When I told my youngest daughter we could go anywhere within reasonable driving distance for spring break, she surprised me by immediately answering, “Taos.”

Kyle Wagner

The Sangre de Cristo mountains are visible from the courtyard outside of San Geronimo Church at Taos Pueblo.

She didn’t just want to revisit “the place of red willows” – she also wanted to stay in the same great lodging we had been before, Adobe & Pines Inn in Ranchos de Taos south of town, the inviting bed and breakfast owned by former restaurateurs Katherine and Louis Costabel, where breakfast is hearty enough to keep you going through lunch and possibly dinner, and the laid-back vibe means the relaxation starts the second the vehicle hits the gravel driveway.

Kyle Wagner

One of the elaborate breakfasts at Adobe & Pines Inn in Taos.

First, though, we stopped for a couple of days at Ojo Caliente, which continues its extensive remodel. We stayed in one of the spacious suites at the end, which affords a bit of privacy. They have microwaves and mini-fridges tucked into the bathroom area, as well as kiva fireplaces with nice, spacious sitting areas, and after two days, it was hard to tear ourselves away from the hot springs pools, with their varied temperature and mineral-content options (included from day of arrival through day of departure, along with a stop in the steam and sauna rooms). Ojo is still working on a private Kiva Pool that will be open only to the suites at one end of the property.

Kyle Wagner

Relaxing no the hammocks at Ojo Caliente.

The comfy, Southwestern-styled Artesian Restaurant was excellent – we tried the enormous breakfast burrito (get it “Christmas”-style to try both the red and green chile stews), the huevos rancheros and the vegetarian sandwiches, and also checked out the twice-daily Hatha yoga offerings ($15 per person) in the big yurt.

Kyle Wagner

One of the relaxing pools at Ojo Caliente.

Yoga was one of our goals for the trip; we wanted to be as relaxed, stretched and rejuvenated as possible. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few yoga spots in Taos.

One of the day managers at Adobe & Pines, Paul Kelly, runs Ananda Yoga Studio, which offers group and private lessons. Kelly’s instruction flows from the Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Vini methods, and the studio has classes that focus on individual styles as well as ones that meld techniques. Kelly is very into making sure that students are comfortable with the movements.

Shree Yoga Taos had a refreshing Kundalini yoga class that incorporated the asanas and meditation. It was a spacious, relaxing studio that also offers hatha yoga and yin flow, along with classes that focus on work to help with back problems and other therapeutics.

Our other goal: to eat some fabulous New Mexican food. We always stop in at Michael’s Kitchen for a long John, split in half and thickly filled with whipped cream, to go with one of their cheap, oversized diner meals.

Kyle Wagner

Big, big nachos at the Alley Cantina.

Another fave: the nachos at The Alley Cantina, which sits in a 16th century adobe building, the oldest in Taos, and still has some of the original walls. It’s a quick, laid-back stop for a beer and these nachos, which are big enough for three or four people for a nice afternoon snack, piled about eight inches high and packed with salsa, sour cream, beans and jalapenos ($8), then smothered with gooey melted cheese. We also love The Love Apple for its heavenly salads (grilled peach and corn-crusted local chevre, yum).

We’re sort of over World Cup Coffee on Paseo del Pueblo norte, just as you turn to go into the Plaza. They had construction going on in front, and they seemed annoyed with us that we didn’t know that as we tried to stop by for what used to be our favorite latte. So sorry, we’re from out of town. And we stopped by another day and had just a so-so drink. Now we’ve switched our allegiance to Noula’s at Hotel La Fonda, which brews Starbucks beans and has nice people, and the lobby of La Fonda for atmosphere. So there.

The Stakeout Restaurant south of the city, near Ranchos de Taos, has fabulous views and a rich, delicious ravioli dish ($15) that will require you to hike it off the next day – it comes filled with roasted squash and pumpkin, draped in a butter, sage and pine nut sauce. The sole ($19.75) is another worthy, well-crafted dish, the fish wrapped around crab and ricotta and gussied up with hollandaise sparked by sun-dried tomatoes.

