Make your dream a reality with a Hot Air Balloon ride in the magnificant Colorado Rockies.  Your true mountain balloon adventure begins at sunrise.  You will watch as the balloon is inflated and prepared for flight.  Then you climb aboard and begin your journey of a lifetime.  You will have amazing views of the Colorado Rockies as you fly up to several thousand feet, traveling 2 to 10 miles an hour.  After your flight, you return to the launch site for a traditional champagne toast and breakfast.

Add hot air ballooning to your list of things to do in your lifetime.  I did and it was a thrill of a lifetime!

For information on hot air ballooning you may visit: www.balloonridesusa.com or www.camelotballoons.com.

For more information on what's happening in the Vail Valley, please feel free to contact:  Betsy Randall at (970) 401-3011 or email: betsy@gatewayland.com.

Fly Fish the Gold Medal Trout Streams and Trout Ponds near Vail, Colorado

Have you always wanted to try Fly Fishing for Rocky Mountain Brown Trout?  The Vail Nature Center, located near the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, on Gore Creek offers fly fishing classes for children, adults and families.  All the fishing equipment is included and you will have the memories of catching your first trout. 

In addition, you will learn about Vail's ecosystem, entomology, as well as basic tools and knowledge of fly-fishing.

For information on Fly-Fishing classes go to www.vailrec.com 

For information on Vail property on Gore Creek contact Teri Lester, Eco-Broker at 970-376-0779 or tlester@gatewayland.com 

Yes, you can still buy that little condo on Gore Creek for as little as $350,000.

We are all so blessed to live in this wonderful valley with all the activities available - sporting, music, and intellectual. Each year the month of July is filled with the magnificent sounds of the Bravo Vail Valley Music Festival at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and this year is no different. Before the July 4th weekend the Rochester Philharmonic Symphony comes to town and starts the series off with both pops concerts and symhonies from Mozart to Shastakovich. Then they cap off their visit with one of the most popular performances in the Valley on the Fourth playing a Patriotic concert that is packed for Standing Room only even on the grass.

RPO is then followed immediately by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who amazingly conducts every concert totally without any music scores in front of him. His command of his orchestra is just phenomenal, picking up not only the different sets of strings - violins, cellos, violas and bass, but also the percussion section is huge and the brass and reed sections are perfect as well.

After Philadelphia leaves the National Repertory  Orchestra comes to town with complimentary  performances in July 17 with Carl Topilow directing. The free family concert will feature Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi. The climax of the Bravo summer is capped off with the New York Philharmonic Symphony conducted by Alan Gilbert arriving the day after on July 19.

Nowhere in the Rocky Mountains is there ever a month to remember more than the Bravo Music Festival in July. It should be added that immediately following Bravo is the International Festival of Dance presented by the Vail Valley Foundation. I will write more about this fantastic performance later.

For more information on the many events awaiting you in Vail or Beaver Creek, for that matter, call me Judd Babcock, at 970-376-3230 for an up to date calendar of events and a tour of the Valley as well.

Summer is in full swing in the Vail Valley and there are many activities for all ages to enjoy. 

 Whitewater Rafting:  Savor a true outdoor adventure while in Vail or Beaver Creek with a Colorado whitewater rafting trip.  With the huge snowfall this past winter the rivers have been raging and have been a blast! Class 1 to Class V river trips on the Eagle, Colorado and the Arkansas Rivers  are available.  Half day, full day and multi-day river trips are available for beginners to advanced paddlers. 

Adventure Ridge & Gondola: Enjoy a breathtaking gondola ride to the top of Vail Mountain for an afternoon of fun at Adventure Ridge.  You can enjoy some disc golf, horseshoes, bocci, or volleyball.  The children can hunt for buried bones at the Dino Dig.  For the real adrenaline addicts, try downhill mountain biking.

Hiking Vail Mountain: There are many hiking trails on Vail Mountain for all levels of hikers.  You will wander through beautiful fields of wildflowers. Some of the Vail Mountain hiking trails that you may want to hike are: Eagle's Loop with great views of the Mount of the Holy Cross, Lower Fireweed which is a beautiful wooded trail between Eagle's Nest and Mid-Vail, Berrypicker which winds down from Mid-Vail or Eagle's Nest to Vail Village or Lionshead, and Ptarmigan Loop which connects with Ridge Route at Wildwood to Ptarmingan Point and bac,.  For a detail map of all the hiking trails please visit www.vail.com.

For more information on what's happening in the Vail Valley please feel free to contact:  Betsy Randall at (970) 401-3011 or email: betsy@gatewayland.com.

The Vail Symposium's active minds series is designed to foster intelligent debate among community members by bringing in experts to speak on current issues that are affecting the world and eventually could impact Colorado directly.

What makes the Symposium so unique is the way it harnesses a broad spectrum of events and topics and brings them together to make them accessible for the public.

Many of the events are free, most others very affordable, and membership is not required, lso your reasons not to visit are dwindling and you may actually learn something.

For a full schedule of summer events go to www.vailsymposium.org

For more info on Vail real estate or rentals contact gerlinde@gatewayland.com and check out www.gerlindevail.com

With the Farmer's Markets starting up for the season maybe summer will finally arrive!  The Vail Valley has three great farmer's markets every weekend during the summer.

Vail's Farmer's Market is every Sunday from June 15 through September 7, 2008 starting at 10:00 am.  Farmers arrive early loaded with freshly picked fruits and vegetables.  There is a variety of speciality vendors offering homemade breads, pastries, cheeses, fresh pasta, salsas and sauces.

Edward's Farmer's Market is every Saturday from June 14 through September 13, 2008 starting at 9:30 am.  The Saturday market focus is on high quality farm produce and freshly made gourmet food specialities attracting some of the best farmers and vendors throughout Colorado.

Minturn's Farmer's Market is every Saturday from June 14 through September 6 starting at 9:00 am.  The Minturn market is one of the top open air markets in Colorado with over 100 vendors selling anything from fresh produce to gourmet foods and gifts, jewelry and clothing.

Come out and join the fun and visit all three of these markets this summer.  The ambiance cannot be beat!

For more information on what's happening in the Vail Valley please feel free to contact:  Betsy Randall at (970) 401-3011 or email me: betsy@gatewayland.com.

For those of us that play golf, playing a new course is always something special.  And Adam's Rib Ranch did not disappoint!!  Located south of Eagle, running along the beautiful Brush Creek, Adam's Rib Country Club has a gorgeous Tom Weiskopf designed golf course that is truly a delight.

Greeted by a friendly and enthusiastic staff, we warmed up by hitting balls at the elevated driving range and putting on the manicured practice green.  And once on the course, the scenery and wildlife grabbed our attention as much as the 18 holes.

The course feels as though it has existed for decades, not just recently constructed.  It wanders through the alpine ranch land, capturing some good elevation changes.  And on the back nine, it descends to the valley floor to cross and flirt with Brush Creek.  There are several forced carries that were fun (until we hit into the wetlands!) and challenging.

We ended up with a so-so 1 under, since the format was a scramble.  (2 birdies and a bogey)  Highlights from the round:  John Nichols crushing a fairway wood to the 18th green into a fierce headwind, Matej Hodul's 4 iron, Doug's putter, and Hank Sender's driver off the deck.  Truly a great time was had by all!!