Dramatic changes across Colorado offer fresh vistas, delightful getaways, and irresistible tourist attractions. Whether you’re visiting in Colorado Springs where visible gateways unite the crossroads of Interstate 25 and US Highway 24, or Lamar, where US Highway 50 and US Highway 287 run along the same strip of black ribbon for more than fifteen miles, you’re in for a treat!
To say there’s more to Colorado than the Rocky Mountains is an understatement these days as Prairie Ghost Town Tours, restored residential sectors, and fresh faced communities all across the state welcome tourists and home-towners alike. Marketing Colorado is a new idea whose time has come.
Activity Centers, new work sites, living communities, and tourism in the center of Colorado Communities offers new opportunity to the state. As more and more people seek out foot-traffic friendly communities, the downtown areas of even small towns are becoming more attractive.
At 58, when Don Falk suffered a heart attack, his Doctors told him he was free to return home and do normal activities. He didn’t share with them that normal activities included a jog up and down a flight of 20 or more steps multiple times each day. When he returned for his check-up three weeks later, they were astounded at his improved health.
Living in a Main Street Walk-Up offered invigorating health benefits. Working in the same environment as he lived, Don knew everyone in the community and had learned to appreciate new faces in the Main Street sector where he worked and lived.
By participating in Urban Sprawl we’ve excluded the community from our lives. Our children grow up not knowing their neighbors. Our neighbors come and go, and we never get to know them. Living in a downtown area offers closer proximity, more opportunity, and greater integration of friendly open faces that welcome you home as business owners live and work together for the greater benefit of their community.
Colorado is beefing up their downtown areas with condos, live-work units above retail stores, rental units, and family homes on the Main Drag. Replacing the run-down industrial areas with life giving fresh facades and urban oriented growth offers great appeal to young urban-oriented couples and empty nesters as well as a diverse group of metropolitan folks who don’t necessarily want to live in the Big City, just the ‘city’.
Are you looking for a great way to promote your Inner City Opportunities and Urban Renewal?
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Tagged: Attractions, Changes, Colorado, Renewal, Tourist พฤษภาคม 8, 2010
INSHORE FISHING THRILLS-
My first experience with Charlotte Harbor showed me what truly immense Florida marine habitat looks like- I simply was not used to losing sight of two opposite enclosing shorelines while I sat midway in the “bay” as mackerel struck with abandon and skyrocketed into groups of minnows and whitebait. I was out on Captain Ralph Allen’s 18- foot Hewes Redfisher, which is one vessel out of his nine-vessel cruise and charter King Fisher Fleet (1-941-639-2628, 1-941-639-0969).
As the mackerel “footballed” - a Captain Allenism- we caught half a dozen fish for pictures and moved down -way down!- to Cape Haze Point. This was for the purposes of acquiring the four kinds of bait that was to make this a banner day with multiple slams of snook, redfish, and trout.
Captain Ralph used a jack mackerel, bread, and seawater combination chum to net small whitebaits, large whitebaits, and small pinfish. We moved closer to the Cape Haze Bar to jig up some ladyfish to use as chunk baits.
After the bait catching was done, we fished about five miles of the straight Cape Haze shoreline. Captain Ralph would motor his skiff to one hundred yards off each of his hotspots, then pole his skiff the rest of the way. His next step was to chum the shoreline where snook would be holding on “structure”- this very same shoreline would provide the travel contours for cruising “high water” redfish.
The specific chum baits were bits of ladyfish and small whitebait. While we kept the live pinfish as back-up baits, it was never necessary to use them as the large live whitebaits caught numerous snook, trout, and small redfish, while the ladyfish chunks resulted in some big redfish that fought like junkyard dogs.
