March 2007

Breckenridge,

GENUINE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

Breckenridge is considering a dog park. Years of allowing dogs to roam free at Carter Park next to the elementary school may be too much of a conflict with the numbers of people that now frequent the area. Conflicts have been steadily rising. With the popularity of pets in town a solution will be found. Two alternatives are for the town to designate an acre of ground somewhere to dogs and their owners or to segregate sections of Carter Park to dog owners and non-accompanied people. With the shrinking of open space alternative two is probably the likely alternative.
Breckenridge’s new parking system seems to be working well, at least for the locals. The free all day parking used to get filled up with overflow skier parking. Since the inception of charging for the in close and in town parking went into effect this season the skier parking has been spread more evenly over the total availability and away from the town core. Locals who are working in town can park in the pay lots all day for free with a permit. The new system also leaves plenty of three-hour parking for shoppers and diners.
www.TownofBreckenridge.com 

More good info can be found at: http://www.BestoftheRockies.com

ALL THE GOOD NEWS…

The new St. Anthony Summit Medical Center has stepped up its treatment of stroke victims. As the average age of our local population moves upward this becomes increasingly important. Strokes most often strike those between ages 60 and 80 and is the third leading cause of death affecting four out of five families. Providing immediate care is essential to minimizing damage and maintaining the quality of life.

Breckenridge resident Shannon Galpin has joined up with Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute to spread peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan by building schools. Mortenson and the CAI have built 58 schools in the region over the last 13 years. Currently 145 million children worldwide do not have access to education. The cost to eliminate this problem is $6-8 billion. A lot of money, but not unfathomable in the scheme of world economics. Shannon began Mountain to Mountain to help with raising money for the schools. Four local families have organized a $15,000 challenge grant to help. Among the fundraising events are the 1st annual Race for the Mountains and the Pennies for Peace campaign initiated in some of the local elementary schools. More information can be found at: http://mountain2mountain.com/

More good news comes from Summit Middle School. Sixth grade student Addie Herwig donated her horse to the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center. Handicapped and disturbed children receive wonderful benefits through horseback riding. Now Addie has written a children’s book to help teach a great lesson. To top it off all proceeds from the book go to the CTRC. See; http://www.ctrcinc.org/ to make a donation.

The 2007 version of Ride the Rockies will begin and end in Frisco just down the street from our new Keller Williams office. The ride starts on June 16 with a celebration coinciding with the BBQ challenge on Main St. Frisco. The ride will proceed to Steamboat, Glenwood, over Independence Pass to Twin Lakes and Leadville. Now in its 22nd year the ride is capped at 2000 participants. The $315 entry includes camping, showers and a host of support systems. Sorry, registration is closed for this year but if you want to participate in the future go to www.RideTheRockies.com

School News

The Summit High girl’s ski team took its fourth state title in a row last month. Briana Perkins won the Nordic races both days. Her older sister Brittany won five consecutive titles. The alpine team placed a number of kids on the podium to assist in the win.

Meanwhile the boy’s team was narrowly beat out by Aspen by five points. The first day of competition had the alpine team sweeping the podium in the giant slalom. They couldn’t hold their lead though in the brutal conditions for the slalom races the second day. Zero visibility and fresh snow slowed the Summit team a little too much. The Nordic team was likewise hampered as the road conditions caused them to miss their warm up and start the race cold. Tough way to lose it; although kudos go out for a great competition and an excellent finish. Summit Tiger Fletcher McDonald was voted male alpine skier of the year.

The Keystone Science School is a fabulous resource in Summit County. They operate a variety of programs throughout the year to make science real life for kids. The students get out of the classroom and into the world and see that science is about how things work and not just books and theories. Recently a group of fifth graders were taken out to study snow and how the layers and moisture content affects everything from avalanches to available water supplies. The snow composition data has been logged and is accessible on line so the kids can continue to do research projects from their regular classrooms. It’s hoped the local schools will continue to use and add to the data, after all our whole economy here in Summit County is dependant on snow. It is also critical in light of the slew of recent deaths from avalanches around the Rockies. More information on avalanches can be found at: http://avalanche.state.co.us/ and the Keystone Science School at: http://www.keystone.org/

Check out our schools at: http://summit.k12.co.us/

Think snow, always!

Contact Tom if you need tips on where to stay, eat or play.

This April Twin Lakes will ring in the spring with a celebration of the region’s vast culinary talent. The weekend of April 20, 21 and 22 is the First Annual Twin Lakes Culinary Weekend. Our 2007 theme is “Bounty of the Sea” with a fantastic selection of seafood being provided by our local expert Phil Rush.

We will be offering a series of dinners, demos and breakfasts with a collection of chefs from up and down the Arkansas River valley. The highlight of the event will be two sessions of cooking demonstrations by our chefs showcasing their favorite seafood recipes followed by a wine-maker’s dinner where each chef will create one course, i.e. six chefs doing six courses. So far on the program is Jacob of the Nordic Lodge in Twin Lakes, Vic Christian from the Saddlerock in Leadville, Rachel of the Twisted Cork in Salida. We will possibly have a few more chefs from the Salida area and perhaps a major star from Beaver Creek. Also in the lineup will be Kevin, winemaker extraordinaire from Woody Creek Winery in western Colorado and the Chocolatiere from Chocolove in Boulder. These two gentlemen will be doing seminars as well.

Sunday morning will be a traveling breakfast where area B and B’s will be serving samples of their breakfast specialties for you to sample. Area lodges and B and B’s will be offering package deals or you can just purchase a Saturday ticket. As details are finalized we will be announcing the participating chefs, menus and demonstrations as well as the lodging options. Keep checking back and contact me to make your reservations early. This event promises to be first class and a sellout, so don’t miss it!

The Saddlerock Smokehouse is Leadville’s newest addition to an ever improving restaurant scene. Owner Rick Watts has been in the business all his life and Vic has been around BBQ for a similar time. Both are good southern gentlemen so they know smoked meats and offer a unique selection of side dishes not usually found in this part of the west. The Saddlerock is located south of town on Highway 24 next to the Super 8 motel.
Go to www.VisitTwinLakesColorado.com for more information.