers palette. Desserts include Stuffed Soft Pretzels, Raspberry Filled Beignets, White Chocolate and Lemon Meringue Tart, and Chocolate Almond Financier. Several old favorites will also return including the legendary Langham Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, Cotton Candy, and Whoopie Pies.

If you want something more substantial for breakfast, try the City Brunch on Sundays, which feature a variety of stations and buffet items. Executive Chef Mark Sapienza offers a variety locally sourced and produced foods, in addition to house-made items. Chef Sapienza has a direct relationship with local farmers and artisan food purveyors to offer the best meat, seafood, cheese, fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

The cost of this indulgence? Visit the Chocolate Bar in Café Fleuri every Saturday for $38 for adults/$25 for kids. Enjoy Sunday brunch at $48 for adults and $25 for children.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Halloween Lantern Tours at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

by Gadling Staff on


Old Dutch Church at Sleepy Hollow

Many communities have a signature event that sets them apart from others. It’s their claim to fame. Their annual extravaganza. Events range from mega-productions like the long-running flowery flotilla, the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, California to the testosterone fueled Run-A-Mucca Motorcycle Rally in sparsely populated Winnemucca, Nevada.

In the Village of Sleepy Hollow, New York, it all comes together on October 31st. Halloween. All-Hallows’ Eve. The day before the Day of the Dead. If you’ve ever heard the name Sleepy Hollow you are probably familiar with the namesake tale penned by American writer Washington Irving in 1820. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the climax comes when hapless Ichabod Crane is pursued by a Headless Horseman through a cemetery. In the story, the cemetery where the abbreviated equestrian chases Ichabod is actually the Old Dutch Churchyard which adjoins present day Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, but never mind it’s close enough for marketing purposes. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was originally named the rather uninspired Tarrytown Cemetery and the Village of Sleepy Hollow didn’t change its name from North Tarrytown until the late 1990’s

Ah yes, the cemetery. Ask the proverbial man-on-the-street to conjure up an image of a cemetery and it’s likely he’ll envision something akin to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Sleepy Hollow has it all; spooky lilting 18th century death’s head tombstones, twisting narrow roads, majestic mausoleums and magnificent statuary, perfectly placed onto a hilly woodland canvas. It’s a cemetery with a capital “C”. It’s the perfect place to spend Halloween. Most cemetery administrators are understandably skittish about Halloween. The goblin-centric holiday often brings out the worst in people and because cemeteries have relatively low security, they are often vandalized by tombstone topplers and mayhem makers. Not so for Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Administrators and the nonprofit Sleepy Hollow Historic Fund look forward to it. It’s party time or more specifically, lantern tour time.

For months Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has been lining up volunteers and taking reservations for their Halloween Lantern Tours.The tours are so popular that a total of 17 lantern tours now occur October. At Sleepy Hollow, Halloween isn’t just a day, it’s an entire month. Of course, if you really want to do it right Halloween night is the time to go. Tour guides will supply you with your own personal lantern, but you may also want to pack along a small flashlight.

The first stop on the mile-long tour is to pay homage at the grave of the one who made this all possible: Washington Irving. Then you’ll be off to the 19th century receiving tomb, where bodies were stored when the ground was too frozen to dig graves.

The Receiving Tomb on the lantern tour

Vampire fans will be overjoyed to know that the receiving tomb was featured as one of the haunts of the vampire Barnabas Collins in the 1970 MGM film, House of Dark Shadows. The tour continues through Revolutionary War and Civil War monuments and notable and notorious permanent residents like industrialists Andrew Carnegie and William Rockefeller and master counterfeiter and all-around scoundrel Joshua D. Miner and explores the mysterious symbols on gravestones.

Even though Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is in the greater New York City megalopolis, when night falls on the cemetery it gets dark, really dark. It’s best not to stray from your tour group. Legend has it that the Headless Horseman still rides there carrying his jack-o-lantern head pursuing Ichabod Crane and whoever else might wander into his path.

The Latin inscription on Catriena VanTessel’s Gravestone translates to “Death Conquers All”

Douglas R. Keister is a graveyard guru, who Sunset magazine said “has done for cemetery exploration what Audubon did for birding.” His 39 books include four books on cemeteries such as Stories in the Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Read his blog on Red Room. All photos are copyright Douglas R. Keister.