We ended our day live-chumming a dock a few miles from Fishermen’s Village and had the snook at a constant boil. We had many strikes, loads of cutoffs, and one released snook before a thunderstorm drove us back to our homeport at the Village.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR’S ONE-STOP RESORT-
My base of operations was Fishermen’s Village Resort (1-941-639-8721, 1-800-639-0020 - http://www.fishville.com) in Punta Gorda. I loved this destination, which truly is one-stop shopping for anglers arriving with or without boats. It boasts a huge marina, launching ramp, full boat services, the entire King Fisher charter fleet, tennis court, pool, well-appointed and beautiful waterfront rooms, multiple boutique shops, and five restaurants- there was simply no need for me to leave this facility in five days! There were also many non-anglers and their families I met at Fishermen’s Village who were thoroughly enjoying their stay. The day I left, this resort facility filled up with tournament redfishermen who were headquartered there.
INTO THE BUSH-
The next day, we traveled inland to catch the Swamp Buggy Eco-Tour at Babcock Wilderness Adventures (1-800-500-5583 http://www.babcockwilderness.com).
This tour took about ninety minutes and featured environs, flora, and fauna that were stunning, educational, and downright enjoyable. The tour is set in the heart of inland Florida inside the 74,000 acre Crescent B Ranch.
The Swamp Buggy took us through four types of eco-systems: open prairie, pine flat-woods, cypress swamp, and fresh water marsh. We spotted anhingas, cormorants, alligators, historic cracker cattle, deer, wild pigs, and wild turkeys in our tour through the bush.
Of some note is that the Sean Connery movie, “Just Cause” was filmed at the Crescent B Ranch. I found that this destination was just perfect as a place where a fishing family could spend a novel day “off.” It’s also a great place for non-angling friends and family while the fishing guys or girls are busy catching gamesters in Charlotte Harbor.
AN OLDE FLORIDA DINING AND ART EXPERIENCE “ON THE HARBOR”-
After our inland eco-experience, we traveled northeast to the city of Placida, which fronts a coastal stretch of Cape Haze. Conveniently located on the shores of Gasparilla Sound, the Fishery Restaurant (1-941-697-2451 http://www.sunstate.com/fishery/) welcomes “drive-ins, walk-ins, swim-ins and float-ins.”
The Albritton family of Placida -north of Charlotte Harbor- has done far more than simply construct a landmark Olde Florida eatery. They also offer visitors and locals family-built arts and crafts, collectibles, and Florida memories through their Placida Cove Gifts and Crafts, Margaret Albritton Gallery, and the Placida Museum. The Albritton’s also own the adjacent Placida Fish Market where fresh shrimp, and seasonally available scallops, oysters, crabmeat, and stone crabs are sold to patrons desiring to create their own mouth-watering meals.
The meal was memorable and began with fried Gator Bites served with key lime mustard. The balance of our repast consisted of the Famous Fishery Gumbo, sautéed scallops, mahi-mahi sandwiches, and key lime pie- all the dishes were well-presented, subtly cooked, and delicious.
This entire complex is perfect for land and water-based anglers and their families to drive right up- as we left, I saw anglers tying off three bay boats at the dock and then enter the Fishery. In addition, there’s a funky Floribbean bar at the entrance for adults to enjoy a libation before their meal.
PADDLING INTO THE MANGROVES-
I was thoroughly excited at the prospect of kayaking the afternoon away through the mangrove creeks of Gasparilla Sound and Coral Creek. The expert(s) who would provide us and guide us were Captain Marian Schneider’s Grande Tours
(1-941-697-8825, http://www.grandetours.com, 12575 Placida Road, Placida, Florida).
While Grande Tours offers five other experiences- Captain Marian’s Choice, Don Pedro State Park, Sunset Tour, Watchable Wildlife, and Kid’s Fishing- it was the last tour
I was really interested in, which was the fishing excursion. The time and timing of our arrival would make the fishing tour less successful, so the afternoon was devoted to the exploration of the Coral Creek complex.
In a perfectly executed example of “never say never”, our trip through Coral Creek yielded sightings, blowouts, and boils of loads of redfish and snook…and there I was without tackle or lures! Though it was frustrating, it was primarily enticing and gives me yet another reason to return as soon as I could to this vast, fruitful, and pristine area.
I was also glad to see that my recollections of Hurricane Charley were merely that. I saw no substantial evidence of its’ passing. To the contrary, the entire Charlotte Harbor/Gulf Island area of southwest Florida is thriving and growing, while at the same time preserving the untouched wilderness that makes this area such a paradise for fishing families.
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Tagged: Attractions, Charlotte, Families, Fishing, Harbor, Islands พฤษภาคม 7, 2010
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Tagged: Handspring, InnoGear, MiniJam, Module, Player, Springboard พฤษภาคม 6, 2010
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Torah True Judaism, a phrase I’ve never quite understood is bandied about at every which way, and has become part of the Jewish nomenclature. It is a pejorative platitude in that it seeks to be elitist and exclusionary. It is a judgmental cliché in that its subtext insinuates that anyone not subscribing to that particular understanding of Torah is not the genuine article and not welcome in the club. There are variations of this puzzling and vexing phrase such as Torah Jews, Mesorah Jews and Torah True Jews. Another apparently popular one is the Torah Community. Jonathan Rosenblum concluded his excellent well articulated piece entitled “Right of Reply”, Hamodia, May 9, 2007, with the stunning reference to the Torah Community. It was the one exception I took with the entire article.
What is it about the orthodox community that preoccupies itself with not only demonstratively insular behavior but seeks to distinguish itself from the main body of the Jewish community? Actually a Torah True Jew or a member of the Torah Community can be anyone who believes or accepts Torah as their guiding force. This would include the entire corpus of the Jewish community that takes itself seriously, such as the reform, reconstructionist conservative, humanist and renewal communities. They all take Torah seriously and is the focus of their lives. It is only a question of interpretation. Unless of course we employ qualifiers such as Torah true Jews according to the Shuklchan Aruch as interpreted according to the Badatz, Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah, Lubavitch or Machazikei Hadas. Take your pick.
Unless one uses the appropriate qualifiers a reform Jew could conceivably count themselves among the chosen because they too live their lives centered by Torah values. If however the intent of those platitudes is to distinguish themselves from the corpus of the Jewish people then we are in trouble. What reason could there ever be to balkanize the Jewish community? J.R. articulated why it was not in our interest to react to mild or genteel anti-Semitism. To do so, he argued would play into the hands of our detractors, that our reaction is stifling criticism, suppressing freedom of speech, both critical to a pluralistic society. The same things that are correct, fundamental and core values of a democratic, pluralistic society is also the same fuel which powers the life force of the Jewish community. J.R. recognizes this and hence his argument is valid.
The Jewish community going back to antiquity prided itself on its unity, not its uniformity. From the Talmudic period and forward Judaism has encouraged the exchange of ideas and the clash of opinion. “Both these and these are the living words of God” convey this understanding. The sages of the Talmud, to their credit encouraged and cultivated the culture of dialogue. “The Torah has seventy faces” was understood to reflect the method and analysis of debate as practiced by our sages. There was no uniformity although there was unity. Even when consensus was not attainable there was not intellectual coercion, rather an appropriate conclusion was noted by a TEKU-stalemate. And when decisions were made, the minority opinion was carefully documented and noted. Rabbi Yehudah cautioned that the minority opinion needed to be noted, since a majority opinion will stand for as long as there is a majority standing behind it. The assumption is that the majority opinion may shift and change. While unity is desired, uniformity is not. Pluralism, it would seem was the ultimate expression and desire of our sages.
To be sure, there were times when as a result of our pluralistic society and the Socratic Method so integral to our culture and our intellectual integrity that marginal, but extreme sub cultures were created. One example of this was the Karaites. Although they were extreme in their rejection of Rabbinic Judaism it took hundreds of years before they were finally relegated as out of bounds. Scholars such as Abraham Ibn Ezra while not accepting the Karaites understanding of Judaism quotes and refers to their writings in his own commentaries, recognizing the merit of their scholarship in Hebrew language. There were other groups over the centuries such as those who followed Sabbatai Tzvi or Jacob Frank. Our rich tradition of intellectual freedom and our sense of inclusion allowed that which was legitimate to flourish. What did not conform minimally ultimately atrophied.
With this in mind, platitudes like Torah True Jew or Torah Community seem to fly in the face of our heritage and wisdom of the sages. Our sages desired unity, not uniformity, inclusion not exclusion. All of us ought to be embraced and gathered under the canopy while noting the dissenting opinions. Creating language that balkanize the Jewish community is not in the spirit of our tradition.
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Tagged: Judaism-, Uniformity พฤษภาคม 6, 2010
Bend Oregon is better known for its trout fishing but it also supports a few lakes that have good populations of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. The bodies of water within a one hour drive from Bend that hold bass are Crane Prairie Reservoir, Wickiup Reservoir, Davis Lake, Prineville Reservoir, Haystack Reservoir and Lake Billy Chinook (Round Butte Reservoir).
Crane Prairie Reservoir is better known for its large Rainbow and Brook Trout. However it is full of stumps, standing and downed trees. It is a Largemouth Bass heaven. It is a relatively shallow body of water with reeds and lily pads as well as lots of wood cover. The deepest part near the dam is 16 to 20 feet deep depending on how much water is in the reservoir at any given time.
The reservoir sits in the Cascade Mountains southwest of Bend. It is surrounded by pine trees and supports a healthy wild life population. You can always count on seeing countless Ospreys, a few Bald Eagles and numerous water fowl. Osprey and Great Blue Herons both nest at Crane Prairie.
Crane Prairie is not a year round lake and it often freezes over in the winter. Since it is a trout lake the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife closes it to fishing at the end of October and opens it back up on the third Saturday in April. There are years where it is partially ice covered on opening day.
The belief is that Largemouth Bass no not bite until June or July,” when the water warms.” However, some of the best bass fishing on Crane is in May. The author has caught many bass over five pounds in late April and May. The place to fish is the shallow North side of the reservoir where the water temperatures can be in the low to mid fifties in 2 to 6 feet of water.
Early mornings in April and May are not the time to fish for bass. Early afternoon is the best time to start. The water in Crane is crystal clear this time of year and it is hard to get a bite if the sun is out and the wind is calm. The silt and mud bottom with plentiful amounts of wood cover soak up the heat on these cool spring days.
If it is calm and sunny you are better off to put your rod down, your trolling motor on high and start looking for fish. Often times they will be laying on top of fallen logs sunning. There are also many root balls from blown over trees that will hold fish. You will not see any small fish this time of year. It will be strictly pre-spawn females.
Once you start seeing fish slow down and start looking more closely. You will find several fish in the same area and do not want to spook them too much. Once you have found a few areas that hold fish be sure and mark them so you can come back when the wind picks up and puts a little chop on the water.
It is not necessary to mark every fish. Just keep track of the general area where you saw concentrations of fish. Go back to those areas and fish the lay down logs and the root balls. Black weedless jigs with a trailer or 6 inch black worms are the ticket this time of year. The author’s favorite jig trailer is a 5 inch black with blue flake twin tail grub.
Crane Prairie bass are big for Oregon standards. The largest bass caught by the author was 6.5 pounds. He has seen Largemouth caught and released in excess of 8 pounds in some local bass tournaments. These are not your normal run and gun bass tournaments however because there is a 10 mile an hour speed limit on Crane Prairie Reservoir.
In the early 1990s the average spring time bass was in the 3 to 5 pound range. Now the average is 2 to 4 pounds with a few 5 pounders thrown in. Crane Prairie Largemouth usually spawn around the full moon in late June. Spawn and post spawn is usually when the fish “start to bite” for the general public and anyone can catch several small males that bite aggressively.
After the spawn the large female bass drop back to deeper water around the channels and become harder to catch. Crank baits and spinner baits come into play at this time of year. The water also starts to take on some color and is not as clear. Aquatic weeds and moss also start to grow making it more difficult to fish jigs and worms.
Fall and late fall are difficult time to catch fish as the water is low from irrigation use and it starts to clear up again. Spring is definitely the best time to catch Large Mouth Bass on Crane Prairie Reservoir.
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Tagged: Fishing, Oregon, PRAIRIE, Reservoir พฤษภาคม 5, 2010
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