Though summer is winding down and students will soon be heading back to school, the long afternoons and warm evenings still beckon everyone to soak up their remaining weeks of summer. With recent city temperatures in the high 80’s and 90’s, Boulder Creek offers a refreshing outdoor adventure for the daring and relaxed alike.

Winding its way through the downtown Boulder, the Creek provides over 8 miles of floating, fishing, and splashing. On any given summer day you’re likely to see crowds lounging by the water and groups of tubers (the activity, not the vegetable) carried along by the current.

The upper half of the Creek has faster flowing water, more rocks, and technical spots, and is a good place for experienced tubers. The second half moves at a more relaxed pace, and anyone regardless of skill level can enjoy a fun ride here.

Tubes are available for rent at Boulder’s Whitewater Tube Co., or you can buy your own at the local Conoco, Big O’ Tires, or McGuckin Hardware. Simply inflate your tube at a gas station air pump and make your way down to the water.

Boulder Creek is popular with tubers and fishermen as well as joggers, walkers, and loungers, and safety and awareness are always important when visiting the creek. The water can get crowded so it is important to keep an eye out for other groups and make sure you always know where the water is taking you. Whitewater Tubing offers a few other safety tips to remember:

• Wear a life preserver and helmet
• Wear good shoes and avoid flip flops which easily fall off
• Always assess and reassess the situation to stay safe

With the beauty of Boulder’s outdoors surrounding you, it’s hard to stay inside even on the hottest of days. Grab a tube and head down to Boulder Creek for a classic end-of-summer cool down.

Picture this: heading out for a night on the town with drinks, a little shopping, and…painting? If you’re tired of your usual Saturday night routine, stop by PoshSplat, a recent addition to Pearl Street and Boulder’s first all-in-one wine bar, art studio, and boutique.

Located in the heart of downtown Boulder on Pearl and 15^th, this self-proclaimed “cure for the ordinary night out” offers step-by-step painting classes taught by local artists. The studio holds up to 60, and Posh supplies everything you need to get creative, including brushes, paints, canvass, aprons, and $3 beer and wine by the glass.

You can choose your class by date or based on the painting you like best, as shown on Posh’s event calendar. Though everyone in the class will end up with a version of the same painting, adding your own artistic flair is encouraged and applauded. The step-by-step classes all cost around $35. If you want to do your own thing, you can take advantage of the studio space and materials during an open studio session for a lower price.

PoshSplat is owned by two couples whose goal was to create a creative and original venue for fun-loving Boulder-ites. Customers appreciate that Posh is locally and family owned, and die-hard Buff fans will easily connect with the owners who are all University of Colorado alumni.

Posh is also invested in the local community, offering its space to community groups, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. In August, Post will be hosting two nights in support of Out Boulder!, a social justice organization aiming to create a safe and supportive environment for Boulder’s LGBTQ community. A portion of each ticket sold on Saturday, August 20^th will go to support the Boulder Pridefest. Choose from two times and paintings:

• 10:00 to12:30 pm to paint “Birds in the Blue Green World.” Complimentary mimosas included.
• 6:30-9:00 pm to paint “Aspens.”

Whether you are an avid painter, an occasional artist, or have never picked up a paintbrush in your life, PoshSplat offers you the space to stretch your creative muscles while enjoying good company, delicious drinks, and inspiring atmosphere.

On Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings, downtown Boulder hums with the chatter of crowds and the almost tangible aromas of fresh produce, cheese, baked goods, and cooking foods.

What began in 1987 a small gathering of farmers has expanded into a group of around 150 participants coming together to bring produce and homemade goods to Boulder residents and visitors alike. As a non-profit membership organization, the Boulder County Farmer’s Market works to support Boulder County farmers and make a lifestyle of sustainable and local agriculture possible.

At the Farmer’s Market you’ll find all your traditional produce favorites like carrots, peaches, tomatoes, apples, and beans, as well as some unconventional products like seedless yellow watermelon and crayfish. Other vendors sell flowers, eggs, homemade soaps, and goat cheese. If you feel like browsing rather than buying, you can fill up on the wide variety of samples of everything from granola to salsa.

