www.colorado.com Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

America, Countries

Houston we have a rodeo

23rd January 202323rd January 2023 funtime65

The countdown is on for the best bucking show in the world… Houston we have a rodeo.

RodeoHouston draws 30,000 livestock and horse show entries every year to Texas.

And I’m only surprised my own entry for next month hasn’t arrived yet.

As news of my derring-do from my heroics in Colorado five years ago must have reached the Houstonians.

Smile High

When my bull-taming exploits were shot up on the big-screen at Denver Broncos’ Mile High Stadium.

The famous gridiron was opened up for us, the delegates of the IPW American travel fair in Denver.

Where a bucking bronco machine was for use in the foyer.

Along with line dancing lessons and a giant Kerplunk… all for our entertainment.

While on the field Native Americans put on a song and dance performance for us.

Only my party was more interested in the buck eejit being thrown around the mechanical bull in the stadium.

Bigger and better

RODEOHOUSTON being Texas then everything is naturally bigger.

And two million fans will be Y’alling their way to the biggest rodeo show on Earth from February 28-March 19.

Where they’ll also be entertained royally by a host of stellar singers.

The Rodeo & Houston Livestock Show takes place beginning throughout the day followed by a live concert every night.

This year, 20 artists will take the stage during the rodeo representing an array of genres.

And not just country but R&B and pop too.

Hello Houston

Kids are all right: New Kids on the Block

And so, of course, you’ll be well acquainted with New Kids on the Block, Machine Gun Kelly, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley.

But Rodeo president and CEO Chris Boleman gives us the skinny on the local talent.

He waxed lyrical… ‘We are thrilled to welcome back so many talented artists including some fan favorites such as Houston rap legend, Bun B.’

‘The level of talent we have in this line-up will get the fans excited.

‘Including Texas’ own Parker McCollum, who is helping us kick off this 2023, star lineup on Opening Day.’

Individual RODEOHOUSTON tickets are being sold in two waves, 10am and 2pm at rodeohouston.com.

Ticket prices start at $25, plus a $4 convenience fee.

Houston, no problem

I’ll be hopefully twirling my left hand and riding that bull for all its worth (behave) again.

When my Travel fair party reassemble in San Antonio in May.

Of course come what May… there’s a bucking good show next month.

When Houston we have a rodeo.

British Airways flies London to Houston from £549 return in its sale.

America, Asia, Countries, Europe, UK

World’s ugliest building!

21st January 2023 funtime65

So Scotland’s Holyrood is the world’s ugliest building in the world! But we ask about yours and how’s that for a parliament?

It feels a bit unfair to Holyrood at the foot of Edinburgh’s most famous street, the Royal Mile.

Yes, it may not have the river vista of a Houses of Parliament or the Mall walkway of the Capitol in Washington DC.

Capitol idea: On the hill in Washington DC

But Enric Miralles’s £414m edifice with its boats theme (no, me neither) is hardly the Scott Monument rocket eyesore on Princes Street.

Of course beauty is always in the eye in the beholder.

Not that I put much faith in the Buildworkd twitter survey.

And who chose Holyrood ahead of the likes of the J Edgar Hoover Building in Washington DC and the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea?

Brit hit list

On the surface the British entrants in the survey surely should be less aesthetic than Holyrood…

Newport Train Station, Preston Train Station, the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the MI5 Building in London among them.

But then again in this strangest of surveys there are some odd picks among the American buildings.

Some probably more politically motivated, like with Holyrood.

American scream

And Trump’s name in glittering gold in his titular hotel in Las Vegas will do that for many.

I’d argue too against dissing Denver Airport having spent 12 hours there and availed of their putting course on the roof.

Or the Watergate Complex, other than its association with Nixon’s crimes.

And it seems politically even-handed with liberal Boston City Hall in the cradle of the American Revolution.

On the hit list for the twitter haters.

Now perhaps that’s it that the twitterati dislike more what’s inside Holyrood than what it looks like outside.

Something to Prague about

But what about you do you think Holyrood is the world’s ugliest building!

And maybe leave you with this… the Prague television tower with its climbing babies was once the world’s second ugliest building.

The Czech capital edifice surpassed by the North Koreans again. And so there’s hope for Holyrood yet.

Africa, America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

How happy on the mountain

11th December 2022 funtime65

How happy on the mountain are the feet of He who brings good news… that today is International Mountain Day.

And yes, of course, while there is a day of the year for almost everything, our mountains are there every day.

It took the United Nations until 2003 though before they advanced our peaks for an International Day.

Of course being from the mountainous top half of this septic island they call Britain I’d been to the roof and looked down.

And admired Scotland’s valleys and glens and looked out and wondered of the view from other peaks.

