I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike ...

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it where I like

I love that old Queen song. The nice thing about mountain bikes, is that you can ride them where you like. Here are a few snaps from Okemo's Outdoor Adventure Weekend. The Specialized folks were busy with demos all day long!

Okemo's own cycling

guru, Ethan Gilmore, was busy

cutting a new trail for the event.

C'mon up to Okemo and check it out. Cheers!

IZ Style Outdoor Adventure on Saturday 8/16

Okemo is one busy place this coming weekend. Friday night we welcome the Michael Cleary Band for the FREE Friday night concert series, then on Saturday we have Specialized bikes here with their full demo fleet. Test ride a new mountain, cross, or road bike on Saturday from 12-5pm. We'll have some newly cut trails and of course the great roads around the area for the road bikes. Bring your helmet and if you'd like your own pedals and the techs from Specialized and Joe Jones will get you all taken care of.

The evening continues with 2 great bands on the big stage. The free concert starts at 5:30pm as Audio Journal opens up for The Pete Kilpatrick Band and the Coleman Brook Tavern will have the popular BBQ ready to go for dinner. Enjoy ribs, burgers, dogs, and all the fixin's along with a cold beverage.

You may notice a lot of folks running by the concert venue as well. The 100 on 100 Relay (www.100on100.org) finishes at Okemo with a great party in the Ice House. Teams of 6 will have run from the Trapp Family Lodge to Okemo in a relay format race down rt 100.

Couple this in with a great weekend at Okemo Valley Golf Club, kayaking with Extreme Adventures of Vermont, and all that the Okemo Valley offers and you've got a full weekend of activity and entertainment.

We hope to see you here!

Do tree frogs ski?

Okay, we found this little guy taking up residence on our window sill this morning. He has chosen his new home to be the marketing department at Okemo. Can anyone identify what kind of tree frog this is? He definitely has the bulb-like feet and a quick google search suggests it may be a cuban tree frog? Get out!

Your Voice - Decision 2008: The Jackson Gore Music Series

As we've all learned recently, popularity can be a curse. We may have the best thing going on a Friday night in the Okemo valley, but according to some, that is our biggest flaw. I think we might even be bigger then Britney Spear and Paris Hilton! People around the area come out in droves to see the great bands playing on Friday nights. If our popularity continues to grow we might end up with the whole world liking the music series - and is that a good thing?

This is your chance to cast a vote, to voice an opinion, to continue the democracy our forefathers founded this country on!

Okemo's Jackson Gore Music Series has been growing by leaps and bounds this year, so we think we're doing something right. But we can always be better, so now is your opportunity to tell us what you liked and what you didn't like.

If you can't remember the band names check out the website for a list of past concerts and see what's coming up for the last month of concerts. Then feel free to submit your comments. The bands you like will likely be back, the ones you didn't will go the way of Beta max, or for you younger folks, HD DVD.

The concerts are clean family fun, so try to keep your comments the same. If you really liked one of the bands, or really hated one, let us know. After all, we're doing this for you so let's get it right!

Taking a walk down Rolling Thunder

Here's a little treat for all you Okemo blog readers ... you are the first to learn the names of Okemo's two new trails (most resort staff members don't even know yet) AND here's a sneak peek with photos taken today, Aug. 1.

Here's the first little drop at the start of Rolling Thunder. The trail starts just below the first pitch on Limelight, where the trail takes a sharp turn to the right.

The photos really flatten things out. Believe me, this is a nice little whoop-de-doo. This is the same view as the first - just a few steps down the trail to give you an idea of how deceptive it can be from first glance.

The black fencing you see is silt fencing made from landscape fabric. It's in place to help prevent erosion until the grass seed planted takes hold (which it clearly has). With July being as wet as it has been, we've left it in place a little longer than we needed to. VP of Operations Barry Tucker tells me it'll be coming out soon. In the meantime, it makes a nice reference point as we make this pictorial tour down the trail. Our next stop is at the top of the next pitch, where the landscape fabric crosses the trail ...

OOOh, this is a nice drop! Note that rock outcropping on skier's left, just beyond that silt fencing ...

Here's a look back up the trail from that rock outcropping

Now, I'm turning 180 degrees ...

Take note of that tall tree in the foreground, just right of center ...

We've just gone up and over the rock outcropping ... Rolling Thunder continues straight ahead (to the right of that tall tree) - note that first line of silt fencing - that's our next stop after taking a quick look down White Lightning, the trail dropping off to the left ... watch out for that double fall line!

We're going to continue down Rolling Thunder ...

Here we are at the fence I last mentioned ....

Here comes another 180 degree turn ...

Here we are looking back up the trail. There's that rock outcropping in the center of the photo.

A couple hundred yards down the trail and Jackson Gore Village comes into view.

That's where our little tour ends ... for now.

Cheers!

Summit Wedding

Question: What's more romantic than a wedding?

Answer: A wedding on top of Okemo mountain.

This past Saturday Okemo hosted a happy bride and groom for a mid-day mountain top wedding. It was a truly joyous occasion as the happy couple are part of the Okemo Family- Katie Simms from Jackson Gore Real Estate and Jackson Gore Inn Front Desk Manager John Boehrer.

The Northstar lift whisked guests and the wedding party up the hill to the ceremony, which was in a beautiful meadow overlooking the Green Mountains and the town of Ludlow. The weather was crisp and clear with temps in the 70's for the nearly 80 guests as they awaited the arrival of the beautiful bride. As the chairlift crested the horizon line, the wedding processional music floated through the air to serenade guests as they walked to the ceremony. Wedding guests were delivered to the base of the lift after the wedding surrounded by glistening soap bubbles to add even more magic to the event.

The evening concluded with a reception at Solitude's ePic restaurant. Spontaneous whiffle ball broke out in the green outside the day lodge as other wedding goers were cutting the rug on the dance floor.

Congratulations Katie and John Boehrer!

Thank you for a romantic event in a very romantic place!

(Okemo Employee and wedding guest Norm Koch

controls the sound board during the ceremony )

Take a Hike!

No, this isn't the attitude of the front desk staff in lodging at Okemo. However, it might be a recommendation for something to do, if you are seeking an activity in the area.

And speaking of stuff to do. I had the opportunity to go to Vermont's own Circus Smirkus earlier this week in Brattleboro Vermont. What a great show! if you've never heard of them, I highly recommend learning more about the circus. Did you ever want to run away and join the circus as a child? Well, now your children can! Yup, Circus Smirkus is all about kids performing great acrobatic feats and entertaining children of all ages. And yes, they are all kids, with a few adults thrown into the mix. Your children can actually go to circus camp. Although the camp is not here in Ludlow, it's pretty cool. The circus travels around and performs in numerous locations around New England under the Big Top. A wonderful old fashioned experience with something for everyone.

I've lived in Vermont on-and-off again for about 8 years, and every summer I learn more about cool stuff to do (during the summer). For example, if you like watching people hang glide, there's a hang gliding center in West Rutland (watch them from Rte 4A) and over at Ascutney. I find the whole concept fascinating.

And back to the title of my post today - "Take a hike"! get out there and explore the area.

See you on the trail!