Travel with me » serenity travel

1976—the year Denver missed its chance

serenity — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:16:12 +0000

Yup, a town got the nod for the Winter Games, then voted it down. The reasons were cost and environmental impact. Lost by a big margin, too. Innsbruck, Austria (see the 1964 Games, a couple items down) got their second games that year.

So what kind of town is Denver to vacation in?

Well, you can’t get lost there. If you’re ever in doubt about your bearings, scan the horizon. The mountains are to the west.

"Typical" view of Denver's skyline

Several good roads lead west into those mountains, and you can tour through dozens of picturesque towns, stop at good places to eat, and sleep in resorts aplenty. Talk to one of the famous Serenity Travel Club agents for a good deal on a place to stay, or rent a car and go exploring/fly fishing/camping on your own. Just don’t hit the bicyclists training for endurance events.

The town of Denver itself has undergone a lot of redevelopment since its wild west days, and the seedy areas are now factory chic and quite nice. Don’t worry about the fiasco they had renovating their airport baggage-handling system several years back. That’s finally fixed. Sort of.

If you drive into town from the east, the city limits sign says “Denver/Elevation 5280 ft.” They don’t call it the mile-high city for nothing. Speaking of the east side of Denver, don’t forget all those dude ranches out there. Good if you prefer horseback to mountain climbing.

What do you like best about Denver? Tell us in the comments.

1972 another second chance

serenity — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:46:40 +0000

Saporro, Japan was signed up to host the Winter Olympics in 1940, but the games were canceled that year. You’ll find a post about the place on this site if you scroll down far enough. The 1972 Winter Games was a good event for Japan, too—The country won its first winter medals that year. The Japanese team got all three medals in the ski jump. It was the first Winter Olympics held in Asia, too. Trivia: This was the last Olympics where someone won gold wearing all-wood skis. High-end ski manufacturing technology is pretty much all fiberglass and composites now.

Sapporo is not well known outside Japan, but if you’re into winter sports, you could try vacationing during their annual Winter Festival, which brings in about 3 million people from around the world.A Serenity agent should be able to find a place for you to stay.

Winter Festival Activity

Ahem. If you’re into beer, the town (city, really) is home to the famous Sapporo brewery. But don’t drink and luge.

Have you ever been to Japan? Tell us about it.

1968, Perfect 10

serenity — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:30:14 +0000

Well, no place is perfect, perhaps, but Grenoble, France is pretty close. The skiing is great. Summers are beautiful, both weather and scenery. Not to mention two rivers and four Universities. They call their town “The Capital of the Alps.” I personally think some folks in Switzerland might beg to differ, but, hey, that’s PR for you.

This is the Olympics where Peggy Fleming won America’s heart in women’s figure skating, not least because she won the US gold.

Peggy Fleming

Jean-Claude Killy won all the men’s alpine skiing events, one win controversial when someone who beat his time was later disqualified.

But about vacationing in Grenoble. Scenery galore. Sights galore, history galore. (The French Revolution started here.) Oh, yes, cafés galore. I’ll recommend Le Leyritz on Place Vaucanson, an old-style French brasserie, its walls plastered with black-and-white photos of old movie stars. But you can find great atmosphere about anywhere. They cook pretty well, in France. Better cooks than bobsled run builders: The bobsled runs had to be held before sunrise because they couldn’t keep the ice from melting during the day.

So call one of our Serenity agents and book a room. Toast the Olympics for me.

When you return, come back to this site and brag about it.

The grim games—1964

serenity — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:02:21 +0000

Not grim, perhaps, but affected by two deaths during the pre-game training period, and the loss of the entire US figure skating team a couple years before. The mood was not quite as carefree as other winter games.

They were short on snow that year, too, and the army brought in jillions of ice blocks for the bobsled runs and zillions of cubic feet of snow for the Alpine skiing venues.

Innsbruck, where those games were held, is a pretty nice place for a vacation, though, especially if you like winter sports. Summer is pretty nice, too.The town is toward the western end of Austria, nestled in the Alps, and with the Inns River running through it. Like about every place in Europe, it has a lot of history, and you can visit the old town and take in some interesting sights and meet some really nice people.

You can see the alps from anywhere

The watchtower is a famous landmark

The picture on the left shows part of the “Altstadt,” or Old City. The walking is great, and sidewalk cafes abound, and they are renowned for their chocolate, coffee, and bread. Actually, all the food is worth over-eating. Have you ever seen a skinny middle-aged male Austrian? Innsbruck has a world-class airport, so you can fly there, and the Bed-and-Breakfasts are as hospitable as the scenery is gorgeous.

Have you ever been there? We’d like to hear about it. Make a comment.

1960 Winter Olympics

serenity — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:51:18 +0000

Now we’re getting into years that I personally remember. Before these games, I had never even heard of Squaw Valley, California. As a matter of fact, neither had anybody else. The place had exactly one homeowner, one resort, one ski lift, and two rope tows. That homeowner was a guy named Alex Cushing, and he performed yeoman’s work, managing to convince the Olympic Committee to select the place, and piles of corporate sponsors to develop the site.

As it was, weather almost ruined the event. A big rain washed most of the snow away just beforehand, but they got another twelve feet of white stuff after the rain, saving the day.

I don’t have an Olympics picture, but here’s one from that era:

Clearly in the 1950's

With all that new Olympic stuff in the valley, it became a world-class winter sport venue, sharing publicity with Lake Tahoe. (ahem) Your Serenity agent can fix you up with a place if you’d like to go there.

What was the first Winter Olympics you remember? Did it change you? Share a comment.