Nothing as adventurous or backbreaking as mountaineering, or bagging Munros, those Scottish peaks, of which there are 282.

Border force

Cross country: At the Austrian-German border

But leaving it to our dream makers, our holiday makers, to take us up where the air is fresh and sweet.

For some who are lucky enough to live in the mountains then gorges can be part of their daily routine.

And so it is nothing to locals who cross the border through a mountain gate between Austrian Tirol and the Bavarian Alps.

While others will trek across the Alps into northern Italy.

The mountains have long been routes through which people have traversed for trade, adventure, or in flight.

Although, as we’ve tracked already in these pages the most famous fleeing family most certainly never climbed every mountain.

But rather the Von Trapps took the train into Italy instead.

Mountain people

Only way is up: Jungraujoch in Switzerland

The most romantic way through the mountains is of course by foot but we’ve hit the peaks in all of those… trains, planes and snowmobiles.

Trains… on the Jungfraujoch Railway, the highest train route in Europe.

Planes and helicopters in the mountains above the Grand Canyon.

By coach up the Rockies on Colorado and Graaf-Reinet in the Eastern Cape in South Africa.

In the frame: With my fellow Jim in the Pyrenees

And with half the Atlas Mountains descending on your Scooby Doo van during a rainy Ramadan.

Mountains are to be admired, of course, but to be respected too.

And we continually wonder at the skills of those who keep an eye on them when they are stirring.

And point out nonchalantly when we’re in the Pyrenees that there’s an avalanche in the distance.

Slope off on your hols

This time of year is, of course, reserved for those who put planks on their feet and zig-zag down the mountains.

And whether that’s in our northern tip of Britain, my favoured ski slopes of Soll in Austria and Val D’Isere in France.

And on the dry slopes of my other land, Ireland, at Kilternan.

We’re all on the same page…

How happy on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news.

Our dream makers, our holiday providers.

America, Countries, Ireland

An American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin

20th November 202120th November 2021 funtime65

It probably wasn’t like this for the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1421… but I’ll more than take An American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, masks, double dose certificates at the Radisson Blu Royal.

And certainly not what the Pilgrims laid before the natives…

Dried meat and fish, grains and flour, dried foot, cheese and hard biscuits.

Chow on chowder

Thankfully culinary fashions have changed and we dined on New England chowder, mini burgers and wings.

All the time listening to the band belting out American standards.

And taking a tour of America, around the stands, from New England, Washington DC, Georgia and Florida.

Right across the Mid-West (Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah).

And over to my old friends in California.

Flying time

And you’ve got it… Aer Lingus and British Airways were there (are there) to take us back.

Now that the borders are open again.

Now like a kid in a candy shop the difficult thing is what to choose first.

Our American Travel Fair resumes in Florida in May.

Orlando, woah, woah, woah

So all roads lead there… to Orlando.

Now if the Pilgrims thought that New England was a good enough starting point to explore the New World who am I to disagree.

The eastern seaboard collection of states and commonwealths I know well from a summer in Boston after university and day trips to New Hampshire.

Connect with Connecticut

But I’m grateful here to Sue from Connecticut for clueing me in on her state.

You might be familiar with Mark Twain name-checking it in his time-travelling tome A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur.

And you’ll find everything you want to know about the Great American and his great creations Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in his museum here.

And also take in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house and get a glimpse of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

She’d be known today as HBS but back in the day to Abraham Lincoln she was ‘the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.’

It’s a rich old history and one I can’t wait to add to in 2022.

But for now it’s enough to acknowledge my dear old friends and embrace (with an elbow nudge) my new ones.

With an American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin.

Africa, America, Asia, Canada, Countries, Europe, South America, UK

World Rivers Day and the flow of life

26th September 202126th September 2021 funtime65

We can’t survive without it so it’s only right today to celebrate World Rivers Day and the flow of life.

With the publication of B-WELL CBD’s most loved European rivers on Instagram, we’re stretching it out to include the world too.

Of course you can’t ignore European waterways so I’ll dip my toe in them as well.

Top ten Euro rivers

The oils and cosmetic products company has tracked our habits and unsurprisingly namechecked this top ten.

1 Thames, 2 Danube, 3 Elbe, 4 Seine, 5 Ural, 6 Douro, 7 Loire, 8 Rhine, 9 Vistula, 10 Tiber.

Wading through it I’ll definitely sing the praises of London’s Old Father Thames, its towers, bridges and the country towns it dissects.

The Danube has remained just along the river if you will when I’ve visited Central Europe.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see the Elbe more popular than the Seine.

And I would recommend taking a river cruise in Dresden to see the fine riverbank houses and enjoy a fireworks display.