A good hiking option is just across the road, an open, easygoing area that is good for kids and dogs – fairly level, with several options. The main out-and-back heads toward the Rio Grande rim and is about a mile and a half one way, with spurs to either side to go longer. The trailhead, with a small parking lot, has a hiker sign on the highway and sits on the east side of the road as you head south from the Stakeout. Be sure to take water.

Kyle Wagner

A view of the Rio Grande from a hike.

For somewhat more intensive rim hikes, you can drive the 12 miles to the Rio Grande Gorge and hike some of the 22 gorgeous miles of trails that follow along the river and rim there.

During our visit, a local mentioned that Santa Fe acts as though Taos is a day trip from the “real” attraction of New Mexico.

That’s absurd. We spent the better part of a week in Taos and could hardly tear ourselves away. And can’t wait to go back.

For more Travel-related features and news, visit the Denver Post site, or follow Travel on Twitter and Facebook.

Through the efforts of several organizations, including the Society of American Travel Writers, bloggers around the world are uniting to blog for New Zealand (#Blog4NZ on Twitter) to help the country out — it seems it’s been hurting a bit in the tourism department since the Canterbury earthquake.

Ricardo Baca

Kayakers in New Zealand enjoy an evening tour of Lake Taupo's volcanic coastline.

Through tomorrow, a search on #Blog4NZ will turn up thousands of stories about travel around the beautiful North and South islands from an amazing variety of travel writers and publications.

In September, Denver Post music editor Ricardo Baca wrote about his adventure-filled trip, “New Zealand’s Watery Wonderland,” and it’s worth checking out if you’re headed that way, especially if kayaking, sailing or zorbing are high on your list of planned activities. He shared five itineraries, along with places to stay and eat, focusing on the North Island, and he included cultural hub Wellington and a trip to Napier’s wineries.

For more Travel-related news and features, visit The Denver Post online, or check us out on Facebook or Twitter.

Because I was staying at Los Poblanos Inn in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque during this last trip to New Mexico, I mostly ate in the North Valley, although I did manage to swing past Nob Hill, as well. There are so many fabulous eateries to choose from, including many Mexican and Southwestern places, but here were a few standouts.

Casa de Benavidez (8032 4th Street NW, 505-898-3311) While droves of people are trying to get into other, more famous Mexican eateries with hour-long waits elsewhere along 4th Street in the North Valley, you could be at this quirky, family-run spot instead. The service sometimes suffers when they get busy, but the cervezas are reasonably priced and the shrimp fajitas, with the unusual addition of broccoli to the vegetable medley, are unbelievably good — seriously, you’ll start sopping up the juices with your napkin and licking it if you run out of other things to use. Also love the Old-Fashioned, which makes you think, yes, why wouldn’t I have some breakfast for dinner? The plate features three cheese enchiladas smothered in a deep, chile-rich red, sided by their delectable, crispy-greasy papitas (potatoes), with a fried egg on top, as well as a puff ball of a sopaipilla. For $10.99, it’s ridiculously filling.

Cecilia’s Cafe (230 6th St. SW, 505-243-7070) An unassuming downtown spot, Cecilia’s sports a kitschy decor — Christmas ornaments up year-round, old Coca-Cola signs, a wood-burning stove, mismatched everything — and a cheerful staff. The small kitchen sends out copious amounts of red chile, their specialty, as well as enormous burritos — the Firemen’s will fill you for the day, packed with carne adovada, eggs, hash browns and chicharrones — and enchiladas wrapped in blue corn tortillas. They make their own flour tortillas, as well, and the brownies are chocolate heaven.

Frontier Restaurant (2400 Central SE, 505-266-0550) Casual and retro-hip, filled with all manner of John Wayne-themed art and convenient to the University of New Mexico, the 40-year-old Frontier is one big melting pot of a diner. The ordering system is daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, things move quickly. And what food, including delicious carne adovada breakfast burritos, spicy huevos rancheros and a killer sweet roll. Coffee or tea comes with, all for under $5.

Kyle Wagner

Order at the counter, then watch for your number to light up when the food's ready to be picked up at the Frontier.

