Getaways
Guest Commentary
Lessons From Tamarack Resort
Tamarack Resort closed on March 4th, the latest in a long line of boom and bust stories in the West. Located 90 miles north of Boise, Idaho, it was first major ski, golf and lake resort to open in the US in over two decades. Hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, Tamarack and CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug failed to generate enough revenue from real estate sales to keep operating. As a skier, former Tamarack employee, cattle rancher, and Idahoan, I wish to write a few words in reflection.
I don't have to say this is an economic disaster for the over 200 employees and the general area. Some of the discussion has been that Tamarack would have made it if the economy just wouldn't have slumped. It would be more accurate to say it never would have got off the ground if (opening in December 2004) it hadn't caught the end of the largest housing bubble in history.
Tamarack attracted only 27,000 skier visits this season, far less than neighboring Brundage Mountain. Locals didn't ski there. To them it was known as Tam-a-scam, Glamarack, and finally, when it all went down, Tamtanic. This sentiment was partly due to them lamenting the loss of their Valley. And it was partly due to the dislike being mutual. Upper management openly told us during meetings their goal was to make it a private hill, open only to property owners or people who pay club fees of thousands of dollars. This required a certain degree of hubris, as the ski course falls almost entirely on public land.
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MICROBREW MONTANA, AN END-OF-THE-YEAR COMMENTARY
Reflections from the Microbrew Trail
For the past year, I've been on the Microbrew Trail, visiting every brewery in Montana, except one, and posting articles on all 24 of them. You can read the entire series here.
Along the beer trail, I'm made a few observations about what might be Montana's fastest growing industry and thought I'd pass them on to microbrew-loving readers.
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MICROBREW MONTANA
Blacksmith Brewing: Montana’s Newest Brewery, Montana’s Oldest Community
Well, here we are, at the end of the Microbrew Trail, my last taproom visit for this yearlong series of articles, and what did I find? An old buggy salesroom and blacksmith shop transformed into Montana's newest microbrewery, Blacksmith Brewing Company.
Is that Montana-esque or what?
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Winter's here; grab your gear
Ski Boise’s Bogus Basin Starting Wednesday
Bogus Basin Ski Resort, Boise's local ski hill, will open for the 2008-2009 winter season Wednesday, December 17. Recent storms have delivered enough snow for the front of the mountain to open. Chairlifts 1, 2, 4, 7 and Easy Rider will run.
Steve Shake, V.P. of mountain operations, said, “We’ll open more of the mountain, including night skiing and riding, as we receive more snow.”
Since the weather outside is frightful, the potential for full mountain skiing soon looks delightful.
Operating hours for Wednesday thru Friday will be: 10:00am-4:30 pm.
The J.R. Simplot, Pioneer and Frontier Point lodges will be open. Bogus Basin Ski & Snowboard School will offer its full complement of lessons.
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MICROBREW MONTANA
Quarry Brewing: Where They Dig Beer
In Butte, America, they dig things, like copper and silver, big statues on big hills, hunting and fishing, labor unions, big pits, and now, they dig beer, too, all because of Quarry Brewing, one of Montana's newwest microbreweries.
Butte has a long tradition of brewing beer and has many long-ago-closed breweries, but for many years, the Mining City has been without a brewery. Now, the Schnabels have come to town and fixed that problem, launching Butte's first microbrewery.
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MICROBREW MONTANA
Bayern Brewing: The Only German Brewery in the Rockies
When you walk into some Montana microbreweries, you get the feeling you've stumbled across somebody's expanded home brew operation, but that is hardly the case when you visit Bayern Brewing of Missoula. It's more like you beamed yourself to Hamburg or Munich for real masterbrew instead of those "malt-flavored beverages" sold by mega-brewers.
In fact, owner Jurgen Knoller is mighty proud of being "the only German microbrewery in the Rockies." And he's always anxious to elaborate.
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MICROBREW MONTANA
Flathead Lake Brewing: Great View, Great People, Great Beer
Some Montana microbreweries are hard to find, tucked away in alleys or side streets or even up in the timber at the end of an unpaved road, but not Flathead Lake Brewing. You can't miss it; it's right in the middle of Woods Bay along scenic State Highway 35 at mile marker 26, which is also the name of one of its award-winning, handcrafted beers.
And when you walk into the taproom, you don't find owner Terry Leonard in back room brewing beer or counting his money. Instead, you find him sitting at the bar enjoying a cold brew with his customers.
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VACATIONING ON THE OREGON COAST
Crabbing OregonIn late August, I spent two weeks vacationing Oregon Coast. Like earlier trips to the OC, I thoroughly enjoyed the hiking and cycling and beach sunsets--and of course, that fresh seafood so hard to find here in Montana. This year, for the first time, some of it was extra-fresh because I caught it myself while crabbing Oregon.
Although I've been known to get really crabby, I'm certainly no expert at crabbing. But I've learned a few things that might help you enjoy your first time out.
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MICROBREW MONTANA
Neptune’s Brewery: Where the Brew is Taylor-Made
One thing I didn't expect to find when I launched into the Microbrew Montana series was a brewery with a maritime theme. But then, I didn't know about Neptune's Brewery in Livingston, the self-proclaimed "Heart of the Rocky Mountains," and a small market (8,000 population) for a brewery. At Neptune's, everything is about the ocean, ships, sailing and maritime culture and lore--the logo, art, taproom furnishings, beer names, even the owner's only employee, Katrina.
You'd think a brewery in Livingston would feature a ranching or outdoor theme, or maybe even a movie star aura to appeal to all the local stars who have escaped Hollywood and landed in the Paradise Valley. So, of course, I had to ask why.
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YEAR-ROUND FUN
Vacationing on the Oregon Coast, a ChronologyImagine this. The Oregon Coast is 383 miles long and every inch of it is public land, which is why's it's called the People's Coast.
For the past four years, in both winter and summer, I've been spending a few weeks each year vacationing on the Oregon Coast, thoroughly enjoying the beach sunsets, hiking, cycling, crabbing and other outdoor activities, and just relaxing, reading few books, and letting the ocean music drown out the stress of living in today's world. It's definitely something you should experience yourself.
As a sampling of what awaits you, here is a chronology of articles I've posted after these trips.
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