At the annual Blues & Brews Festival, September sunlight saturates mountains cloaked in green and gold trees—setting a colorful stage for three days of funk, rock, soul, and blues. “This event is overshadowed by all the other Telluride festivals,” says General Manager Alex Rollinson. “But it’s my favorite—and one of the few family-friendly options where kids 11 and under are free.

Do you roam fields and forests or swim in the oceans and rivers? Do you leave tracks through the barren desert or soar through the starlit sky? You'll find these answers and more at our spa, where you can discover your animal spirit guide during a tarot reading from The Wild Unknown, a deck matching your authentic aura with the world's most mysterious wildlife.

If you’re planning on hiking Oat Hill Mine Trail, don’t let the weather deter you— foggy mornings are the best time for this hike. After stumbling upon this discovery by chance, the colder and mistier the morning in Napa Valley, the faster I grab my hiking shoes.

Named after the periodic table’s element 52, which is found in gold, our resort pays homage to Telluride’s rich past as a mining town—and on your visit, so should you! “Riding in a 4x4 is the best way to traverse bumpy switchbacks up to Bridal Veil Falls, where you start an eight-mile-roundtrip hike to Lewis Mine,”...

I've never had a green thumb, but I have an annual tradition of flying across the country to turn my fingers purple. Every fall during Napa Valley's harvest, Juan Luis takes me in as one of his own to show me the ropes of the winemaking process at Calistoga Ranch. Every day, I work outside from sunrise to sunset, pruning vines where honeybees buzz about fields full of fragrant, supple grapes. If I pass Juan Luis' ultimate vintner's test, I even get to take a few bottles home for myself.

I've been traveling to Costa Rica for almost 30 years, and I've been to plenty of the country's resorts. In all that time, I've never seen a place where both kids and adults can have equally incredible experiences than at Hacienda Alta Gracia. For kids, the stables are the best in Central America. Well-trained and easy for kids to ride and enjoy, my granddaughters fed and brushed the horses following their ride. Plus, a huge bonus - there are almost always baby horses on the property, which are always a hit! Back at the resort, the kids played at Kata Grande, conveniently located near a bar where parents can enjoy!

It took a killer hangover to get me on the bilibili. This floating Fijian bamboo raft isn't for the faint of heart but it offered my only deliverance after a night of tasting the island's award-winning rum. Drifting deeper into the forest canopy, I searched for a secret medicinal herb the island's first pirates once used while they were developing sugarcane for rum in the 1800s.

This past July I met up with the owner of Tiki Cabo Organic Farm at the annual pitaya (aka dragonfruit) competition in his hometown of Miraflores. Locals will tell you that this is where you can find the most beautiful women, the best organic produce, and the toughest cowboys. I promise I was only there for the organic produce.

Smoke curled around the man's feet as he leapt from stone to stone. Performing the sacred Fijian firewalking ritual, he was only one of a flock of fierce warriors who performed this straight-line dance across a pit of blazing coals, their sweat providing the only protective barrier between them and the fire.

“Just breathe,” he told himself as he navigated Telluride’s thrilling trek. Studded with steel rungs and strung with ropes, Via Ferrata—one of the few of its kind in the U.S.—soars 2,000 feet high and offers aerial views of a tree-littered valley and the town. The adrenaline-pumping, two-mile expedition includes navigating a rock wall, walking along a sheer cliff trail only a foot wide...

Studying to be a sommelier is no easy feat, but how many people can say they passed honeybee biology? I can, and just like the finest wines, honey has its own terroir, which is influenced by our flying friends, bees, that act as nature's pollinators. They have a knack for keeping vineyards healthy; plus, the nectar and pollen they extract from local flowers influence how our honey tastes.

I don't just plan trips, I change lives. When a couple comes to me in need of a romantic getaway, it's especially exciting to plan a travel experience that is not only out-of-the-box and inspiring but that also stops time. An insider tip I love to give my clients is the special opportunity to make their own scrubs at Hacienda AltaGracia's spa. The team of massage therapists assist you in mixing your bathtub blend with lush tropical oils, bottling the scent of Costa Rica for you to take home.

Each year, AAA announces all hotels and restaurants across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean that received the Four or Five Diamond Rating during the previous year. What an honor to be among the ranking and to receive our first 4-Diamond rating! Telluride is a town of great history, character and lore. It is where Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank and was the first city lit by Nikola Tesla’s method of alternating current electric power. More recently Telluride has been recognized as one of the best ski destinations in the U.S. and the world.

We only put 130 miles on our rented car— 65 miles to the Madeline, and 65 back to the airport. The car lived in the lap of luxury in the parking garage our entire stay, largely thanks to Telluride’s free gondola.

There’s one thing you need to know about Aspen; you’ll come for the winter, and stay for the summer. Ski season might be total heaven, but the world-renowned events going on during the warmer months make it tough to say goodbye come September.

A little minerality from the land and the salty, sweet flavor of the Sea of Cortez along with what is in season, organic and sustainable are my favorite ingredients. I like to think that all our raw ingredients have a story.

“Am I really here? Can you pinch me?” said my husband almost every morning during our coffee-sourcing trip to Hacienda AltaGracia. We came to select the perfect beans for our shop in Vancouver, as Costa Rica is considered one of the best coffee growing regions in the world - it's the only country where it's illegal to produce any type of coffee other than 100 percent Arabica beans. Though we tried the renowned Tarrazú Geisha coffee before - the most expensive coffee ever sold by Starbucks - we came for the bird-friendly beans found in the Perez Zeledon mountains, an area where mountainous terrain and warm temperatures collide to form the ideal conditions for Arabica beans to flourish.