The vendors at the Farmer’s Market use sell both conventional and certified-organic produce. Because they don’t sell their goods to grocery stores, these farmers make a substantial part of their living at the Farmer’s Market. Prices at the Market are generally higher than you would find at the grocery store, but many find it well worth the price to support local farmers and walk away with freshly-picked organic and sustainably grown food.

The Farmer’s Market also holds monthly craft and art fairs as well as giving space to local musicians to play and get their names known. The Market is open:

• Every Saturday morning 8 am to 2 pm April through November
• Every Wednesday evening 4 am to 8 pm from May to October

If you want a chance to wander the Boulder streets and enjoy an assortment of fresh foods and funky people, the Boulder County Farmer’s Market makes for a memorable and delicious place to explore.

If you followed this year’s Tour de France, you were sure to have seen the stunning performances and bike-tire’s length wins as well as the downright carnage that marked this year’s course. Every rider that finished all 21 stages without mishap had cause to feel proud, but for the Tour’s top American rider Tom Danielson, finishing 9^th overall in his first Tour de France was a “dream come true.”

Thirty-three year old Danielson has had an impressive cycling career to date, making a name for himself by winning China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2002. Since then, his accomplishments include racing in the Vuelta a Espana and finishing 7^th in 2005, 6^th in 2006, and 9^th in 2010. However, it was his success in more recent races—finishing 3^rd in the Amgen Tour of California and 9^th in the Tour of Switzerland that prompted team manager Jonathan Vaughters to choose Danielson to race in the Tour on team Garmin-Cervelo.

Originally considered only a team helper for other Garmin-Cervelo riders like Christian Vande Velde and Ryder Hesjedal, Danielson surprised many by finishing ahead of both his teammates and keeping pace with the top riders including Alberto Contador and the Schleck brothers. After three weeks and over 2,200 miles of sweat and stamina, Danielson had completed the Tour in 9^th place, no small feat for a rookie rider.

Now, this Boulder resident is set to compete on August 9^th in the Tour of Utah, a race that spans a total of 409 miles beginning in Park City, Utah and ending at the Snowbird Ski Resort 6 days later. On August 22^nd, Danielson will ride in the first-ever USA Pro Cycling Challenge. This course covers over 500 miles of Colorado’s most challenging mountains in 7 days, and Danielson hopes to crush the competition and take the lead on his home turf.

In Boulder, there’s never a shortage of festivals and events to awaken your sense of community and creativity and give you a taste of that unmistakably tangy and passionate Boulder vibe. On August 13, don’t miss your chance to share in the second annual Poetry in Motion event hosted by the Boulder International Fringe Festival.

Poetry in Motion is a unique gathering of poets, filmmakers, dancers, and choreographers who use each other’s work as inspiration for their own. This year, the Poetry in Motion Project is soliciting poetry based on the theme “available space.” Accepted poems will be given to either a filmmaker, dancer, or choreographer who will then create a project inspired by the poem. On August 13, the artists will get to share their work with the community in a daylong celebration of arts and culture.

The most exciting part of the Project is that anyone can participate. You don’t need to be a professional or famous artist. You need only have passion, inspiration, and ten dollars to cover the entrance fee (without which the Project would not be able to run.) If you are interested in participating, the entrance deadline for poets, dancers, and filmmakers has been extended to August 1.

Hosted by the Boulder International Fringe Festival, The Poetry in Motion Project is proof that “art generates art.” The idea that art is not an isolated event, that creativity spreads organically and in many directions is one of the key beliefs that drives Boulder Fringe. Their goal is to infuse the Boulder community with uninhibited art and to support local businesses at the same time. In 2007, Boulder Fringe poured $750,000 into the Boulder and Colorado economies through their events, and they continually push for economic development through art.

Whether you are moved to watch or to participate, the Poetry in Motion project will give you an opportunity to explore a wide variety of media and gather with other passionate people. Join the crowd and be inspired as Poetry in Motion transforms Boulder’s streets into a canvass of images, movement, and words.

