The Keystone Wine and Jazz Festival is quickly becoming one of our favorite new traditions. There are the Colorado Rocky Mountains, cooler temps, beautiful flowers, hiking trails and lots of yummy food. Oh, and wine and jazz. We took the kids in 2019, it was cancelled in 2020, Scott and I went last year, and this year we brought our daughter and son-in-law along to celebrate their upcoming birthdays. Fun was had by all.
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I recommend staying in River Run Village so that you can hop between the festival and your room as needed. We had a birds’ eye view of the festival, as long as the bird is sitting in a tree. This is the view from our balcony.
Download and print the map of the festival to review before going. This will help you prioritize which booths to hit. Other than a short break for possible lightening, it was a beautiful day to hike, try lots of new wines, enjoy the food and groove to the music. I was having so much fun, I only took a few photos. Most of these were taken by our daughter.
One requirement is that you must take a photo in the big chair after you’ve had a few samples. That’s me on the left trying to get out of the chair in 2021, and Anna and I smiling this year.
A few notes about the weekend. First, we confirmed that I’m still bad at Catch Phrase, even when tipsy. I don’t care; it’s still hilarious.
Lodging — We stayed in the Arapahoe building on the third floor. Our condo was very clean and comfy. As with all of the condos we’ve stayed in here, there’s no air conditioning and the condos are hot even when it’s cool outside. Tip: Make sure the heat isn’t on. (Doh!) There should be fans in the closets. Get them out, open the windows and start them running. We had ours going all night. At 3:15 a.m. the first night, our smoke alarms started going off. Since we were on the third floor, we had lovely vaulted ceilings…which meant that the alarms were about 15 feet high. Our son-in-law stood on the kitchen counter and poked at the alarm with a mop to hit the reset button for the hour it took maintenance to show up. Gouges on the ceiling showed it was not the first time this had happened. Not a great start.
Food — The carnitos tacos at the Kickapoo Tavern were delicious. Steep Brewing & Coffee has excellent beer and pizza. Lime Cantina and Zuma Roadhouse are great as well. Go to Inxpot for coffee.
Keystone, Colorado, hosts a lot of festivals. You can check out the schedule here. If you’re interested in going to one, book lodging early. I booked our condo in April and there were very few available.
We still have one more trip planned this month, so stay tuned for Tales From the Empty Nest.
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Tales From the Empty Nest 
Does that view from your condo make up for the 3 a.m. fire alarm? Probably not, but that is a great view.
We’ve been going to this one forEVER, and I feel like this festival has upped its food game over the years. I am always impressed with the wine, but this time, the restaurants really outdid themselves! It was delicious and that charcuterie cup was divine. Love the pics, Anna!
I forgot to sit in the giant chair this year. Probably a good thing. LOL!
It was so good to see you and finally meet Anna, who I feel like I know.
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