Looking for the best tool to guide you around Steamboat Springs this winter? Be sure not to miss the Steamboat Springs Winter 2009/2010 Visitors’ Guide for great information about all aspects of the Yampa Valley. This publication is the official resource of the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association.

Check out Steamboat’s Must-See stops, historic walking tour, options for affordable fun, snow sport clinics, Steamboat winter traditions and an insider’s guide to nightlife.

This complete guide also provides great information about winter 2009/2010 events, dinning, lodging, outdoors and a service guide featuring a directory of Chamber member businesses.

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the Steamboat Springs Winter 2009/2010 Visitors’ Guide please contact the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association Visitor Center Manager Kyleigh DeMicco at either info@steamboatchamber.com or (970) 875-7001.

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

I just finished reading Outside Magazine’s feature on a few of Steamboat’s finest men about town. The spread shows stylish shots of our very own Todd Lodwick, Adam Spector, Jerad Iacovetto, and Luke Brosterhous. The Olympian, The Energizer, The Rancher and The Golfer, respectively, spent some time with Outside Magazine reflecting on why, despite their multi-faceted life experiences and careers, they choose to call Steamboat Springs home.

Lodwick is just one of the many Olympic athletes that owe much of their career success to the support of the town and the excellent training environment that continues to exist here year after year. His goal at this year’s winter Olympics is to medal in nordic combined (cross-country skiing and ski jumping), something no American has ever done.

After a sprinkling of interesting jobs, including a fish farmer and cafe owner, Steamboat Springs allows Spector to maintain a happy balance between work and play as both the national sales manager of the energy food manufacturer, Honey Stinger, and avid outdoor enthusiast.

I have had the pleasure of visiting Saddleback Ranch where Iacovetto lives and works. I am still in awe of 8,000 acre spread and seeing the infamous long horns that are the stars in our yearly Fourth of July cattle drive up close. Their horns are enormous. You really begin to understand Steamboat’s western heritage once you step foot onto one of these beautiful ranches.

I think, however, it is Brosterhous, director of Authentic Golf, a golf-instruction-and-travel company, who sums up why so many of us choose to call Steamboat home the best when he says, “We’ll gladly suffer high mortgages so we can ski 100 days per year.”

I’ll second that.

 Click here to check out the entire feature.

I recently have had the incredible good fortune of being able to travel aboard. After spending eight magical days touring London and Paris, visiting museums, meeting new friends and learning more about the world, it is safe to stay that even among big world-class cities; Steamboat Springs sure can hold its own. While England and France hold extremely high marks in my book, the wide open spaces of the Yampa Valley were sure welcoming when I came home on Sunday night. The lightly snow dusted peak of the Steamboat Ski Area reminded me that ski season is just around the corner and the friendly faces at the post office today reminded me of what genuine people live here.

London, Paris and Steamboat Springs; all work-class destinations in my book.

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

This weekend was an autumn weekend if I have ever experienced one. Both Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous days; the leaves in the valley are still changing, acres and acres of ranch lands are covered with neatly rolled hay bails and the chill in the air is unmistakably that of fall.

What was so ironic was while I was dressed in scarves, boots and layers all weekend, I was also helping my best friend plan her upcoming June wedding in Steamboat Springs. The changing of the seasons is one of the things I love most about Northwest Colorado. I love that we experience all four seasons and better yet, we get to plan events year round. Pink roses might not be an autumn flower, but it is fun to plan for the seasons ahead.

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

It is always fun to try new things, no matter how out of your comfort zone they may be. On Tuesday night a few friends and I went country western dancing at the Ghost Ranch Saloon. It was so much fun; we all had a BLAST!

This new bar opened in May 2009 and has had a steady schedule of live bands and fun special events coming through their doors. I found out about the country western dancing from a friend who is a regular at the Ghost Ranch on Tuesday nights. With little to no experience under my belt, I tried the two step and a few line dances too. I was not the best dancer of the bunch, but I think I will be back next Tuesday night for some more dancing….practice makes perfect, right?

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

As crazy as it may seem, Steamboat Springs got its first dusting of snow this morning. For most of town it was rain, but atop Mt Werner at 10,568 ft. there was snow. As the Steamboat Pilot & Today noted in today’s story headline, “Summer, fall and winter collide.” With it being the last official day of summer, the aspen leaves starting to change colors and it looking more like fall and the snow adding a wintery feeling – I say that the paper had the headline right.

