Jan 26
The United States has been blanketed this weekend in some of the worst winter weather it has seen for many years.
More than half of the population across 37 states have been affected and almost a million homes are without power. 60cm of snow fell overnight in parts of the north-east. In southern parts of the country warmer weather has brought ice storms and tornadoes.
Please click for moreI am lucky to currently be in Colorado with the beautiful backdrop of the Rockies and rarefied mountain air for company this week.
The sky is a blueish violet and the sun is warm, and I probably didn’t need half of the layers I squeezed into my carry on.
Please click for moreThe next Place of 20 to extol my 20 Years of writing this Blog.
In no particular order, or ranking but each one as memorable as the other. No. 12 is Beaver Creek in Colorado.
Please click for moreAfter almost a week in the freezing temperatures of Colorado, I am now in the winter warmth of Florida.
Beaver Creek was as sensational as ever and the snow was ‘epic,’ which was how the guides were describing the huge amounts of snow that fell in the last week of January. It was still falling as I left causing a few now-normal flight delays. It was a good time all around and lovely to spend some quality time with people I hadn’t seen for three years.
Please click for moreI woke up this morning in Denver, Colorado.. as you do.
Flew here yesterday afternoon via New York, and arrived at the hotel at 2am. It was quite the hike. Snow lightly fell as we checked in and the photo is from my hotel room window just now.
Please click for more🔝5️⃣ Happy New Year to you all.
I’ve been doing my annual CA Top Fives for more than a decade, but there has never been a year like 2020.
There were always barriers to travel, whether self made, man made or natural forces, but never before was the world closed to exploration. For the ‘normal person’ anyhow. Who knows what the world looks like after the vaccination seizes control back from the virus and allows us to venture outside again, but all I know is I want to see it, old haunts, favourite spots, new places.
In saying that one of the small positives of being stuck at home in 2020 was more family time, and more time to actually spend with them on our own doorstep. Bermuda is hard not to appreciate, and if I include my home, then I actually can stretch to five places I spent some time in during this pandemic infected year.
Colorado bound and I will be as high as 5,500 feet tonight in the arty district of downtown Denver. Sunday dinner with a client, then a little bit of a lie in before a couple hours drive up the Rocky Mountains to Beaver Creek, which sits at 11,000 feet to embark on a week of skiing work.
Nestled at 9,000 feet at the bottom of Bachelor Gulch mountain in Colorado is the gigantic dream-like log cabin that is the Ritz Carlton. I’ve been lucky to stay here a number of times and the hotel crowns the mountain range like a Bavarian castle complete with numerous huge log burning fires and a roaming giant St Bernard dog called Bachelor.
I’m no longer a skiier, I was only ever a perennial beginner, and an ACL replacement put paid to my mogul jumping career.
After a journey that took 19 hours I made it to the city of Denver late last night. The steps of the State Capitol building are a mile above sea level giving the town its nickname.
The journey from Bermuda is already a hike, and then I got stuck at Miami airport as our plane was taken out of service due to mechanical reasons and we had to wait for another one, give the crew a break etc, and missed a connection in Dallas, blah blah..
Who remembers Up The Creek? I had many a good night there, although didn’t it used to be at the Woolwich Tramshed or was that another comedy club. Anyways my mind is wandering, today I’m off to another Creek, possibly about as dissimilar to the one in Greenwich as you can get, this one is Beaver Creek, a ski resort in Colorado.
I first was in Beaver Creek just over 10 years ago and I reckon this is the x time I stayed at this hotel, which is beautifully set at the foot of Bachelor Gulch, one of the four mountains that makes up the resort.
I have been in Colorado since Sunday night at the spotless and snowy Beaver Creek, which is about 13 miles from Vail. 50cm of snow has fallen since we arrived and the four mountains (Beaver Creek, Grouse Peak, Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead) which make up the resort are awash with fresh powder.
I went on a snowmobile tour yesterday which was exhilarating. Two and a half hours flying along snowy trails hugging mountain ridges and forests with panoramic views of Vail’s back bowls and surrounding ranges. Our guide Perry was straight out of a marijuana dispensary, and was no slouch when it came to leading us through the 20-mile trail.
I hadn’t gotten around to posting my final 2013 Top 5’s, so I am going to bombard you with the final ones in the next few minutes starting with the best places I got to see last year.
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In a warm Miami this morning after a journey back from a very snowy Colorado yesterday evening.
In the last three days we were in Beaver Creek 36 inches of snow fell, the most at this time of many years. This had caused earlier airport issues with a bountiful of cancellations and the tiny Eagle airport near Vail was stretched to breaking point yesterday, as was my patience.
Our flight had a weight problem, so they had to throw a few fatties off and some luggage which caused a lot of consternation and an hour delay all the while after I had to push a wheelchair, carry 7 bags, and herd a 4-year old.
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We flew to Miami this morning and have had a stop-over day in nearby Coral Gables before we set off for a week’s skiing in Colorado tomorrow morning.
We are staying in Beaver Creek, near Vail, our 3rd time at the same hotel. We had decided that a skiing holiday wasn’t going to happen this year for one way or another so a corporate invite a couple of months ago was a very welcome surprise, especially to a hotel we love and a village that has a welcome sign up exclaiming: “Not exactly roughing it!”
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After a manic, and an often wearing March at work we leave Bermuda tomorrow for a week away spending the first weekend in Coral Gables, near Miami and then next week in Colorado followed by the majority of the next weekend making our way back from the mountains to Bermuda, not something the airlines allow us to do simply.
As I posted last weekend we have tickets for the Sony Ericsson Open tennis men’s final on Sunday afternoon. In today’s semi’s Rafa Nadal plays Andy Murray and number one seed Novak Djokovic is paired with the 21st seed Argentinian Juan Monaco.
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Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
