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.

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.

Colorado Nudism in the past

Evidently, the Denver Public Library has a photograph album from 1949 that contains pictures of nudism at Mountain Air Ranch. One of those pictures is shown here. I gotta go down there and see if I can look at it. The detail on the album is Photo Album 291, 9. Western History and Genealogy, Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado.

Oops...No Skinny Dip Beer in Michigan

Turns out that the Fort Collins, Colorado based New Belgium Brewery doesn't have a distributor in Michigan at the Turtle Lake Resort in Union City, so they can't get any Skinny Dip beer to the AANR Annual Convention. But a local brewer, Stevens Point Brewery, has a Nude Beach Summer Wheat Beer that they can provide.

Now if they would just start putting some of that beer in cans, so I can drink it around the swimming pool! No glass on the pool deck.

Colorado Brewery is a sponsor of the American Association for Nude Recreation annual convention

The New Belgium Brewing Company, based in Fort Collins, Colorado has its Skinny Dip Beer as a sponsor for the AANR Annual Convention in Michigan. Skinny Dip Beer is a seasonal low-alcohol, low-calorie beer that New Belgium brews (me, I like their Fat Tire amber ale).

San Jose Mecury picks up NYTimes Nudist Article

The San Jose, CA Mecury News, a newspaper of particular interest to the engineering and Internet business people, picked up the New York Times article on nude resorts and vacations at http://www.mercurynews.com/lifeandstyleheadlines/ci_9149727

Nudist Theme Crossword Puzzle in USAToday

The current USAToday has "The Naked Truth" as its theme today, with one long solution being an old nudist joke: "Have you read Marx?", "Only if I sit on the wicker chairs".