Wine and Rhine

Disney it look magical: The Disney castle in Neuschwanstein

I daresay if a dacha along the Ural is good enough for Russian communists and oil billionaires I should pay it a visit.

And I’ll confess I know more about the Tagus from Praia do Ribatejo in Portugal Centro than the Douro in Portugal and Spain.

The flow of the Loire is only bettered by the running wine from its vineyards.

But I confess a soft spot for the Rhine and its fairytale castles, especially The Wonderful World of Disney‘s opening title. Neuschwanstein.

The Vistula in Poland is still a pleasure to enjoy as is Polska unless being hosted by the Embassy in Dublin counts which it does!

While just squeezing into the top ten (and I feel like DJ Alan Freeman here pop pickers) is a river I feel is a friend, the Tiber.

When in Rome

The holy of holies. At the end of the Francigena in Rome

Just walk the Via Francigena into Rome and your final long stretch to St Peter’s Square will be along the Tevere.

While staying in the bohemian Trastevere you’ll soon get to know the river well by taking wrong directions.

And the bridges of Rome stand comparison with anywhere in the world.

Particularly the Ponte Sant’Angelo, its statues on the railings and its centre point, the magnificent Castel Sant’Angelo,

A notable exception on the list was the Vltava through Prague with its magnificent Charles Bridge.

The World

Tis Grand: With Tara and Tryphavana at the Grand Canyon

Now I know I promised you the world.

So let me show you the river of rebirth, the Jordan between the country and Israel.

Where pilgrims go to be baptised where the Israelis claim John baptised Jesus.

It’s a different type of water activity along the Colorado river.

Take the bird’s eye view from a helicopter through the Grand Canyon.

Or do like the Americans and use it as your playground.

Water is our most precious commodity and America’s West survives and thrives because of one of my Modern Wonders of the World, the Hoover Dam.

Although, incredulously it has not been recognised as such on the official list.

Quality of Mersey

So I’ll throw in another couple of favourite rivers which speak for themselves.

The Mississippi, with its Dolly Parton bridge in Memphis (think about it) and the Hudson and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Of course the Amazon, the Nile, the Congo, the Ganges, the Yellow, the Makong and many others deserve our attention.

And so I’ll be patient in getting back out abroad.

And I will continue to enjoy the rivers and bridges where I am.

I spent the last week walking by and sailing on the Ferry Across the Mersey.

So a thought… where would we be without our waterways.

Let’s hear it for World Rivers Day and the flow of life.

America, Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe

Covid-day Snaps – Canarian ‘safe’ passports

9th May 20209th May 2020 funtime65

Nobody likes their passport pic, particularly now we can’t even smile.

Mine’s looks like it could have been taken more than 100 years ago when they were first introduced.

But we don’t even flinch at being asked now for it and I suspect we’ll quickly get used to the technology being rolled out by the Canary Islands to get us back travelling.

The Canary Islands (Spain) and the World Tourism Organisation have agreed a flight in July for the world’s first ‘safe’ flight using the Digital Health Passport, developed by Canarian firm Hi + Card

I can just taste that Tenerife Shakespearean wine Malvasia.

CanariaWays www.CanariaWays.com will make you earn it with their walking holidays but it’s worth it. Also see https://www.hellocanaryislands.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5dWNgOam6QIVCLLtCh2C-AsBEAAYASAAEgLfaPD_BwE

My other family

Family business:: I feel I know these LA folk

If your family is driving you up the wall you may be taking sanctuary in a TV family… me, I’ve been a fly on the wall at the Pritchards and the Dunphys in LA.

Our first introduction to American cities was througb the gogglebox… The Streets of San Francisco https://www.sftravel.com, Cheers in Boston https://www.bostonusa.com, Miami Vice https://www.miamiandbeaches.com and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/23/fort-lauderdale-and-miami-a-tale-of-two-sittings/.

Colorado rocks

Denver’s Dynasty www.denver.org Go West and Mork and Mindy in Colorado www.colorado.com and The New Frontiersmen Pawn Stars in Las Vegas www.lvcva.com and Strip… the light fantastic and House of Cards in Washington www.washington.org and Easy DC.

And New York www.nycvb.com where my Uncle Petie became a superstar in my eyes when Kojak filmed in his bar.

From Missouri to happiness today: Cam and Mitch

I always make a point of annoying the Scary One by pointing out that I’ve been there which is probably why she doesn’t watch Modern Family…

The climax of which is playing out in a two-parter.

Gay parents Mitch Pritchard, an uptight lawyer and Cam Tucker, a hillbilly football coach steal the show.

