There’s a new way to relax after a long day on the ski slopes, and we’re not talking about downing a hot toddy by the lodge fireplace. The town of Breckenridge, Colorado recently voted to legalize marijuana within the ski town. For those that spend more time rolling down the mountain rather than remaining on two feet—this is excellent news.

The town voted overwhelmingly to allow snowboarders, skiers, and all others over 21 years old to have up to an ounce of ghanja. However, there is a slight catch, so hold off on heading to your friendly neighborhood head shop. In case you aren’t too familiar with state law, marijuana is still technically illegal in Colorado. So the measure that was approved was more of a local opinion than anything else. ]]> kjb 2009-11-11T08:59:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/83914/005

For the hour or so that the nation stopped on Thursday, dying of anticipation and worry for the boy that supposedly had floated off from his family's backyard in a homemade balloon, we were entertained, titillated, alarmed...but most of all we were duped. It was declared over the weekend, after authorities spoke with the Heene family and after the boy, Falcon, made the statement that "we did this for the show" during an interview with Wolf Blitzer, that the whole incident had been a hoax to gain publicity.

Publicity for what? Well, a reality show of course, although one that doesn't exist and probably never will if felony charges are filed as promised. The Heenes, a storm-chasing family that regularly conducts science fiction-y experiments (hence the balloon) and has been featured on several dramatic episodes of Wife Swap had been shopping around a reality show following their family life; a "Jon and Kate Plus 8," but more like "Richard and Mayumi Plus 3 Boys Living Dangerously." So dangerously, that everyone believed that Falcon was indeed inside the balloon, only to later discover that he was hiding in a box in the garage's attic at home. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-19T08:54:55-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/15/155140/23

Update 8am EST 10/16: The boy was found hiding in the attic at this house. Since then, the family has been interviewed several times, managing to embarrass themselves when the boy possibly revealed it all as a hoax on Larry King Live and then vomited live on air during the Today Show. We're sure this story will continue.

This afternoon, an emergency story gripped the nation and the internet as it was announced that a 6 year-old boy, Falcon Heene, had taken off in a homemade UFO-shaped balloon and was floating towards Denver International Airport, causing helicopters and air traffic authorities to mobilize in order to track it and bring it safely to the ground.

The balloon, a weak craft with a plywood bottom and a small door through which it is believed the child entered, floated between 5,000 to 7,000 feet for hours, taking off from near Ft. Collins and landing a field near Hudson, CO. The child was not inside of the craft and the search for him continues.

In the meantime, we have realized (as has Huffington Post) that the boy is the son of one of the families featured on the popular TV show Wife Swap. The family, the Heenes, were the reckless family who were stormchasers and daredevils; the wife was switched to a ultra safety-conscious mom. The episode was so spectacular that it opened the season for the show, and one of the children notoriously says "F*ck these rules" to the swapped mom. Check out a clip of that here.

The video, after the jump. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-15T15:51:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/14/72258/120

Many people are still putting the final touches on their jack-o-lanterns, but it’s already time to break out the skis from the storage unit. Winter has arrived extra early in some parts of Colorado this year. Last week a baseball playoff game was canceled due to a little snow and sleet, and the Loveland Ski Area fired up the lifts for the first time this season on October 7. It’s been cold enough and they've had the snow-making machines running at full force to get everything ready for the beginning of the season.

The resort is about 50 miles outside Denver and this is the first time they’ve opened this early in about 40 years—guess there’s no trouble with global warming up on the slopes. Unless some other ski resort sneakily opened their facility without any fanfare, Loveland is the first ski resort to open in North America this year. ]]> kjb 2009-10-14T08:58:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/25/125045/387

Wooohoo! Party at the airport! Well, Vail's Eagle County Airport, to be more exact, and they're opening up their newly revamped runway to the public tomorrow for their "Romp the Runway" event. From 4:30-8pm tomorrow, aviation fans and locals alike are welcome to celebrate the end of the airport's summer closure, which has been in effect since April 15.

According to Today In The Sky, festivities on the tarmac will include a bike race, 5K run, food concessions and live music. We also hope that there will be face paint, because how awesome would it be to run around this event with airplanes drawn on your cheeks? ]]> JetSetCD 2009-08-25T13:09:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/7/92159/34613

Colorado is home to one of the nation’s highest concentrations of beer geeks, and probably has more nature geeks than anywhere else too, so it’s only natural that the state would hold America’s first solar-powered beer festival.

The 7th Annual Craft Lager Beer Festival comes to Manitou Springs, Colorado on August 8 and 9, and $35 gets you an all-you-can-drink pass to more than 60 craft brews, including lots of locals like Colorado Spring’s Rock Bottom and Pott’s of Fort Collins. Plus, 14 different CO breweries collaborate each year to brew up a few barrels of “Warning Sign,” a super-strong small-batch lager made only for the festival.

And eco-conscious drinkers can do all of this guilt-free, because the theme of this year’s festival is “Drink a Beer, Save a Tree”—all proceeds from the event support efforts to preserve open space and parks in Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs. We'll raise a glass to that.

Related Stories:
· Craft Lager Beer Festival [Official Site]
· Beer festivals coverage [Jaunted]
· Beer travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Craft Lager Brew Festival] ]]> BS 2009-07-07T16:14:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/26/95534/0052

For the most part, Top Chef's "surprises" got pretty weak in season five—cook with alligator! Cook with oatmeal! cook with Dr. Pepper! Cook with your eyes closed—but we have to say they got us in the finale.

After cocky Stefan dominated most of the season and spunky Carla took over late in the game, Padma and Co. went ahead and gave the crown to Hosea, who until now was mostly known for kissing Leah a couple of episodes back (and kissing Leah again in the closing scene of the finale! What's up with that?)]]> BS 2009-02-26T10:45:53-05:00 40.0171939 -105.28325 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/