Flying Star (seven Albuquerque locations) An astounding array of house-baked desserts and pastries, as well as a variety of comfort foods, such as mac & cheese, chicken pot pie and French toast smothered with whipped cream. The only thing I don’t like at Flying Star is that the espresso drinks are served in glasses instead of mugs — I don’t understand why any place that takes its coffee seriously does that. The glass is too hot to hold or drink from while the beverage is still hot, and then it cools off too fast. It’s a shame, because otherwise the lattes are excellent. The Albuquerque original, which started on Nob Hill in 1987, also has a store in Santa Fe and one in Bernalillo.

Kyle Wagner

Some of the many tempting baked items available at Flying Star.

Zinc (3009 Central Ave. NE, 505-254-9462) When we were having a terrible experience at another eatery, we called Zinc at the last minute the night before Valentine’s Day on the opening weekend of “Wicked,” and bless their hearts, they got us in and gave us the stellar service and well-executed, innovative food for which the chic but relaxed eatery is known. A seat at the exhibition bar will put you up against the action, where the chefs actually take the time to say hi and check on your meal, and check out the prix fixe tasting menu, which will get you more than enough food for a great price. The onion soup, the wild mushroom tart and the duck confit eggrolls are standouts.

Read more about visiting the Albuquerque area, including a trip to Acoma Pueblo.

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From breakfast to late-night, new to tried-and-true and cheap to put-it-on-the-card (or two), here are ten great places to check out when you’re hungry in Vail.

Block 16 (In the Sebastian Hotel, 16 Vail Road, 970-477-8000). Try to score a comfy banquette in this swanky new hotel’s upscale eatery, which offers stellar service and exquisite food – the halibut with truffle-scented broth is wonderful, and the gooey-centered, warm mint chocolate finale is worth saving room for. Better-suited to adults (there’s no kids’ menu, and you’re going to pay top dollar for substitutions); families should check out the more casual Market next door.

Kyle Wagner

One of the snazzy sandwiches at Flame in the Four Seasons Vail.

Flame (In the Four Seasons Vail, One Vail Road, 970-477-8600). Elegant and inviting, the restaurant at the new Four Seasons is ideal for ladies who lunch, especially in the empty eatery while everyone else is on the mountain (the chicken lettuce wraps are perfectly not-too-filling). At night, the space is more lively but can get noisy, but the menu is much more interesting – salad of tomatoes with candied kumquats, butternut squash risotto with parsnip chips – and Thursday-Sunday they offer a rotating “butcher’s board” of meats such as roast suckling pig and salt-crusted whole fish.

The George (292 East Meadow Drive, 970-476-2656). Cheap drinks – about $3-$4 – make The George the place for 3-7 p.m. après ski. Locals know to get there early (be off the mountain by 3 p.m.) to make it anywhere near the bar or to snag a seat on one of the comfy leather couches. Come hungry because for less than $17 you can take down tasty things like King crab legs and steak, and the rest of the snack items are about half that. Sure, you’re essentially in what feels like a basement – by the way, the George can be hard to find; just ask around if you don’t see it right away – but if you’re looking for something off the beaten path and less “ski resortish,” this is it.

Joe’s Famous Deli (288 Bridge St., 970-479-7580). Reasonably priced and very kid-friendly, Joe’s is a below-street-level deli that serves superb sandwiches – the panini are extra-special, such as the all-veggie “Fun Guy” with portobello and cheese – and dozens of cleverly flavored, house-made ice creams (the birthday cake is a fave).

Kyle Wagner

It's hard to decide which homemade ice cream to get at Joe's Famous Deli.

Little Diner (616 W. Lionshead Circle, 970-476-4279). Open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., the diner serves hearty German pancakes (sprinkled with bacon), biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, chipped beef on toast … the list goes on. All good. The “Little” part refers to the last name of the friendly owners who do all the cooking, by the way, but also to the fact that this spot isn’t very big, so you may have to wait.

