An Oryx at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch near San Antonio, Texas
United States
Travel Tuesday photo: An Oryx at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch
Categories: North America, Picture of the Week, Texas, United States
Tags: Picture of the Week, San Antonio, Texas
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Lodging Review: Passage Point Condo #427, Copper Mountain, Colorado
My final ski trip of the season was to Copper Mountain, Colorado. It was my first visit back to the resort since 2020, just before the pandemic. As was the case five years ago, when my ski club booked group lodging we were only allowed to book gold-, silver- or bronze-level lodging. Gold units are those closest to the slope. Our club chooses to book silver-level lodging. The last time we were at this resort all our units were in the Village Square condos or in Mountain Plaza. This time around most of our units were again in these two condo complexes, but we also had one unit in Silver Lake and our unit in Passage Point.
Passage Point Condos street view
Shortly before the trip we were told which buildings our condos would be in, but not which units. When I checked the Center Village map I was at first a little disappointed we were “so far” away from everyone else. (Note that nothing is really that far away from anything in Center Village. It only feels like a long way if you’re walking in ski boots!) But it wasn’t too long before I decided we had the better end of the deal. Continue reading
Categories: Colorado, Condos, Copper Mountain, Lodging Review, North America, United States
Tags: Colorado, Copper Mountain, Lodging Review, Ski Condo, Ski Lodging
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Lodging Review: Atwell Suites, Denver Airport
I once again had the opportunity to stay at a Denver airport-area hotel as I arrived a day before my ski club. This time I selected the Atwell Suites Denver Airport, as it was an IHG property and I could use the free night certificate I have with my IHG Select credit card.
I have to admit I’d never heard of the Atwell brand but, in general, I quite liked the hotel. It’s located just off Tower Road, a main thoroughfare that has many similar hotels lining each side. It has its own private shuttle. I had a friend pick me up at the airport but it was very nice not to have any other stops on the way back to the airport the next day.
The hotel has a very modern feel. As I understand it, this building is only a couple of years old so it’s still in quite good shape. The front desk was straight ahead upon entering. I arrived quite early, before noon, and asked if I could get a ground-floor room since I was wrangling both my skis bag and a larger wheeled duffel. None of those rooms were ready yet, but that was fine as my friend and I went off for lunch and a free tour through the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which is now a wildlife preserve. While we were in the Arsenal I received a call that my room was ready. Continue reading
Categories: Atwell Suites, Award Travel, Chase, Colorado, Hotel, IHG, IHG Rewards Card, Lodging Review, North America, United States
Tags: Atwell Suites, Colorado, Denver, Hotel, Hotel Review, Lodging Review
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Travel Tuesday photo: Anchor Chain of USS Missouri
Just one link in the massive anchor chain for the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Categories: Hawaii, North America, Picture of the Week, United States
Tags: Hawaii, Oahu, Pearl Harbor, Picture of the Week
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Travel Tuesday photo: Lone Peak, Big Sky, Montana
Big Sky Resort is one of my happy places. This is Lone Peak which tops out at 11,166 feet (3403 meters). From the top you can see across Idaho and into Washington state as well as into Wyoming.
Categories: Montana, North America, Picture of the Week, United States
Tags: Big Sky, Lone Peak, Montana, Picture of the Week
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Lodging Review: Huntley Lodge, Big Sky, Montana (2025)
My last visit to Big Sky was in 2019, just a year before the world changed. While our most recent previous stays had been at The Summit condos, our 2019 stay and our stay this year was at the Huntley Lodge, a hotel. This building was the original lodging at the resort and is located right at the base. Our club has been trying to get back to Big Sky ever since our last visit, but employee housing has become such a difficult thing that one entire wing of the hotel has been given over to housing the workers. That’s made getting reservations quite difficult. However, this year our club attended as part of a larger group from our ski council and with roughly 175 guests we were finally able to secure rooms.
The lodge underwent renovations in 2021, so I was excited to see the upgrades since our last visit. The lobby is mostly the same and the common areas got some new carpet and wallpaper but I’ll concentrate this review on the hotel room itself.
Guest Room
The wing that is open for guests has a fairly long hallway with a dogleg about halfway down. Our room was right in the “outside” part of the dogleg. That meant the room’s layout was different from a standard rectangle hotel room and also gave us a bit more floor space, which was nice.
The bathroom was immediately on the left when entering the room. The bathroom in this configuration is not as large as the one we had in the more standard rooms but it was fine. The sink was on the right side and positioned slightly to the right, so you didn’t have to worry about squeezing between the counter and the toilet. There were two sets of ceiling lights: one over the mirror and one for the room in general, including over the shower stall. In addition, there was a button in the lower middle portion of the mirror that backlit it, though we didn’t use that at all. Though you can’t see it in the photo below, there was a make-up mirror on a wall-mounted arm that could swing out from the wall and tilt as needed. It had its own light, which was quite helpful.
Huntley Lodge Bathroom
Categories: Hotel, Lodging Review, Montana, North America, Other Hotels, United States
Tags: Big Sky, Hotel Review, Lodging Review, Montana, Ski, Ski Lodging, Skiing
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Travel Tuesday photo: The Rocky Mountains
A small part of the Rocky Mountains as seen from Vail Ski Resort.
The Rocky Mountains as seen from Vail Resort
Categories: Colorado, Picture of the Week
Tags: Colorado, Picture of the Week, Rocky Mountains, Vail
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Travel Tuesday photo: Trinity Church, Lower Manhattan
The Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Construction was complete in 1846 and it was the tallest building in the US until 1869 and the tallest in NYC until 1890.
Trinity Church, Lower Manhattan
Travel Tuesday Photo: A Warthog in The Living Desert, Palm Desert, California
A warthog in her enclosure at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, California
Categories: California, North America, Picture of the Week, United States
Tags: California, Palm Desert, Picture of the Week, The Living Desert, Warthog, Zoo
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Travel Tuesday photo: A bald eagle at Grant’s Farm
A bald eagle at Grant’s Farm in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
A bald eagle
Categories: Missouri, North America, United States
Tags: Missouri, Picture of the Week
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