Winter 1956

serenity — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:06:07 +0000

You can’t say you don’t get a second chance in the Olympics—the host of the first televised winter games had been scheduled for the 1944 games, but WWII intervened. That was a decade ago by now, and the memories were starting to fade, and Europe was recovering well. So Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy got the nod, beating out three other locations for the honor. You can find some info about this vacation spot a couple posts down (the one with the map), and the link above has some nice info, so here is a bit of trivia: All the venues except one were within walking distance of each other. Only time it’s ever happened.

Hardly necessary any more, now that they were televised, eh?

What’s the most memorable Winter Olympic event you’ve seen? Share in the comments.

The 1952 Winter Olympics

serenity — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:27:56 +0000

Finally we get away from the war. And go to Norway—Oslo, to be exact. It was the biggest winter games to date, with 30 countries and almost 700 athletes. Guess who won the most medals. Yup, the hosts. Those Norveegians are pretty good at winter sports.

Oslo is a pretty good vacation spot, too. Winter sports, of course, but they actually have summer up there. In fact, there’s even a list of the ten best places to scuba in Norway. I don’t think they wear bikinis, though. Norway is famous for its coastline—huge bays called Fjords, ideal for camping and hiking adventures.

The Vikings have been around a loooong time, and this part of their history has produced some museums the likes of which you can find nowhere else. The world’s two best-preserved Viking ships, for instance. You can even ride in and operate several authentic reconstructions.

Built in the 9th century.

If you’re of an artistic bent, check out Norwegian Rosemaling, any of several traditional styles of painting plates and other wooden furniture.

"Typical" pattern

Many people in the USA have Norwegian roots. How about you?

Winter Olympics 6

serenity — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:48:16 +0000

Let’s move on to events that happened. The year is 1948, and the wonderful vacation spot is … St. Moritz, Switzerland! Um, haven’t we been there before? Yes, the second winter games were there. Switzerland was able to host the games in 1948 because the war left the country relatively undamaged. You can scroll down a couple posts to see what a fine vacation spot St. Moritz is, so I’ll risk another non-event and tell you about the location that would have hosted the 1944 winter games.

It’s Corina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Ah, Italy, the land of pasta and wine. And history. 400 years ago an Italian guy discovered four moons circling Jupiter. He named them after his boss (The Medician moons) as a PR gesture, but the world would not have it, and we call the four largest moons of Jupiter the Galilean moons. You can see them with a pair of decent binoculars today, and even one of those cheap telescopes (don’t buy one) will do the job. But I digress.

Skiing is the name of the game in this valley nestled in the Italian Alps. They say it’s an intermediate to advanced skiers’ paradise, a bit too challenging for beginners. The beginners spend all their time in the hot tubs at the resorts, which are world-class. Snowboarding is popular, too. Eighteen lifts at this place, and the cable rides alone are spectacular. If you’re curious, here’s a map.

Enough choices for you?

You can even get a helicopter to take you to the top. Not cheap. But (ahem) maybe a bargain through Serenity. I haven’t checked. So where do you like to ski? Tell us. Maybe I’ll write about it.

Old Winter Olympics 5

serenity — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:01:59 +0000

You could call this post “The games that weren’t.” The fifth winter games were supposed to be hosted by Japan, and the year was supposed to be 1940. That might have been a spectacular event had WWII not intervened. The Japanese generally do a spectacular job of about everything they set their hand to. By now Japan has been reincarnated not only as a friend, but as a, well, spectacular vacation destination.

The Japanese are renowned for both their hospitality and for their scenery. Their culture is different enough from ours (American influence notwithstanding) that you watch almost everything with fascination and go almost anywhere and see something interesting. Choose from more than 3900 islands. A zillion places to stay. Several earthquake zones, and one Mount Fuji. Full name is Fujiyama (not mount Fujiyama—yama means mount). Or if you want to sound like you have some familiarity with things Japanese, call it Fuji-san. Mr. Fuji.

You have seen pictures of pagodas and other Japanese architecture, views of bustling Tokyo, and serene panoramas of the Japanese countryside. Here’s a nice picture you probably haven’t seen:

This is not Fuji-san

I think it’s a park. I can see some guy wanting it to be a golf course. Maybe some day it’ll be a bobsled run.

Winter Olympics 4

serenity — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:25:10 +0000

Win place show, then where do you go? How about Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, one of the most famous summer vacation and skiing areas in the world. It’s been famous for a long time. I’m pretty sure Grog, the cro-magnon, went there for a summer break from mammoth hunting (don’t correct me–it’s a joke, it’s a joke!). I know for sure that the Romans visited the place, and it’s been popular with both the rich and famous and ordinary folks ever since. Perhaps that’s a little exaggerated, (the vacation part—they had to deal with the Plague and a long period of economic hard times). Today, at least, the valley is a reasonably nice place to visit. There—an understatement. Here’s a picture:

Looks like a wide green valley with mountains is a requirement for winter Olympics.

If you’re into creepy medieval buildings, Garmisch has its share. A torture castle, a church that used to be a center of pagan worship. They had a large festering swamp and wild animals, too.

The 1936 Olympics, the fourth, was, shall we say, slightly politicized, though not as much at the summer Olympics that year in Berlin. Norway took the most medals, and Sonja Henie, now 23 or so, took her third consecutive gold in women’s figure skating. I know you’re all dying to see what she looked like. Here’s a photo:

Sonja Henie

Japan was scheduled for the next Olympics, but it didn’t happen.

Don’t let your next vacation not happen. Go on one, then send us a postcard or email. Or a comment. We’d love to hear from you.