Restaurant Kelly Liken (12 Vail Road, 970-479-0175) The ancho chile-braised bison short rib likely will live in infamy because first lady Michelle Obama chose it for her meal while on a Vail vacation President’s Day weekend (and Rush Limbaugh made a joke of it), but I’m partial to the pan-roasted striped bass at this pretty, even romantic, spot. A bit of a seafood fan, I’d also always start with the Meyer lemon-sparked, chilled Maine lobster – and diet be danged, the sticky bun sundae is to die for. They can get bogged down between the entrees and dessert when they’re full, and, of course, they’re always full.

Cyrus McCrimmon

The dining space is pretty and romantic at Restaurant Kelly Liken.

Terra Bistro (In the Vail Mountain Lodge & Spa, 352 E. Meadow Drive, Vail Village, 970-476-6836) has been on its game for so long, it’s worthy of the spotlight. The chic, big-city-style dining room and slick service give it a grown-up, un-resort-like feel, and the wine list is just filled with winners. A few don’t-misses from the menu: the duck breast with chipotle-chocolate fig sauce, the brown butter-sweet potato ravioli and the almond milk custard pot de creme finale.

Vendetta’s (291 Bridge St, 970-476-5070) Do not try to eat here on a weekend or during peak times in ski season, but otherwise, this is must-have pizza, thickly piled toppings on a crisp-edged crust, slightly sweet, homemade sauce. Cold beer – Fat Tire and Stella Artois on tap – and the bar in the back is always hopping. But truly, the place is a madhouse when it’s full, and there’s nowhere to wait for a table. If it’s cold, you’re going to be standing with your rear end in someone’s slices.

The Westside Café (2211 N. Frontage Road W., 970-476-7890). Kids love the Mickey Mouse pancake, adults love that this is a reasonably priced, easygoing spot for all three meals, especially breakfast (biscuits and gravy, quiche, and eight different kinds of Benedict). They also do a yerba matte latte, a killer bloody Mary, and the OJ is fresh-squeezed. Run by three former Sweet Basil employees, the place couldn’t be more welcoming, either.

Yama Sushi (168 E. Gore Creek Dr., 970-476-7332) The newest restaurant in town, Yama is on a roll: specifically, several dozen of them, with quite a few standouts. Check out “Summer in Vail,” with cucumber wrapped around snow crab, tuna, yellowtail, salmon, cilantro and avocado (no nori or rice), a splash of ponzu sauce for kick, or the Hammerhead, snow crab with eel and red tobiko, covered with wasabi peas and then fried tempura-style. There’s a short list of cooked entrees, but really, it’s all about the raw here. The red-and-black space is sleek and modern, and the bar offers a good sake selection and innovative cocktails.

Look in tomorrow’s Travel section for more on the Vail scene.

For more Travel news and features, visit the Denver Post Travel section online. Also check us out on Twitter and Facebook.

Just returned from the Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference in Cheyenne, where I had the best banquet meal ever, a surf-and-turf of lobster and Kobe beef at the Little America Hotel & Resort Cheyenne that still has folks talking.

Glenn Asakawa

All the pretty horses at the Vee Bar ranch near Laramie, Wyo.

I came away with a whole saddlebag’s worth of stories, but the most imminent is that budding filmmakers who like to do their shootin’ in the West — and I reiterate that we’re talking film here, but fake guns are OK, as evidenced by the winner of last year’s contest, “Absaroka”
— should be heading to Wyoming right now to work on their entries for a another kind of shot: the one at the $25,000 first prize and some serious bragging rights. (You can watch the winning film in two parts at the end of this post, or the whole thing all nice and pretty at the Wyoming film site.)

Films can be submitted online, and the winner is decided in two rounds. First up is the public vote round, where viewers from around the Web rate the films. A judging panel will then decide the winner based on the top ten most popular entries.

Kyle Wagner

Here a bison, there a bison, everywhere a bison at Yellowstone National Park in winter.

Some criteria that the judges will keep in mind when viewing the films include cinematography, screenplay/acting, sound design, editing and overall production value.

Read more…

Few travel awards get as much attention as the annual “Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in the U.S.” from TripAdvisor, and the roster released this week from the popular travel site is no exception.

It has Colorado buzzing more than usual, though, because for the first time, one of our own got tapped for this not-so-honorable mention: the Super 8 Estes Park at 1040 Big Thompson Ave.

