Rugged mountains, waterfalls, quaint little villages and Indians

Bye-bye Denver,,, on Thursday morning our IPW fam(ilarization) tour started. Among several tour options we had chosen „Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, Telluride, Ouray“ - one of Colorado’s less known regions. With a group of 20 people in total - media and trade reps from Germany, Denmark, Canada, China, Panama, Malaysia, Hong Kong, France - we explored a part of Colorado we have never been before.

Compared to the time we burnt at Denver Airport, it was a quick, but beautiful 35-min.-flight over the Rockies (pic above, left) to Montrose, in the Southwest corner of Colorado. Picked up by a bus, Telluride was our first stop in the afternoon. Telluride, as well as Ouray, is a historic mining town nestled in lush canyons and surrounded by 4,000-meter high mountain peaks.

Telluride consists of two towns: the Mountain Village, higher up, and Telluride, connected by a free gondola, and surrounded by rugged peaks. The group was split up in different hotels and the two of us were fortunate to stay in „La Lumiere“, a top-of-the-notch boutique hotel. The apartment we got, was larger than ours at home: kitchen, dining room, living room with fireplace, 3 bathrooms, 5 balconies, 3 TV sets and beautiful views.

After a cocktail reception at another resort hotel, we took the gondola down to Telluride - and spotted a massive black bear roaming in the woods!!! Too slow to take a picture,,,

Dinner at SideWork, a local fine dining place, was a real treat, but it took very long and was a lot to eat.

Telluride is famous for its many festivals (during our visit the Mountain Film Festival was taking place), and, for its very elite, mixed population. We got to know a couple of the locals during a walking tour on Friday morning. Out of several options we refrained from adventures as rafting or a jeep tour and chose to explore the town instead.

On to Ouray on Friday afternoon, a tiny little town of about 1,000 population. Situated in the heart of the San Juan Mountains , Ouray is known as the „Switzerland of America“ and named for Indian Chief Ouray (pic).

The Ouray County Historical museum, our preferred option in the early afternoon, offered a comprehensive insight into the history of this mountain community. It's situated in the St. Joseph's Miners' Hospital, built in 1886.

On to Box Canyon Falls Park with fantastic waterfalls and spectacular geological formation (pics above). After a short hike to these fantastic falls and to the bridge on top, we got a chance to relax in the Ouray Hot Springs Pool.

This pool is in operation since 1927 and is fed by sulfur free mineral water. With a historian we walked over to our restaurant in downtown in the evening, the historic Outlaw, where we enjoyed great food accompanied by cocktails thanks to local KJ Wood Distillers.




Next morning: a Jeep Tour from Ouray, over Box Canyon Gorge to Canyon Creek. Passing steep canyons lined with waterfalls and aspen, we passed mining towns and traveled under a rock precipice known as ‘The Overhang’ into Yankee Boy Basin. This basin opens into a semi-circle of 13,000 to 14,000 ft high mountain peaks (4.000 m+) inside the Sneffels Mountain Range framing the Twin Falls. We had climbed an elevation of approximately 10,800 feet (3.300 m).

Next stop: Montrose, one of the “Top 200 Towns for Outdoorsmen“. First stop was the Museum of the Mountain West (pic on right), where a delegation of several reps, including the mayor, greeted us and gave us a tour. It was a whirlwind visit, including the Black Canyon National Park (pics below), with the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, a gorge carved through solid granite - a hidden secret of Colorado! The dark canyon walls plunge an awe-inspiring 2,700 feet to the Gunnison River below. We hiked to Hike Warner Point at the end of Rim Rock Road enjoying beautiful views of Black Canyon.

In the evening, we enjoyed great BBQ and Montrose hospitality at the local Ute Indian Museum, including Indian dances.

We departed early Sunday morning (departure 5:30 am!) for our flight back from Montrose to Denver. There we spent most of Sunday afternoon in the Coors Stadium at a baseball game of the Rockies (pic below) and had a wonderful final dinner at TAG on Larimer Square later with part of the German delegation and Denver/CO reps. We headed out on Monday afternoon and had a smooth direct Lufthansa flight back home.

Bringing the World to America: IPW

IPW is the travel industry's premier international marketplace – four days of appointments, media events and tours, press conferences and parties in the evening. More than 6,000 delegates representing U.S. travel organizations from every region of the USA and international and domestic buyers and media (around 500+ journalists in total, about 30 from Germany) from 70+ countries came together in Denver/CO year. Conference Center is shown on the pic below.

We arrived on Saturday, flying in from Portland, and settled in the German delegation's Hilton Hotel. For the next couple of days we enjoyed great hospitality in Denver, perfect organization and amazing parties. Sunday, after the "German Breakfast" in the Hilton Hotel (where we were staying for 5 full days!) we attended the Press Brunch (pic above left) – many different food stands around Larimer Square, restaurants and even Beard Award winning chefs serving little bites. The Denver mayor greeted the media, a band was playing, and around noon press tours started.

We had chosen the "Artisenal Tour" which included two big food halls in the up&coming RiNo neighborhood and many murals (see above). Last (too short) stop was Stranahan's whiskey distillery (pics below). Great barley whiskeys!




Sunday evening the opening party took place in the Performing Arts Center in downtown (pics above), partly inside, partly outside, and they had done a great job in setting up tents and giving out umbrellas to guests because of the rain.

Monday - Media Market Place, pre-scheduled appointments all day with a lunch break inbetween. Media reception at the end, at 5 pm, with drinks and the award ceremony for best travel writers.

As in the years before we had submitted articles, but didn't have a lot of hope to win the prize. Surprise: We won the award and $ 1,000 for best article on an U.S. destination (the story was on the Cowboy Gathering in Elko/NV which we attended in Feb.). Whe were walking on clouds. "Award winning journalists", shaking hands with the big boss of U.S. Travel, Roger Dow, and suddenly being well-known. Especially our foreign colleagues were the first ones to congratulate. Can't get any better.

The second party took place in the Mile High (American Football) Stadium, and, though, the party was less football-related as we assumed, we spent a good evening.

Tuesday: five press conferences and six appointments in the main exhibition hall. The weather has improved, sun was out, but didn't get a chance to be outside but in the evening when we were hustling to four parties, organized by different destinations in different restaurants in downtown. Started with Arizona, on to the always crazy, exclusive NYC party (pic), stopped by at the rustic Great West and ended up in Oregon. Tired to the bones.

Wednesday - another half day of appointments and press conferences for us, at noon we left to meet with our friend Steve from the Colorado Brewers Guilt for a private craftbrewery tour, which was terrific (pics above). We visited five breweries, mostly little ones, with amazing beers. For IPAs our absolute favorite was Canonball Creek in Golden.


From Golden (where Buffalo Bill is burried) we headed out to the Red Rock Theater for the final IPW party with a concert of the Colorado pop-rock band OneRepublic. Setting of the openair arena is spectacularl, with a view towards Denver. What an event for a couple of thousand conference members!