But it is time for them to move to Cam’s Missouri and leave behind LA https://www.discoverlosangeles.com and I dare say to West Hollywood, the chillest, gayest part of LA https://www.visitwesthollywood.com and https://www.google.ie/amp/s/jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/19/my-weekend-with-marilyn-2/amp/.

Where I was complimented on my sailor’s hat and bandana combo.

And if we you feel like the only news you’re getting out of the Oo Es of A is bad then I’ll redress the balance.

So hold on and I’ll let you know how among others my Native American and my Deep South pals are meeting the challenges and prevailing.

We’ll wait for you, Princess

Cruise liners were a sitting target for their critics when the virus first visited.

But they have shown a self-sacrificing responsibility and a willingness to change and I believe they will come back stronger.

Princess www.princess.com has announced the cancellation of select 2020 summer sailings.

And this is a reminder of what we’re all missing and will enjoy again https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/30/cruiseday-tuesday-the-princesss-medallion-man/amp/.

We stayed open

Health is wealth: At the Buchinger Wilhelmi

Our European friends pride themselves on their spas and scientific holiday retreats.

And the Buchinger Wilhelmi http://www.buchinger-wilhelmi.com medi-spa, which overlooks Lake Constance and the Alps and prides itself.

On its therapeutic fasting and integrative medicine, has stayed open through this crisis.

They have a ten-day fasting programme from £2340pp.

And it includes two consultations with a doctor, daily nurse, check-ups, food/drink, fasting provisions and daily activities.

Now, I love an oul’ spa and retreat and my friends, the Czechs know them better than most… www.czechtourism.com and Hope springs eternal.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

America, Countries, Culture, Deals, Ireland, UK

COVID-day Snaps – Testy times in Montana

6th May 20206th May 2020 funtime65

Yes, it was the Cojonasvirus that did for the Testicle Featival in Clinton, Montana.

It’s what I miss most from my travels, not the sun (tick) or the drink (tick) but what’s different… that I can’t find at home.

Testicle festivals (and yes, we’re talking bulls here) are more commonplace than you might think.

Because after all they’re what’s being sized up at farm shows.

In fact a cows’ udders contest was one of the first journalist duties I was given at the Newbury Show in southern England.

Did Woodward and Bernstein start like this? Well possibly if they began their careers at the Clinton Daily News https://www.clintondailynews.com.

Visit https://www.visitmt.com. And here’s a further take on the West in Colorado Go West and The New Frontiersmen and https://www.denver.org and www.colorado.com.

Get on your bike in Northern Ireland

And a big shout-out to nine-year-old James Cunningham who has raised €2,800 for homeless charity The Peter McVerry Trust.

James has only been on a virtual cycling ride, 280kms over two days (that’s 12 hours).

Clontarf’s James, the next Stephen Roche, is a legend in his own right which isn’t surprising as he’s got good genes.

Mum Fiona is the award-winning Tourism NI ROI Market Manager.

Now Northern Ireland is perfect terrain for bikes and I’m flagging up one of its jewels, Rathlin Island.

The isle, off the coast of Antrim, is reputedly where King of Scotland Robert the Bruce met his spider in a cave and tried, tried, tried again.

Which was why we sailed across some choppy waters for a cycle.

Despite our best advice the Son and Heir and Daddy’s Little Girl gorged on chocolate bars and fizzy drinks.

Which meant our cycle up to the lighthouse took a little longer than it should.

Unless you are James Cunningham! See http://www.rathlincommunity.org/visit and. https://discovernorthernireland.com.

And here’s a sample of the great North… Belfast Chilled and Belfast’s rich tapestry.

Portugeezers

And by the power of Zoom we hooked up with our friends from Portugal to fly the green and red country.

The plan was to dye the old beardie in national red and green colours but lockdown lethargy kicked in.

And Daddy’s Little Girl was still in bed when I needed my makeover.

So you’ll just have to make do with this photo from the Portuguese Christmas lunch in Dublin from a couple of years ago.

The good news is that Portugal https://www.visitportugal.com/en is ahead of the curve and making it safe to travel again, and I’ll tell you just when.

You may well want to get away from people and out to nature.

Where you’ll see birds with Ibis fliers with beaks like spoons… https://www.google.ie/amp/s/jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/12/sportugal/amp/.

Or check out Lagoa Dos Salgados in the Algarve.

Prestigious clifftop resort VILA VITA Parc https://vilavitaparc.com/en/welcome can arrange a guided tour (€65pp).

Rates: Doubles start from €330 per night.

Package: Stay three nights B&B from £1835pps with Elegant Records, economy class flights from Luton with EasyJet including private airport transfers.

Call Elegant Resorts on (01) 244897000 or visit http://www.elegantresorts.co.uk

Obrigado.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD