The valley is catching its collective breath at the moment - summer is in the books, and ski season is still a little ways off (Vail’s lifts start turning on November 13!). The quiet interlude is nice - a bit restorative for a place that thrives on the energy from visitors.

But it means not too much is going on. A few things to note between now and the end of October:

If you've eaten at Wild Sage in Eagle Ranch, you may not realize just how much Vail Valley restaurant history is behind the menu.

Executive chef and managing partner Kevin Nelson spent more than two decades at Vail's Terra Bistro, eventually becoming its owner and helping establish a style of seasonal, whole-food cooking long before "vegetable-forward" became standard restaurant vocabulary.

After a stint in Georgia, Nelson found his way back to Colorado and teamed up with Drunken Goat and Cut Meat and Seafood owner Casey Glowacki. The result was Wild Sage — a restaurant that feels less like a revival of Terra Bistro than the latest evolution of ideas Nelson has been refining for more than 30 years.

And the story doesn't end there. The Nelson-Glowacki partnership has become part of a growing collection of food businesses stretching from Edwards to Eagle — with yet another iteration, Capitol Market, scheduled to arrive in Eagle Ranch this fall.

We took a closer look at Wild Sage, the people behind it, and the surprisingly deep Vail Valley roots behind one of Eagle's most interesting restaurants.

Read the full story here

Bonus - the good people at Discover Vail have put together their Fall 2026 Restaurant Guide with info on what 101 food & beverage establishments in the Town of Vail are open and when during the offseason.

Book a ski week through Airbnb, VRBO or Booking.com, and up to a quarter of what you pay stays with the platform. The platforms charge both sides of every booking, and smart owners and management companies price their listings up to cover it. Book the same condo directly, and those premiums can disappear.

And the rules are shifting this fall. VRBO raises its owner/host commission to 12% on October 29, and Colorado’s new pricing law means the first price you see should now include every mandatory fee.

Read the full breakdown → It covers how to book smarter this winter, the costs that never show up on a receipt, and a section for second-home owners on what VRBO’s new rules mean for your rental before October 29.

One of the Four Seasons Vail's prime residences is quietly available, and it's coming to Insider readers before going public. Born Free is a remodeled, sun-filled 4-bedroom home overlooking the slopes, offered as a 50% ownership share.

This 50% ownership opportunity offers a rare and more accessible path into one of the 32 whole ownership residences at Vail's most coveted address, allowing owners to enjoy all the privileges of full Four Seasons ownership, iconic service, five-star amenities, and unmatched brand prestige. [Take a look →]

ISO: The Great Stammtisch Hunt

Jean-Claude Moritz (yes, the real Moritz, hee hee) spent two weeks driving through France, Austria, and Germany on a single mission: find a real Stammtisch, the table regulars come back to every week because it’s theirs. What he found instead was a lot of lingering Parisians who never lingered with the same people twice, a fully booked Stammtisch in his father’s hometown of Graz (and a consolation table next to the dishwasher, where the chef pounded schnitzel close enough to rattle his plate), a bronze Arnold Schwarzenegger who was no help at all, and a Nürnberg witch house that seemed more likely to serve potions than beer.

Did he ever get a seat? Let’s just say Munich has a way of surprising you, and the lesson he brought home might apply a little closer to the Valley than you’d think.

[Read the full story →]

As we noted at the beginning, it’s a bit quiet in the valley at the moment. So that makes it a good time to slip out of town for a bit and have some fun elsewhere. We would love to see pics of these cool stickers from more places - send us a message on [email protected] with your info and we’ll pop a couple in the mail to you if you promise to send us pics of where you put them up!