With the global rush to cut back on our collective carbon footprints, one option may be to rent a bike on your next vacation in lieu of taxicabs and tour buses to explore the beautiful cities of America. To help you do so, we've compiled a list of a few bike-friendly cities and the means to get you started peddling.
San Francisco, CA:
Bay City Bike offers rentals and tips for exploring San Francisco’s 63 miles of bicycle lanes and paths. Rated among the
Top 10 bicycle-friendly cities in the world by Virgin Vacations, San Francisco’s hills will not only keep you in shape, but also make you feel good about doing your part to save the environment.
Boulder, CO:
Boulder is host to a plethora of bike rental facilities, including
University Bicycles,
Bicycle Village, and
Full Cycle Bikes to get around it's nearly 100 miles of linked bike-ways within the city limits.
Seattle, WA:
Seattle's Cascade Bicycle Club is a great place to get started when looking for bike rentals to travel through the "Emerald City". A free
Seattle bicycle guide with trail maps can be obtained from its Department of Transportation website.
Remember, most bike shops will require a photo ID and a credit card or cash deposit for rentals. In many cases if your rental bike is lost or stolen, you WILL be held financially responsible, so bring a bike lock (or rent one, if possible) to ensure your vacation doesn't wind up costing a lot more than you expected. Always use common sense and follow local traffic laws. The locals will appreciate it, and so will the Earth.
With microbreweries popping up everywhere these days, it's easy to find one near you in practically every city around the world.
Websites like
Beertown.org and
Beermapping.com make it easy to locate a brewery at your favorite vacation destination, or help you plan your 'brew-cation' with ease.
Some top cities for beer connoisseurs are Denver, Portland (OR), and San Francisco. Let's take a closer look, starting with...
Denver, Colorado:Just 15 miles west of the city, in Golden, CO is the world's largest brewery:
Coors Brewery. Coors offers a free 45-minute tour that concludes with an informal tasting.
Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver's first brewpub, features its signature Railyard Ale that can be enjoyed in their basement comedy club Thursdays through Saturdays.
Mesa Verde National Park is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its historical value and its natural cliffs. It is found in Montezuma County, Colorado. Located near the Four Corners, this park allows visitors to see ruins of former homes and villages that were once built by the ancient Anasazi people, who lived in the 13th century.
It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling to Disneyworld or Busch Gardens; the fact of the matter is that if you have toddlers in the car, they can’t be expected to be well-behaved! Small children are restless and find driving in a car for hours on end listening to old Sinatra records unbearable. What are some ideas you can use to make your road trip less noisy?
Some parents have found that keeping a security object in the car, along with a backup, is a calming device for some rambunctious children. Keeping a backup is a great idea, because if by some chance something should happen to the original, there is no comfort you can give your child (or toddler-aged friend) that’s going to sedate him or her. You should also make plans to bring a change of clothing for each toddler for unforeseen occurrences.
Today is Christmas Eve and everyone here at Steamboat are excited. Some say it is because Santa comes by tonight, but the true skier and snowboarders have another story. This morning it was 0 degrees with a powder dusting of 8 or more inches of fresh snow.
The official word on the conditions on the mountain are:
"Steamboat's network of lifts will open early from Dec 26-31. Over 6 feet of Champagne Snow since Nov 27th greets Holiday skiers and riders."
It was great to see both young and old crowds early this morning waiting for the lifts to open so they could be some of the first to greet the fresh powder snow. I can not wait myself.
Are you ready for the holidays? If you have lift tickets for Steamboat Springs, then you have all you need to make it a great holiday.
I have heard that by Saturday, the mountain will open around 2,863 acres nearly 96% of the mountain.of terrain, 12 lifts, 154 trails and 3,668 vertical feet of skiing and snowboarding on powder/pack powder conditions. Before Saturday I understand that lower Vagabond, Moonlight and the NASTAR Race area trails will be opened.
Weather channel advises that there is a Winter Weather Warning until Thursday afternoon, so be sure to call ahead and make sure that Rabbit Ears pass is open before driving in.
If you are looking for great airfares, check out www.airticket.com .For great hotel and resort rates click here!
What a day this has been!! Seems like the cold air is just settling in and tomorrow morning is going to be really cold. At 7am MST tomorrow morning the mountain patrolers are setting off charges to control for avalanches.
Over the last 24 hours the official snow fall at the base of the mountain was only 1.5", but over 15" in the last 48 hours. There is officially 35" at the base and 83" total for the year. As a note, last year during the christmas holiday week, there was over 79" of snow falling.
Weather station is calling for a winter weather advisory until 6pm Tomorrow night. So if you are driving in, be sure to check ahead and make sure Rabbit Ears Pass is open!!
Well, the day is almost over and if you are not in Steamboat Springs and if you did not go to the mountain to ski today, then you missed a great day of skiing. With more than 5 inches of fresh powder snow, you can bet everyone on the mountain had a great time. So bring the whole famiy and have some fun.
The mountain had 10 of 18 lifts open with 109 powder trails open today. The forcast calls for more snow over the next few days, so the skiing and snowboarding will be great. What a wonderful way to bring in the last days of fall and the first days of Winter. Winter official starts on 21 Dec.
It's still not too late to book for Christmas! Find great rates on airfares at www.airticket.com and great rates at hotels all around the mountain by clicking here.
When you get to Steamboat, you don't have to ski all the time. Some folks like to horse back ride and see the area the way the early settlers did. Be sure to check for details when you arrive at your hotel. You will find brochures for a lot of outdoors activities, just as the check-in personell.
If you love cold, if you love 10 inches of fresh powder, then Steamboat is the place for you today!! Get the latest Photo of the Day from Steamboat.
Yes, it is 9 degrees (10amMST) and over the last 24 hours Steamboat has gotten over 10 inches of fresh powder from the storm that has come out of the Pacific and according to the Weather Channel , there is much more to come over the next 5 days.
This images seems like a mess, doesn't it?? Well it is the official Department of Transportation for Colorado image from the Steamboat web camera located on Highway 40 at the exit to Steamboat Springs Ski Resort (Mt Wener Rd) in Steamboat Springs CO. What you are seeing is the snow that has blown on the camera lens. Maybe someone from the DOT will wipe off the camera sometime today or tomorrow. Want to keep up with the road conditions and see how log it takes to have the camera wiped off? Well, I have the official CO Depart of Transportation link here . So everyone can check out the road conditions before hitting the roads. Safe Traveling!!
If you are looking for great hotel rates in the Steamboat area, click here ! For great airfares to Steamboat, try out www.aircket.com. Have a wonderful Holiday!!
Are you planning an exciting but expensive skiing vacation this year? About now you’re probably looking for tips on how to save money. The best way to save money on a skiing trip is to apply the same advice as you would on any other type of vacation.
For example, skiers who insist on booking in the peak holiday periods pay a bundle. Once you figure out that the peak seasons for skiing vacations are around Christmas, New Year’s Day and President’s Day, you can more cautiously plan your vacation dates. Peak season bookings are usually double the standard price.
Airfare costs are just as high, and may jump up 200-300% in the busiest part of the year!