On July 15, CU Boulder’s Mars mission that has been 8 years in the making so far cleared a major hurdle by passing the Critical Design Review. An independent review board comprised of NASA employees and reviewers from external organizations deliberated over the mission plans for three days, determining if the mission had a valid design, met all requirements, and was backed by the proper research and analysis. With the reviewers’ approval, engineers can now being the manufacturing process.

The University of Colorado began work on Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, in 2003 for the purpose of studying the evolution and loss of Mars’s atmosphere over time and its interactions with the sun. NASA began backing the project in 2008, and since then MAVEN’s design has been reviewed and corrected time and again, going through 28 reviews in the past year alone.

MAVEN is an exciting edition to the legacy of space projects produced by CU Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, or LASP. LASP began its pursuit of space studies 60 years ago, before even the creation of NASA, and is the only research institute in the world that has sent instruments to every planet in the solar system. (Yep, including Pluto.) Along with professional staff, LASP utilizes the skills and growing knowledge of CU grads and undergrads, several of whom are involved in MAVEN’s production.

MAVEN is set to launch at the end of 2013. It will orbit Mars for one year after its 10-month journey to the planet.

The information MAVEN gathers will be pivotal in learning not only more about Mars, but more about our own planet as well. From the information about atmospheric loss, we will be able to understand more about the evolution of the earth and what our planet will be like years in the future. In addition, this mission will pour a total of $250 million into Colorado’s economy, creating jobs both at LASP and at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, who is building the spacecraft.

With the Critical Design Review behind them, MAVEN and the CU team are that much closer to reaching Mars.

Walking along the street on Boulder’s University Hill, you’ll encounter myriad eclectic shops and eateries that form the perfect hangout for CU students and community members alike. Nestled amid the shops on 13^th Street, one inconspicuous store holds a welcome treat for those who wander inside.

Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Café opened in January of this year, becoming the third poetry-only bookstore in the United States. The shop has a delightfully comforting and faintly magical feel about it, brimming with wooden shelves of verse. It is a place one could easily forget themself in—which is just what its owners Brian Buckely and Kate Hunter want.

Both poets themselves, they named their shop after a poem by William Butler Yeats that begins, “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.” Yeats paints Innisfree, a small island in Ireland, as a place of peace, refreshment, and spiritual affirmation, and Innisfree Bookstore echoes that sentiment.

Buckley and Hunter intend it to be a place where poets and people of all interests and backgrounds can mingle and share their creativity. Though new to the Hill, Innisfree has already earned a reputation as a favorite place to hang out, study, and enjoy coffee and conversations.

Innisfree serves Conscious Coffee, this year’s winner of Roast Magazine’s Microbrew of the Year Award. They also holds poetry readings and open mics every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm. Arise and go to Innisfree to sip a warm mug while you drink in imagery, meter, and rhyme to your heart’s content.

Boulder has long been known for its dedication to being “green,” serving as an example to other cities with its efforts to preserve the city’s natural beauty and support green and alternative energy companies. Boulder now plans to include a ballot measure in November that, if passed, would allow the city to form its own municipal utility in order to secure cleaner energy for Boulder residents.

Boulder has traveled a rough road of negotiations and deliberation to come to this decision. In June, Xcel Energy offered Boulder a deal to add 200-megawatts of wind power to its system if the city signed a 20 year franchise with Xcel. Boulder would be able to use the renewable energy credits to boast a 70% green electricity supply in the first year and a 90% green supply by 2020.

The city planned to include the Xcel deal on the ballot in November along with an option for Boulder to take energy distribution into its own hands, forming a municipal utility that would allow the city more control over the type of energy it bought and to, according to the city, provide energy services at the same or an even lower rate than Xcel.

Negotiations with Xcel continued until last week when the company demanded a third option on the ballot involving a 20-year contract but without the wind energy. Though it would not include as much renewable energy as its first proposal, this option would satisfy Colorado’s mandate of 30% renewable energy by 2020. Without including this third option on the ballot, Xcel said Boulder would be limiting its residents’ options.

