Wednesday, June 18, 2008

WNBR - Boulder's Rational Response

On Saturday, the World Nake Bike Ride was held in Boulder, Colorado. It went off without any problems and no complaints. Its goal was to "draw attention to oil dependency and the negative social and environmental impacts of a car dominated culture." What was really encouraging was the response from Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner. When asked by Channel 2 News in Denver why his officers didn't "crack down", he replied that his department has "better things to do than enforce a law in which no harm was being done".

The Boulder Daily Camera had a pretty even handed story on the event and the Rocky Mountain News carried a copy of the Daily Camera story.

Channel 2's coverage of the event was less than even-handed. Ignoring the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights pertaining to public assembly and freedom of expression, Channel 2 tried to take one repressive person's complaint and make it into a story. A couple of days ago, the Channel 2 web page carried a more rational coverage of the story.

Sounds like Boulder is a lot nicer place to live now days.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Nude Activities for the 2008 Democratic National Convention

As you have most assuredly learned, the Democratic National Convention is coming up in August 2008, specifically August 25-28. Approximately 17,000 delegates, alternates, officials and news people will be traveling to Colorado to attend. For those attending who wish to see more than just the inside of the Pepsi Center, here are some ideas:

Close to the Convention - Mountain Air Ranch Family Nudist Resort is approximately a 40 minute drive southwest of downtown Denver. Located in the foothills in the western suburbs of Denver, Mountain Air Ranch has 160 acres of wooded property with hiking, swimming, hot tub, tennis (paddles and balls available), volleyball, bocce and camping. Here is the directions to Mountain Air Ranch from the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver
View Larger MapFor AANR members, if you go to Mountain Air Ranch during a weeekday, a daily pass is only $10 per person for the whole day. On weekends, AANR members can visit for only $32 a couple or $21 per person. Visitors have use of all Ranch facilities, including hot tub, pool, sauna, hiking trails, sports courts, barbeque grills, showers, picnic tables, and club house (pool, fireplace, ping pong, lending library, video library). There is also WiFi internet access available on the property for a $5 per day fee ($50 per year).

For your weekends before and after the convention, there are several sights around Colorado where you can enjoy the Rocky Mountains without clothes. About 1 and 1/2 hours south of Denver is the Dakota Hot Springs off US Highway 50. This man-made hot spring (they discovered hot water while drilling in the river valley) has a great view of the mountains and a very large hot spring pool for soaking.

About 3 hours drive out US 285 from Denver is Valley View Hot Springs, which has several hot springs scattered over several acres in the San Luis Valley. There is some rustic housing available, RV parking and tent camping. Its also a very ecologically friendly place, with all electricity generated by their own hydro-electric plant run by the water from the springs.

At 5 hours away, Orvis Hot Springs probably has the most beautiful views of mountains from a nudist venue in the entire world. Set at the base of the Million Dollar Highway thru Ouray and continuing on to Durango, you can soak in the hot springs while watching snow showers on peaks just 10 to 20 miles away. Orvis has 6 rooms for rent, plus a tent/RV area. I recommend the rooms, but tent camping among RVs is not my choice.