Stay tuned for more updates about the Rocky Mountain fall colors!

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

After a summer full of anticipation, the inaugural Steamboat OktoberWest starts today. Check out the full schedule of events below or go to www.steamboatoktoberwest.com for more details.

Tonight’s Pedaling Posse Parade (cruiser bike parade) will be so much fun. Be sure to come down to Howelsen Hill tonight at 5:00 p.m. and join us. If you cannot join us tonight, then be sure to check out the full day of festivities on Saturday, September 19^th at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area.

Friday, September 18 – Downtown Steamboat Springs
5:00 pm    Pedaling Posse Parade – cruiser bike parade from Howelsen Hill to
Little Toots Park
Best Cruiser/Bike and Best Costume wins $50 Old Town Pub gift certificate
6:00 pm    Suds & Grub beer tastings and food specials ($5 for 6 Beer Tasting Tokens Early Stein Sale: $8)

Saturday, September 19 – Steamboat Ski Area                           
6:00 am     Run Rabbit Run Ultra Marathon race start
10am-4 pm Gondola opens for final weekend (Buy Saturday ticket, get Sunday FREE)
12:00 pm   Keg tapping ceremony at the Steamboat Ski Area
12-7:00 pm 2 for 1 Coca-Cola Adventure Zone Activities
1:00 pm    Lamb Cook-off – featuring local chefs and Routt County Lamb
2:00 pm    Bucking Bull Battle – mechanical bull riding competition
3:30 pm    Cow PIE Challenge – pie eating contest
4:00 pm    FREE concert featuring the Drew Emmitt Band
and opening band 3 Wire
$10 Stein includes 1 FREE BEER- $3 stein refills 

Sunday, September 20 – Steamboat Ski Area 
10 am-4 pm   Gondola opens for final weekend (Buy Saturday ticket, get Sunday FREE)
10:45am-4 pm $5 Bloody Mary Bar at the Oasis Sundeck at the top of the Gondola
11am- 2:30pm  OktoberWest Luncheon Buffet at the top of the Gondola ($10 adults,
$5 12 & under)
12-7:00 pm     2 for 1 Coca-Cola Adventure Zone Activities

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

Check out this GREAT article that appeared in the Denver Post travel section on Sunday, September 13th.

“If the only time you’ve spent in Ski Town, U.S.A., is to romp around in its delicious champagne powder to get at some of the best tree skiing in all the land, then now is the perfect time for a return visit. Steamboat Springs is friendly and laid-back, and while it lacks the flash of the glitzier resort areas — which means it also can lack some of the high costs — a bit of a boom continues to unleash a steady flow of new development. Still, when we think about our favorite hot spots in this hot-springs mecca, it’s mostly the oldies that are the goodies.” -Kyle Wagner

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

It is hard to say out loud, let alone write in a blog post but the seasons are changing here in Steamboat Springs. With an abundance of rain this spring, our neck of the woods had one of the greenest summers anyone can remember. June, July and August were absolutely stunning with emerald green pastures and vibrantly lush vegetation. All of this wonderful moisture however has made for a rather short summer season. Don’t get me wrong, fall is my all time favorite season, but I am having a tough time letting summer go. This past weekend, with the help of the sun and some great temperatures I embarked on what I believe will be the last, “weekend of summer.”

How did I celebrate? Nine holes of golf on Saturday at the Steamboat Golf Club, followed by an incredible dinner (my boyfriend’s birthday) at Giovanni’s Ristorante and then a full afternoon on the speedboat at Stagecoach Reservoir. Summer 2009; it was fun while it lasted!

What did you do this weekend? How are you transitioning into fall?

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.

Don’t you find the phenomenon of twitter absolutely astounding? What a great, simple tool to update, connection, reconnection, spread the word and find people out there in cyber space. In only 140 characters I am able learn, absorb and understand so much more than I ever thought was possible from a social media tool.

If you are like me acclimating myself to twitter took awhile, but now that I have invested the time, have leaned the ropes and practiced copious amounts of patience…twitter is now my friend not my foe.\

I can officially say that I am a “tweeter.” Please follow the four twitter accounts for the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association: @steamboatsummer, @SSCRAmembership. @SustainableBoat, @SteamboatCO.

Learn more about activities, lodging and vacation package to Steamboat Springs, www.steamboatchamber.com.