Chris Robinson is the host of The Chris Robinson Travel Show - broadcast on Newstalk 1010 every Saturday at 10am and on CJAD 800 Montreal at 11am. www.ChrisRobinsonTravelShow.ca
The drive west through the Glenwood Canyon beside the Colorado River is spectacular and it took us to the town of Glenwood Springs from where we rode the gondola tram up to Glenwood Springs Caverns Adventure Park www.glenwoodcaverns.com to meet Steve Beckley, the owner of this family attraction. He has transformed a Victorian show cave into a bundle of cave tours, wild rides, 4D theatre experience (moving seats, surround sound and special effects!) and educative activities that delight visitors of all ages. I rode the Canyon Flyer (top), the first Alpine coaster in the U.S. and then was launched on Swing Shot (middle) 1,300 feet above the roaring Colorado River. The highlight for me was exploring the caverns themselves with Steve (bottom) who has extended the cave system here for thousands of feet into the mountain depths.
Aspen www.aspenchamber.org is memorably situated in a mountain bowl up the Roaring Fork Valley from Glenwood. It’s the epitome of Colorado: chic, hip and happening in town with a fabulous four season outdoorsy back yard that includes some of the best skiing out there in winter and sublime mountain hiking, biking and views in summer. We ascended Aspen Mountain (top) to drink in the views of the surrounding snow capped Rockies at 11,200 elevation, explored the Colorado mountain icons of the Maroon Bells in their Shangri-la valley (middle) and broadcasted my weekly radio Travel Shows from the Little Nell Hotel www.thelittlenell.com at the base of Aspen Mountain in the lively company of Alex de L’Arbre (bottom). We stayed at the Hotel Jerome, hoteljerome.rockresorts.com/ a lovingly restored and ornate Victorian luxury hotel that still boasts the first elevator west of the Mississippi!
Following the Colorado River, now a brown torrent, through canyons becoming familiar from many a Western film and more and more desert-like, we suddenly shot out into the green oasis of the Grand Valley and the town of Grand Junction www.visitgrandjunction.com/ . The juxtaposition of the lush vineyards and the arid desert buttes and mesas is amazing (top). This is the heart of Colorado wine country, so naturally we had to tour and sample a few! We toured Plum Creek Cellars www.plumcreekwinery.com/ (middle), Canyon Wind www.canyonwindcellars.com/ and Varaison Vineyards www.varaisonvineyards.com/ where Alex educated us on the wines in a lively and fun style (bottom). To compliment the excellent wines, we dined in style at 626 on Rood www.626onrood.com/ and enjoyed the hospitality of the Grand Vista Hotel www.grandvistahotel.com/ .
The Grand Finale of our trip was indeed Grand: just outside of Grand Junction is the Colorado National Monument www.nps.gov/ . It’s a 23,000 acre wonderland of shadowed canyons, soaring rock pillars and almost two billion years of earth history carved in sandstone. Jennifer Grossheim Harris from Grand Junction CVB guided us along Rim Rock Drive, a road through the Monument whose every twist and turn reveals a stunning vista, an inviting trail, a patchwork glory of light and shadows cast on the awesome scenery. As I sat on the edge of a canyon breathing in the solitude of this spectacular place, I understood why Colorado calls to so many visitors in so many different ways. Heed the call and plan a trip to this heart of the American West.
The big new thrill ride in Orlando this summer is Manta at SeaWorld. As listeners to my radio shows know only too well, I’m a big kid when it comes to this kind of thing, so I was delighted when I was invited to come and experience Manta a week after its official opening. You spin, glide, skim and soar like a giant ray on this unique ride…and you do it all face down, as you are rotated 90 degrees to face the ground right at the start! The close encounters with a waterfall and the waters of the Manta Aquarium at 100 km/hr just add to the excitement. And that Aquarium is a wonderful twin to the ride, adding an educational element and solace for the little ones too young for the ride experience.
Whilst in SeaWorld I caught up with three of the fabulous shows featured in the park. ‘Believe’ in the Shamu Stadium (top) showcases mighty killer whales in an awesome spectacle. ‘Alure The Call of the Ocean’ in the Nautilus Theater (middle) mixes birds, acrobats and dolphins in a mesmerizing tour de force. And ‘Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island’ at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium (bottom) is just plain good fun! It’s all an ingenious combination of entertainment and education for visitors of all ages.
Take it from me: you need much more than a couple of days to do justice to all there is to see and do in Boston! Especially if you are foolhardy enough to spend one of those days running the Boston Marathon…It’s a marvelous mixture of a city. Old colonial abuts 21st Century. Student hangouts next door to chi-chi restaurants. Ocean port down the road from picturesque village suburbs. It’s fun, it’s funky and now the Big Dig is finished, it’s sane again! Here are a few visual samples: the view from my hotel room toward Cambridge across the Charles River; the glittering State House; the olde worlde Beacon Hill district.
The drive west through the Glenwood Canyon beside the Colorado River is spectacular and it took us to the town of Glenwood Springs from where we rode the gondola tram up to Glenwood Springs Caverns Adventure Park www.glenwoodcaverns.com to meet Steve Beckley, the owner of this family attraction. He has transformed a Victorian show cave into a bundle of cave tours, wild rides, 4D theatre experience (moving seats, surround sound and special effects!) and educative activities that delight visitors of all ages. I rode the Canyon Flyer (top), the first Alpine coaster in the U.S. and then was launched on Swing Shot (middle) 1,300 feet above the roaring Colorado River. The highlight for me was exploring the caverns themselves with Steve (bottom) who has extended the cave system here for thousands of feet into the mountain depths.