Courtesy TripAdvisor

One of the posts on TripAdvisor from the Super 8 Estes Park, a dirty, crumbling wire in the room.

Not cool, to say the least, especially considering that Estes Park is the top destination for Denverites and one of the biggest draws in the state for out-of-towners.

Owner Mary Chung, who has run the motel for more than two decades with her husband, Vincent Chung, says she was “completely caught off guard” by what she calls her “worst nightmare.”

Courtesy TripAdvisor

A photo of a bloody washcloth at the Super 8 Estes Park, posted by a reviewer. It had been cleaned and then hung in the room to be reused.

“I don’t know how to address the article,” Chung says. “Some of the comments are older ones; some of these issues are older ones. Some of these things are things that have already been taken care of. I don’t think it’s fair that they are part of this now.”

On the site, the most recent comments were from guests who called it a “dismal dump” in October, guests in September who noted that the “ceiling plaster in the bathroom was…disgusting with old water stains” and a visit from August that said the bathtub “had black mold growing around the base.”

Read more…

Getting rid of the car was the easy part – figuring out how to get around without one took some doing.

First we had to find a place to live within walking distance of my workplace and my daughters’ schools. Now that they’re both in high school, they trek the 17 blocks on nice days and take RTD when it’s cold. Over a period of four months, I visited more than 30 apartments, duplexes, townhouses, condos and full-size houses before lucking out on an Uptown house.

Jim Carr

Now I always walk the nine blocks to work (it takes about 15 minutes), and rarely mind winter days like the ones we’ve had most recently, when others sit for hours in icy gridlock. I don’t miss the treacherous driving conditions or the drivers who panic at the first sign of a snowflake. I always hated scraping snow off the windshield and wondering if I had enough wiper fluid. Now my preparations consist of putting on a really big scarf, a pair of glove liners and boots with a good tread.

On snow days it actually takes me less time to get to work because I do a sort of shuffle-run to keep from sliding on sidewalks. Is it cold? Heck, yes. When the temps hit single digits I admit to wondering if I’ve lost my mind. The really windy days are actually the worst. I take a cab if the lightning looks life-threatening, but that’s happened only twice in four years.

Read more…

They said it couldn’t be done.

“You can’t be careless in Colorado,” they said.

“You can’t have kids and no car,” they said.

“You can’t be a travel editor without a car,” they said.

They were wrong.

Jim Carr

It’s now three months shy of four years since I watched the minivan drive off, that gas-guzzling money pit. It was a Chrysler Town & Country, a soccer mom’s dream and just the kind of mysteriously assembled heap of metal and electricity that puts dollar signs in mechanic’s eyes.

Truth be told, though, as much as “the Purple Wonder” – it was a weird dark bluish shade that in certain lights looked like a gigantic grape – sucked away thousands of my hard-earned dollars over its the six years with us, it traveled to some amazing places.

Read more…

Service is one of the key components of a travel-related business, and in a struggling economy, an inability to deliver adequately courteous and efficient assistance – really, even just the basics to travelers – could make or break a company in 2011.

Cyrus McCrimmon

Service matters, and a good business will empower its employees to take taking care of customers seriously.

The silly thing is, this is one of the quickest and easiest things to fix.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised at how often I encountered terrible service in 2010 – a year in which so many in the industry complained that they were fighting for clients or barely making it.

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Scannermania is in full swing, and as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday air travel extravaganza, “scanner or pat down?” may replace “paper or plastic?” as one of the most agonizing decisions we face.

The bad news is, picking the full-body image detector doesn’t mean you won’t also have to be subjected to the pat-down, as I discovered on a recent trip to Bend, Ore., from Denver International Airport.

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Sure, this airport employee is smiling now as she is scanned by a TSA full-body scanner at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC. But that's because she hasn't been subjected yet to the extra-special pat-down.

I opted to give one of DIA’s fancy new millimeter wave screening devices a test run, and frankly, I found the scanner portion to be a non-issue, aside from the ridiculous amount of time it requires. The whole ordeal from pushing my laptop into the X-ray machine to walking down the escalator on my way to the train took 12 minutes — and that was after the 20-minute slog to get there.

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