Boulder refused the deal. “A franchise by itself would tie the city to a long term energy future that remains largely dependent on coal and a business model that prevents local communities from making decisions about their energy futures,” said City Manager Jane Brautigan.

The November ballot will ask voters to approve a municipal utility and to pay double Climate Action Plan tax in order to get the utility on its feet. The tax money would also pay for plans about where to buy renewable energy, either from Xcel or other power producers.  If approved, the process could take 3-5 years to get up and running, but Boulder believes it will be well worth the money and the wait to control energy distributions for the city and to strive for ever-increasing dependence on renewable resources.

One of the most delightful things about Boulder is its tendency to harbor eclectic and colorful locales around almost every corner. The Dushanbe Tea House is one such place, its bright blue doorway and intricate paneling standing conspicuously among the more standard buildings of downtown Boulder.

At the Teahouse, you can enjoy entrees inspired by traditional dishes of countries such as India, Persia, Japan, and Tajikistan as well as a variety of delicious teas. However, the highlight of the Teahouse may be that it has a history as rich as its food.

The Dushanbe Teahouse was given to Boulder as a gift by the mayor of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Boulder’s sister city (and, as it so happens, the point directly opposite from Boulder in the Northern Hemisphere). For three years beginning in 1987, Tajikistan artisans crafted the interior and exterior, hand-carving and hand-painting the patterns you see just about everywhere you look, including the ceiling, columns, and tables. The Teahouse symbolizes an ongoing dedication to peace, friendship, and respect between two very different cultures.

Recently, I brought a friend from out of state to visit the Teahouse, sample the teas, and enjoy the atmosphere. We sat at a table next to the Fountain of the Seven Beauties, a pond accented with real coy fish and the forms of seven women sculpted from copper, each different in character but similar in elegance. I later found out that the sculpture was inspired by an ancient poem detailing the adventures of a prince and his seven beautiful wives. At the time I only noticed that the sculptured added to the already remarkable scenery.

I ordered the Lily Jasmine Flower tea, described in the menu as “blooming.” To my surprise, my drink was brought to me in a wine glass, and I watched a small green bundle unfurl to reveal a pale pink flower and a string of tiny jasmine blossoms like pearls. My friend enjoyed the Rooibos Chai, which, while less dramatic, still brimmed with flavor.

Boulder’s Dushanbe Teahouse offers a change of pace from more mainstream restaurants as well as a taste of culture and tea that will highlight any afternoon or evening on the town.

Ladies, looking for a fitness change of pace? Try shaking things up with a Pure Barre class. Developed by dancer and choreographer Carrie Rezabek Dorr in 2001, this technique utilizes the isometric holds and tiny repeated motions of ballet dancers to tone and tighten your arms, thighs, seat, and abs.

Each class follows the same structure, but instructors can choose from a variety of moves to keep things interesting. Class begins with a warm-up, including planks and pilates moves, and a series of weight exercises to tone your arms. Then you’ll move up to the front of the room to work on thighs and glutes against the ballet bar. You’ll finish on the floor with a killer set of moves for strong abs. During class you’ll use light weights, a band, and a small exercise ball to maximize your workout. Socks are also required in the studio.

Newcomers, beware. This workout is not for the faint of heart. The first time I stepped into a Pure Barre studio I thought my legs weren’t going to make it. I was surprised at how much I sweated and shook while standing almost still and performing simple movements like tucking my hips under or straightening and slightly bending my leg. These tiny motions are designed to work muscles to failure in order to gain the most strength. After each set, I loved the stretching break, which loosens up every muscle worked to create lean, dancer-like muscles.

Afterwards I was exhausted, but I was hooked. After about a month of classes, I noticed significant improvements in the strength of my legs, arms, abs, and overall stamina and fitness.

Located in Boulder’s beautiful 29^th Street Mall, the Pure Barre studio will provide you with the space to challenge and inspire yourself. If you want to try this workout at home, Pure Barre DVDs are now available, including the new Flatirons series named after the beautiful mountains that form Boulder’s dramatic backdrop.

Though challenging, Pure Barre will push you to new heights of fitness. Stick with it and you’ll have legs you can’t wait to show off.